Life

Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak announced on Wednesday that Emirati Women’s Day will no longer be confined to its usual single date on the calendar, with this year’s celebration stretching into a full month of programming that begins on August 28, 2026. In a letter addressed to Emiratis, the Mother of the Nation, who chairs the General Women’s Union, presides over the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and leads the Family Development Foundation, wrote that “as the horizon of ambition expands with you and through you, our celebration this year will not be limited to a single day,” signalling a shift in how the occasion will be marked going forward.

The extended format is intended to give the observance room to function as more than a symbolic date, with Sheikha Fatima describing it as an occasion for action, appreciation, and the launching of initiatives that highlight women whose achievements form part of what she called an integrated national system rather than a series of isolated success stories. Since it was first established in 2015, Emirati Women’s Day has fallen every August 28, chosen because it also marks the founding anniversary of the General Women’s Union in 1975, and the day has grown into an annual moment for the country to take stock of progress on gender equality while celebrating the women driving it.

This year’s celebration carries the slogan “We Emerge Stronger and Better,” which Sheikha Fatima said reflects a national spirit that does not stop at what has already been achieved but continues to look toward tomorrow with ambition and a sense of responsibility. The theme continues a pattern of annual slogans that have tracked closely with the UAE’s broader national priorities in recent years. In 2025, the country marked the tenth anniversary of the observance and the fiftieth anniversary of the General Women’s Union under the theme “Hand in Hand, We Celebrate 50 Years,” aligning with the wider Year of Community initiative. The year before, in 2024, the slogan “We Share for Tomorrow” placed the emphasis on collective progress, following 2023’s “We Collaborate for Tomorrow,” which tied into the UAE’s Year of Sustainability and the country’s hosting of COP28. Earlier themes followed the same trajectory, with 2022 centred on “Inspiring Reality, Sustainable Future” and 2021’s “Women: Ambitions and Inspiration for Next 50 Years” coinciding with Sheikha Fatima’s launch of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.

Alongside the announcement of the theme, Sheikha Fatima used her letter to call on national institutions to treat flexibility as an advanced approach to supporting women, particularly working mothers and those caring for elderly relatives or people of determination. She said this should be achieved through proactive policies and programmes that account for family responsibilities alongside work requirements, while still ensuring continuity of performance and productivity across the institutions involved.

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Images: Instagram & Feature Image: @mthayel