UAE Considers Extending Maternity Leave in Private Sector

• The UAE Government Annual Meetings 2025 took place in Abu Dhabi
• One session was the “Family Growth Supportive Policies”, which reviewed maternity leaves for women in the private sector

The UAE Government Annual Meetings 2025 held in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday had a session, "Family Growth Supportive Policies," in which a proposal to review the maternity leaves provisions for women in the private sector were discussed.

This discussion brings into perspective the need to balance family well-being with women's empowerment while maintaining business sustainability and competitiveness.

The proposal aims at establishing an integrated framework that supports family stability, advances work-life balance through updated policies.

Also at the meetings were dialogue sessions under the platform “Pulse of the Nation” — an interactive forum where officials from federal and local entities discussed systems and policies that empower Emirati families as part of national development.

Present at the sessions was Sana Mohamed Suhail Minister of the Family and each session covered a variety of topics related to family formation, work-life balance, supportive infrastructure, family sustainability, reproductive health and social support systems.

The session entitled "Family Growth – Balancing Work and Family Life" was designed to stimulate ideas to help parents and families more effectively juggle their work and family commitments to ultimately arrive at equilibrium or a state of stability.

There was consensus from the presenters that the issue of work life balance was of critical importance to the overall health of an individual and society.

Participants also contributed to the dialogue around the changing realities of family life and the changing realities of work and expressed a significant desire for policies that reflected a level of work life balance, that were flexible and empowered parents to fulfill their parenting roles and family responsibilities.

Participants noted that when work life balance polices were implemented, they contributed to both mental health, and productivity (employees were able to meet their work responsibilities), and it helped contribute to longer term family and social stability.