Women rights in UAE: Empowering Women – A Journey of Triumph and Equality

The situation of women around the world is not that great although a lot of efforts have been made from the past times and now women are able to represent themselves at a global level and are able to raise their voice against any kind of discrimination. But this situation of women has always been disregarded in Gulf countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Women in these countries are not given the same as men and they are not able to enjoy the freedom that the men enjoy. They are often subordinated and neglected and men are considered to be superior to them.
Women are treated as the servant and exploited to fulfill the needs of the family and the man. They don’t have a right to say what they think or feel is right for them.

But one of the countries among the Gulf countries has tried to improve the position of its women and has also improved its position in various indexes but still a lot needs to be done to enable women to have the freedom which they deserve and the rights through which they can enjoy this freedom.

Women’s condition in UAE

UAE has been able to expand and develop itself because of the discovery of oil in its territory. This has majorly helped the United Arab Emirates to develop itself and provide good living for its citizens. But before that the conditions there were not that good and women were the worst sufferers of it. Women had to remain in their houses and take care of the children and their husbands; they had no rule to play in outdoor work. They were not given opportunities to get out of their house and earn a living for their family. But after the discovery of oil women were given a chance to step out of their houses and get some work. But the conditions in the working place were not cordial and welcoming for women.

They have to face a lot of exploitation and therefore at the end had to leave their jobs and work. But the women in charge of their life and many women societies raised issues like women’s education and health. And this definitely helps them in establishing their position in the workplace. After that women have been able to participate and hold their position as in 2018 women constituted 28% of the emirates workforce. In 2019 around 520 thousand women were employed in the UAE.

And one of the most famous business women in UAE is Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid bin Sultan al Qasimi, and she also held a ministerial post and is one of the powerful women of UAE.

But the case of domestic female workforce is not that great because there have been a lot of cases of domestic abuse of migrant female workers. These women have to face a lot of physical threats, their passports are confiscated and they are also not paid full wages for the work. The UAE has been criticized by the Human Rights watch which presented its report.

But UAE is definitely working towards improving this situation and condition of its women as it can be seen in the education sector that the women participation is in a huge number even though they have exceeded men as the literacy level among women is around 79% whereas among men it is only 75%. The participation of women is also high. Women constituted around 80 to 90% of the student population.

Now let’s focus on the rights which the women in UAE have got so that we could understand the whole situation.

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Women rights in UAE

UAE has performed when in gender gap indexes and has ranked higher than other Gulf countries in case of gender equality. Although the situation has not improved much, steps and initiative are being taken in this direction.

Situation of women according to the UAE law

The women of UAE enjoy equal constitutional rights as men according to their law. Lot of amendments have been made. made in the laws to have equal opportunities for women. Like they have equal access to education jobs, social and health benefits and also to hold positions in government offices . It is mandatory to have a woman on the board of directors of all government entities and corporations.

Talking about the rights of women in the workplace, the UAE government has made labor laws in such a way that they are in parity and provide equal wages for both men and women for equal work. And the gender balance Council there has recommended various policies and programs to implement and have an equal working environment for women also. Maternity benefits have been given to the women like they can have 60 days maternity leave in which 45 days would be fully paid leave and 15 days half paid leave during their pregnancy time. And this applies in both the sphere public and private.

The single emirati women are also provided housing facilities by the UAE government.

Women in public sector

Around 9 women serve in the UAE cabinet. Two third of the public sector jobs are acquired by women in the UAE and in this 30% women have leadership roles while 15%in teaching and academic roles . UAE became the only Arab country to attain gender parity in a national legislative body by having 50% women in its legislative body in 2018. It was also the fifth country to achieve this milestone in the world.

In Education

The government ensures equal access to education at all levels and also provides vocational training for the vulnerable population which includes women and disabled people. The law of the country also makes it compulsory for Emirati children to enter school at the age of 6 until they reach the age of 18 or complete their Grade 12.

UAE gender balance Council

This Council was basically founded to implement UAE’s gender balance agenda in the year 2015. Focused on improving the position of UAE in various gender related indexes, to reduce the gender gap in the government sector and to introduce initiatives and programs which work to reduce the gender gap and maintain gender parity in the country.

National Strategy for Empowerment of Emirati Women(2015-2021)

This initiative aims to provide a framework in all sectors like government ,private sector that focuses on providing decent living conditions for women and to make them creative in different fields. It focuses on starting such initiatives and programs which would help in this direction. And to analyze the results of such a framework.

Women in UAE are free to own property and 30% of the real estate in Dubai is owned by women. It has made reforms in its anti discrimination laws by revoking provisions that have obliged women to obey their husbands.

These are some of the major rights which are enjoyed by the UAE women. But a lot needs to be done as the position has not been enhanced. The Position of UAE in gender indexes has not been that great.
But UAE’S personal state law has not been that friendly to women and has discriminatory provisions like the woman can lose her right to financial assistance from her husband if she denies having sexual relationship with her husband without a lawful excuse.

Conclusion- Women rights in UAE

The changes in the law made by the UAE government have definitely helped to emulate the position of women in the country. They have done a lot in the field of education and the workplace to provide equal opportunities for both men and women. This has helped women to raise their position in the political and social sphere which was neglected in the past.

But just doing reforms in the law doesn’t provide the perfect solution for this problem. One needs to have cultural changes to implement it fully. As the mindset of the people needs to be changed in the positive direction as the UAE personal State Law is still discriminatory against women and promotes this superiority of men. This situation of migrant female workers is not at all good as they have to face a lot of domestic abuse by this citizens of the country they have to face sexual abuse confiscation of their passports because of which they are not able to go back to their country and this versions day situation.

The men are also not charged heavily for all the crimes they do against women in the UAE. The question of citizenship is also a source of concern in the case of UAE as it has tried to extend its citizenship to various groups but has left some groups like the children who are born to Emirati women but foreign fathers and also to stay less people which causes problem for them to live in the country like UAE.

A lot more reforms need to be made in the country’s personal State Law to improve the situation of women in the country and until we do not understand what these women have to go through and suffer till then we can’t do anything. Other than just showcasing the achievements of improving women’s situation and attaining gender parity a lot needs to be done in reality as laws on papers can do nothing until they are made practical. And we should understand that women need to be respected and given the value which the deserve and through laws and social cultural changes we can attain those goals but we need to work collectively rather than individually.

FAQs – Women rights in UAE