Business | Investment
Emirati women slowly chip away at traditional barriers to advancement Emirati women slowly chip away at traditional barriers to advancement
Changing attitudes on women's role opening more opportunities.
- By Simeon Kerr and Andrew England, Financial Times
- Published: 23:13 May 29, 2009
Khulood Al Atiyat, a 21-year-old student born and raised in Dubai, does not see any barriers in front of her career goals: to set up her own tour agency.
She believes the drive by Dubai's leadership over the years to open opportunities to women has led to a sea change among Emiratis in their late 40s and below.
Gone are the days when families in the UAE would universally call on their daughters to find a husband and make a home once they had finished their schooling.
Al Atiyat says the shift has come as Emiratis become more outward looking, thanks to travel and living among a population in which the majority are expatriates - especially in Dubai, where foreigners form more than 80 per cent of the population.
"More than 12,000 women in the UAE belong to the UAE Businesswomen Council, 10,000 of whom own and operate their own businesses," says Minister of State Reem Ebrahim Al Hashemi, one of the top female officials promoted by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Standard-bearers such as Minister of Foreign Trade Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, who have helped pave the way for this younger generation, and a change in attitudes has led to a fourfold increase in women's employment in the federal government in the past five years.
After a top US education, Shaikha Lubna took a job at Dubai Ports in 1993 because it offered the best career opportunities for an ambitious technology graduate. She shocked her mother by commuting daily on the motorway to Dubai, which is the heart of DP World's container business.
"It took persuasion, with the help of my brothers, to say that it was okay, this is her future," she told the Financial Times. "You take small steps but once things are happening right, then it just moves on and becomes the norm."
The rise in living costs and inflation during the recent petrodollar boom played a role too, as more husbands dropped traditional resistance to their wives becoming a second breadwinner.
Shaikha Lubna, plucked from the ports to help Dubai's e-government drive and then elevated to the Federal Cabinet, has now been joined by others. This includes 20 per cent of the Federal National Council, a semi-elected consultative body, which counts Najla Al Awadhi, Deputy CEO at Dubai Media Inc, among its members.
"Shaikh Mohammad has aggressively been appointing women to key positions," says Al Awadhi, adding that while he may still respect the patriarchal structure of society, that does not mean women cannot be equal partners.
She points to some appointments previously considered "taboo", such as women taking posts in the judiciary and politics. The country's ambassadors to Spain and Sweden are women.
"These progressive positions may raise eyebrows, but you silence your critics through output," she says. "Even if they don't agree in principle, they can't deny the productivity levels we are getting from our citizens."
Nevertheless, barriers remain. Al Awadhi is concerned that while women form by far the largest percentage of graduates, they still underperform in the labour market.
"It's going to be a challenge and education will be at the core," she says. "We have to show there is no conflict between Islam and being an active citizen, but there is a lot of resistance."
Al Atiyat says some of her friends will face pressure from conservative parents to stay at home. One of them, a talented writer, is lobbying her parents to relent so she can go out to work. If this fails, she plans to pursue a back-up plan of freelance editing and journalism.
The courage to challenge authority is necessary as campaigners such as Al Awadhi chip away at the edifice of the UAE's patrimonial society.
One of the starkest forms of discrimination comes through the "family book", a document that lists a family's history and can provide full UAE citizenship, including generous state benefits that nationals receive, from granted land to university scholarships.
The children of UAE women who marry non-nationals do not receive the book - they receive a UAE passport without the additional rights.
But if an Emirati man marries a non-Emirati, the expatriate woman can take on UAE nationality and the children get full citizenship, with access to the state benefits.
It is a controversial issue that was raised at the United Nations recently, triggering a government review of the policy.
Al Awadhi says the FNC recently debated amending a clause in the provision of housing loans to UAE nationals to make it easier for UAE women married to non-nationals to be eligible for the funding.
But most male FNC members opposed this, claiming that the children born of foreign men are not true Emiratis, she adds.
"It was the emotional view that our women shouldn't be marrying foreign men," Al Awadhi says.
But, supported by the ministers involved, the amended clause was passed, chalking up a small victory for women's equality.
Al Atiyat, born to a Jordanian father and Emirati mother, has experienced the problems first hand. But she believes her future prospects are better than at any other time. "Things are going to change, they will just take some time."
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