On 28 August the UAE marks Emirati Women's Day — in 2026 under the theme "We Emerge Stronger and Better" and with activities extended nationwide until 28 September. According to UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism figures distributed via Emirates News Agency (WAM), Emirati women hold more than 50,000 commercial licences with combined investments exceeding AED 60 billion, and the number of businesswomen has surpassed 25,000. Below we walk through the headline figures and what this ecosystem means for planning a business in the Emirates.
Emirati Women's Day 2026: theme and dates
Emirati Women's Day has been marked annually on 28 August since 2015. The 2026 theme is "We Emerge Stronger and Better." The programme is held under the patronage of Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak — Chairwoman of the General Women's Union and Mother of the Nation. In contrast to a single-day event, activities and initiatives in 2026 run for a full month — until 28 September: forums, support programmes and public recognition.
Entrepreneurship: 25,000+ businesswomen, AED 60bn+
The headline business figure (Ministry of Economy 2025 data distributed via WAM): more than 25,000 Emirati businesswomen hold over 50,000 commercial licences with combined investments exceeding AED 60 billion. Compared with the 2015 baseline this is a multiple increase — both in the number of companies and in the volume of capital. Women's entrepreneurship is embedded in the standard UAE playbook: the same free zones and mainland, the same process — setting up a company in the UAE step by step, the same 9% corporate tax above AED 375,000.
Small and medium enterprises: 114,050 SMEs
According to Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, by end-February 2026 the number of small and medium enterprises fully or partly owned by Emirati women reached 114,050, and the number of self-employed Emirati women entrepreneurs stood at 48,257. More than 2,700 have joined the Ministry's National SME Programme — the federal programme supporting MSMEs (access to financing, government procurement, training). In practice this is the largest local business cluster where women are not a minority stake but the owner or co-founder.
Capital markets: 94% of female-held wealth on ADX
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) data as of end-July 2026: around 125,000 active female Emirati investors hold shares worth approximately AED 39 billion — this is 94% of all female-held wealth on the exchange. Put differently, the share of women-held capital in the UAE market is no longer a set of isolated cases but a structural figure that issuers and brokers factor into placements and corporate actions.
Labour market and government sector
Between 2021 and 2025 female participation in the UAE labour market rose by 101.92% — a multiple increase. Under Nafis (Emiratisation in the private sector) women account for 74% of beneficiaries. In the government sector women hold around 63% of leadership positions, and in the Federal National Council (FNC) they occupy 50% of seats. In the global World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2025 the UAE ranks first regionally; in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2026 the country is second globally for female parliamentary representation.
What this means for business in the UAE
Three practical takeaways. First — the UAE's entrepreneurship-support ecosystem is gender-neutral in its core instruments (licences, programmes, access to financing) but layered with targeted measures (National SME Programme, Nafis for Emiratisation, dedicated tracks in free zones for local entrepreneurs). Second — the talent market has shifted: women are not a "quota" but a working base for hiring qualified staff, including executives; workforce localisation can be addressed without compromising on competence (see also: hiring a multilingual team in the UAE). Third — women are an active party in company capital and on the exchange; when structuring deals this is a significant investor base.
This material is for information only. Verify current figures and support programmes against the latest publications of the UAE Ministry of Economy (moec.gov.ae), WAM (wam.ae) and the relevant agencies (ADX, Nafis, General Women's Union) before making decisions.
