Political Reforms for Access and Equity: Women’s Education in the United Arab Emirates, from 1938 to the Present
By Aisha Bilkhair, supervisor of career services at Dubai Women’s College

Women’s education has evolved substantially since the discovery of oil in the Gulf region and the subsequent formation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from seven Gulf states in 1971. After that date, influential social trends and key political decisions have enabled women to participate in and contribute to society. International exposure through studying abroad, working with global non-profit and non-governmental organizations, presenting at conferences and symposiums, and academic exchanges have played a monumental role in promoting and elevating UAE women’s status. Yet some policies have limited women’s professional access. UAE women must continually negotiate for amenable conditions and advocate for change as they purse their educational and career goals.

Education During the Colonial Era

When the British Empire was at its zenith, British political representatives administered the daily affairs of the Persian Gulf region. By accusing coastal maritime tribes of piracy, British rulers were able to negotiate treaties granting them exclusive control over the shipping routes between Great Britain and India. Consequently, they stripped local rulers of authority over their own territories and limited Gulf inhabitants’ contact with the outside world. The effects of this isolation on education were widespread. Colonial-era leaders failed to introduce formal education to the region until the 1938 reform movement, which was initiated by nationalists who called for municipal reforms including education, health, and overall economic development.

Beginning in the 1930s, girls obtained education by attending Koranic schools to learn how to read the holy book and write Arabic. These basic literacy schools were co-educational, led by teachers who might be either male or female. In contrast, older girls and boys attended gender-segregated schools, and by the time they were teenagers, girls were expected to leave the educational system. Many families required teenaged girls to stay at home and perform the domestic tasks that would prepare them to become wives and mothers. A few families, feeling that their daughters should stay home to restore their reputation as dignified women, paid private tutors to teach them. In any case, most girls studied the Koran in public schools for a limited period of time before entering the domestic sphere. Other girls had no access to education at all, particularly if they lived in the desert or worked as domestic servants.

More than half of the women who lived in Dubai during this time remain illiterate. Nonetheless, some extraordinary and independent women educated themselves and established their own businesses, entering the male-dominated realm of trading. Many taught themselves English to pursue their financial and commercial ambitions. Women like Hessa bint Al Murr and Sana bint Mana did not actively participate in politics, but their struggle for financial independence set an example of perseverance and determination for generations to come.

Education in the Oil Era

After the British finally withdrew from the Gulf region, the seven Gulf states united under the name of Unites Arab Emirates in 1971. The UAE’s new constitution granted women equal access to education and the right to work and practice in all professions. Women now had access to formal primary and secondary educational systems that exposed them to a wide range of subjects, such as literature, science, and foreign languages (including English and French). But the laws themselves were not sufficient to secure women’s rights. The newly-founded nation was apprehensive of mandates that would alter tribal traditions and Islamic teachings, and many understood that a legislative framework alone would not create equity for women. It took two major political actions to finally secure women the rights established by the constitution.

The first of these political actions occurred in 1972, when UAE President Shaikh Zayed endorsed the establishment of the first women’s society in the country and named his wife, Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, as president. The presidential couple worked diligently to mobilize and integrate women into modern society under the motto, “Only by creating critical mass will women start progressing in the real world.” In doing so, the president and his wife made a prominent statement about the importance of women’s education in the new nation.

The second political action was the 1975 establishment of the Ministry of Higher Education, which led to the opening of United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) two years later. UAEU was a gender-segregated institution that provided securely guarded dormitories for both men and women. By assuring Emirate families that women could attend school without compromising their traditional social roles, the UAEU facilitated women’s participation in tertiary education. Its example convinced a society in transition that its daughters could obtain educations without compromising their expected roles as women.

As a result of these two political actions, by the beginning of the 1980s, many families accepted that women could obtain higher education and integrate smoothly into the workforce. Female graduates frequently entered the public sector, proving that they could contribute to the goals of the new government. Their participation was an act of nationalism that strengthened the government’s official commitment to creating a large national pool of human resources. In a sense, women became publicly visible for the first time. Society began to value women for contributions beyond their traditional roles precisely because the UAE’s rulers envisioned women as part of the union’s success and progress. 

Recent and Continuing Challenges

In the UAE as elsewhere, families face increasing economic pressure from a changing global economy. The high cost of living has rendered women’s economic contributions increasingly essential to the household income. As a result of this economic pressure, the conservative cultural views that prohibited women’s working outside of the home have rapidly shifted. Women’s education has improved in all arenas; women are even more likely to be able to drive, since commuting to work and other job-related obligations require mobility.

Recently-graduated female students, ambitious and aware of their own capabilities, now demand managerial positions upon graduation. Unfortunately, the young UAE female graduate now finds few job offers and faces stigmatizing stereotypes against women and UAE natives.

In response to the UAE’s rapidly developing economy, experts and professionals migrated to the emirates. As a result, the national population has declined in recent years. (Nationals now comprise less then 12 percent of the general population, and their employment in the private sector is currently at less than 2 percent overall.)  To promote employment in the private sector, the government has initiated a nationalization program (Emiratization) that requires companies in certain business sectors (financial services and insurance) to retain and recruit a certain percentage (4-5 percent) of UAE nationals annually. This program inculcates fear and anxiety between expatriates and nationals, resulting in harassment of young UAE females who are new to the complexities of office politics.

In addition, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) has nationalized entire job classifications (including secretarial, administrative assistant, human resources management, and public relations officer positions). The result has been a “sticky floor” for young and ambitious UAE national women, who find employers reluctant to promote them beyond the clerical positions where their presence fulfils MOL mandates. UAE women are nationalistic and want to support the aims of the country by following the directives of the Ministry of Labor. Unfortunately, in doing so, they often enter situations that are not in their best economic or personal interest.

Like political decisions, economic trends can limit the scope of women’s participation even while opening doors to greater access. Even as it economically empowers women, the current market privileges workers trained in business or information technology. It thus discourages women from exploring the broader humanistic studies that would create the critical intellectual mass required to change the politics of a patriarchal tribal society. Without intellectual preparation, women cannot influence their own opportunities or act as effective mentors and role models to their peers. A broad education in the humanities would prepare them for greater participation and increase their ability to effect the necessary change.

As rapid socio-economic change continues to occur, the need for women’s education becomes more pronounced. To achieve their objectives and find balance between their national and personal concerns, UAE national women need to embrace advocacy roles (including those that arise through collaborations on the international stage) and set a vision whereby they become self-driven agents of change.