By Carla Maria Emanuel Issa, Managing Director at Listaproperty

In October last year, Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) UAE signatory Listaproperty hosted the ‘Take Your Daughters to Work Day’ (#ListapropertyxTYKTWD), which encouraged working mothers to bring their daughters to work for half day. Following a hard day at work, mothers and daughters gathered at the luxury 118 property owned by Signature Developers. Suzanne al-Houby, the first Arab woman to climb Mount Everest and its seven summits, joined the event and spoke on her achievements and trials during her lustrous career.

Empowering the youth at Listaproperty

As part of Listaproperty’s mission to empower the region’s youth, it envisioned bringing a concept popular in the United States to Dubai. The “Take Your Daughters to Work” initiative began in 1992 as part of the “Year of the Woman” when women in the workplace understood the importance of the “working woman” concept beginning from adolescence. The concept evolved over the years to take your daughters and sons to work, but nonetheless the message sticks.

The concept of  the event sprouted from Listaproperty’s founders and WEPs’ Steering Committee members, Kim Kelaita and Rasha Nashaat Hassani’s endless involvement in various initiatives. From founding their own organizations in real estate, technology and retail as well as serving on the board of organizations such as WEPs and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), they are both very involved in our community and the workplace. As mothers themselves, they empower their own daughters each day by serving as examples of what it is to be a working mom.

Kim and Rasha are only two women in our community, and there are many more moms like them who inspire their daughters through their own hard work and believe, “Giving out daughters a first hand look a what we “moms” do all day is a great example for them to know they too can do it all and do it all with passion and purpose.”

The #ListapropertyxTYKTWD concept was created alongside the UNGC-UAE Local Network and the WEPs common goal in furthering local initiatives “for women, by women”.

The outcome of the event is to create awareness around how important it is to expose daughters to the idea that she can achieve both being a mother and being someone important in her workplace. We made sure to include women who are not mothers themselves, or do not have daughters, but have sons, who are equally important in any initiative that supports working women.

Only the beginning

Listaproperty hopes #ListapropertyxTYKTWD will be the first of many such events over the coming years. In cooperation with the UNCG-UAE Local Network and WEPs UAE, this will be an ongoing initiative for years to come.

Furthermore, Listaproperty would like to see the Emirati community more involved as their workplaces are particularly entrepreneurial and unique in other ways. We have heard a number of Emirati women discouraged by the fact that they are “placed” for a position in a ministry where their creativity and other talents may not be appreciated or used. Creating awareness around a woman finding her place in the world, so to speak, is important work and often the kind of guidance girls in their teenage years, and beyond, will seek.

To register and become a signatory of the WEPs UAE local network, click here or contact our Outreach Team at Hanane.Arif@socgen.com and malouf.ag@pg.com.