The many achievements of women in the UAE - Khaleej Times
A partial list:
1. "3.4 per cent participation of women in the national workforce in 1980 to a high of 40 per cent recorded in 2005."
2. "illetracy (sic) rate among national women in the pre-oil society some three decades ago was 99 per cent."
3. "today with education and life long leraning as well as mentors, UAE women are playing an important role in business and political fields."
4. "a bit of discrimination against women also exists in the local society."
I emphasize "a bit" in No. 4. The degree of discrimination against women in society (culture) in this Muslim country is less, much less, than many in the West perceive or choose to believe. Yet, it is true that there is cultural resistance to women taking positions traditionally held by men. The West went through and continues to pass through the same experience.
A partial list:
1. "3.4 per cent participation of women in the national workforce in 1980 to a high of 40 per cent recorded in 2005."
2. "illetracy (sic) rate among national women in the pre-oil society some three decades ago was 99 per cent."
3. "today with education and life long leraning as well as mentors, UAE women are playing an important role in business and political fields."
4. "a bit of discrimination against women also exists in the local society."
I emphasize "a bit" in No. 4. The degree of discrimination against women in society (culture) in this Muslim country is less, much less, than many in the West perceive or choose to believe. Yet, it is true that there is cultural resistance to women taking positions traditionally held by men. The West went through and continues to pass through the same experience.
posted by John B. Chilton at 4/18/2005 06:36:00 AM
2 Comments:
I would be a bit prudent regarding the “achievements” of women in the UAE. Two reasons.
1. This is a bit like comparing GDP growth among countries. It is difficult, for example, to call the high growth rate in Latin America during the early 1990s an “achievement.” The world economy was growing at a good pace during those years. The higher growth rates in Latin America were nothing but the norm in the favorable international context. When comparing what women have achieved in the world during the last decades (or even in regions in which historically they were not active participants like, again, Latin America) one may find that the achievement of women in the UAE is not very impressive.
2. Some of the most publicized “women achievements” in this country are the result of direct government intervention. It is difficult to assess whether they were legitimate achievements or achievements by decree.
I am not claiming that there are no advances on women participation. There are. When see them in perspective, however, they may not be as impressive as we would like them to be.
The other issue is that there are many educated, intelligent women who aren't allowed to work by their families. Often it is the brothers who lay down the law, not even the fathers.
While the government allows and supports all women to work, it doesn't (yet) intervene in cultural and social restraints on them.
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