The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that the Middle East and North Africa region loses $575 billion a year due to the legal and social barriers that exist for women’s access to jobs and careers. As leaders in the Middle East, we have a critical role in ensuring that diversity and inclusion is core to our workplace culture and that our organisations are representative of the communities we serve. Moreover, we acknowledge that a diverse and inclusive workforce is good for business – it is good for customers, for profitability and workplace culture, and for our wider stakeholders.

The Charter:

• Commits organizations to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the region by focusing on the executive pipeline and the mid-tier level;

• Recognizes the diversity of the region and that organizations will have different starting points – each organization should therefore set its own targets and implement the right strategy for their organization

My organization pledges to promote gender diversity by encouraging the possibility of:

• Having one member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion;

• Creating diversity and inclusion plans and sharing best and unsuccessful practices with the Council;

• Setting up mechanisms to track progress on a collective and unattributed basis; and

• Rolling out and/or expanding on bias education in a form that best suits our culture and business.

The Middle East Diversity Council therefore aims to rally like-minded organisations in the Middle East region to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace by working together and committing to change.