Gender equality awards in the United Arab Emirates all won by men

Lol.

The United Arab Emirates's gender equality awards have all been won by men. Emirati authorities were dragged out of it on social media recently following the results of their Gender Balance Index awards. The awards, presented by vice-president of the UAE and ruler of Dubai Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, represent achievements in promoting equality and gender balance in the workplace. The index was established "... with the aim to provide equal opportunities for both women and men and reducing the gender gap in the public and private sectors." https://twitter.com/DXBMediaOffice/status/1089547416037191680 Awards were presented in three categories: Best Personality for Supporting Gender Balance, Best Federal Entity for Supporting Gender Balance, and the Best Initiative for Supporting Gender Balance. All awards were picked up by male representatives for the UAE finance ministry, the federal competitiveness and statistics authority, and ministry of human resources. Following the ceremony, the Dubai Media Office shared a series of photos depicting the awards and their winners. The post was swiftly slammed by users who said that the greatest example of diversity in the photos was one of the men wearing grey instead of white.

pic.twitter.com/ecjh6wk5KX

— Ana Lúcia (@AnneCalie) January 28, 2019

And they say that satire is dead

— S_st (@s_st007) January 27, 2019

Behind the scenes footage of the Gender Balance Index award ceremony: pic.twitter.com/2wEOgINyni

— Noor Jasmine (@NoorJasmine7) January 28, 2019

Beyond parody

— brunopaul2 (@brunopaul2) January 27, 2019

The DMO has since released a statement regarding the awards. It detailed the categories included in the ceremony and the "extraordinary achievements" women have made across the UAE. "Women in the UAE are leaders, ministers, parliamentarians, educators, firefighters, scientists and entrepreneurs," they said, "They are empowered, valued, and included, and they will continue to be driving forces alongside their male counterparts to further establish the UAE as a global role model for gender balance." You can read the statement in full here.