Female business leaders across the Middle East are boldly signalling that the future is theirs to shape. According to the latest regional survey by KPMG, a striking 78 per cent of women in senior business roles say they feel confident about their companies’ growth prospects over the next three years. Yet this optimism comes with a clear caveat: nearly half want far clearer strategies on artificial intelligence (AI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
The study, titled Middle East Female Leaders Outlook 2025: “A Call for Clarity,” finds that while regional women executives are broadly optimistic, they are also pressing for sharper corporate planning on fast-moving issues. In the UAE, strong policy momentum supports this ambition — and provides a compelling indicator of the progress and the gaps that remain.
In the UAE context, multiple recent reports illustrate how women are scaling the leadership ladder. The UAE government data show that women make up some 70 per cent of university graduates and 56 per cent of STEM graduates at public universities.
In the private-sector realm, a 2025 survey by Grant Thornton UAE revealed that 71.4 per cent of UAE businesses said clients and procurement teams asked for gender-diversity data when evaluating suppliers; and 40 per cent of investors expected clear evidence of senior-leadership gender diversity before committing capital.
Meanwhile, an audit by Oliver Wyman found that two-thirds of women in the UAE had advocated for promotion and 80 per cent of those efforts succeeded — yet only 57 per cent of women felt comfortable speaking up in meetings, compared with 69 per cent of men.
This backdrop helps explain why women in the region are confident in growth: they see real opportunity in markets and corporate cultures that are rapidly evolving. But confidence is not serene. The KPMG survey also flags caution. Sixty per cent of women business leaders in the Middle East report their organisations are investing more in people than in technology — a sign that the human-capital edge remains front of mind in this region. At the same time, 49 per cent of respondents said they have seen a rise in online harassment and digital abuse aimed at women in leadership roles over the past three years.
“Women leaders in the Middle East are demonstrating that resilience and clarity move together,” said KPMG Middle East partner and head of “Our Impact Plan,” Kholoud Moussa. “Their confidence in growth is clear, matched by a call for stronger alignment between vision and execution within organisations. Our findings show that meaningful progress will rely on how clearly companies set their priorities, from AI and ESG to how they invest in people and culture.”
Indeed, the survey reveals that while 74 per cent of women believe gender equity in the C-suite would help their organisation hit growth targets, only 36 per cent support the idea of mandated quotas. This underlines a preference for leadership programmes, mentorship networks and organisational flexibility rather than regulatory compulsion.
In the UAE specifically, female leaders are picking up speed in adopting advanced technologies and embedding ESG commitments into corporate DNA. A November 2024 KPMG report found that women leaders in the UAE and Oman are driving AI adoption and sustainable business practices across industries — from healthcare to IT. Another UAE-specific KPMG study showed that 64 per cent of UAE-based women leaders prioritised investment in workforce skills and people-development, compared with just 24 per cent of their male counterparts.
Yet despite the optimism and the headway, significant challenges persist. Nearly half of respondents in the Middle East say their organisations’ AI strategies remain unclear, and a similar share say ESG efforts have not been fully embedded. One in three are uncertain whether their firm is on track to meet net-zero or decarbonisation targets. The gap between ambition and strategy remains perhaps the biggest risk.
In the UAE the private-sector landscape reflects a similar duality: while gender representation at leadership levels is rising, women still cite barriers such as lack of mentors (29 per cent) and limited access to affordable or on-site childcare (a far higher multiple than men) as obstacles to full career progression. Add in rising investor scrutiny of board diversity (almost 40 per cent said female representation was now a deciding factor in capital allocation) and a doubling of women board-members on listed public companies in three years — from 47 to 141 seats — and you see both the momentum and the urgency.
From policy to practice, the UAE’s national frameworks are reinforcing women’s presence in decision-making. The UAE Gender Balance Council’s Strategy 2026 and the National Policy for Empowerment of Emirati Women 2031 offer a robust platform for inclusion. Collectively, the result is a leadership ecosystem that is more diverse, more agile and more strategically aware.
