'Act For Women’s Equality' in the Middle East

Part 1 of 3

So I went to Dubai Expo 2020 last week & the first pavilion that caught my eye was the ‘Women’s pavilion.’ Dubai Expo 2020 has been advertised by the UAE since I first started travelling there back in 2015 so I definitely wanted to check it out. I was super curious as to what it was all about!

Upon entering I learnt it was advocating women’s equality & there were pictures all over the wall telling the stories of important historical female figures.

There was a sofa to sit on with ‘act for equality’ in big letters behind and they even had their own Instagram filter to post a pic (see below.)

This all got me thinking about the real truth behind women's equality in the Middle East…

We've all heard the stories of women just being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. Most people are aware that women cover their bodies with the abaya and sometimes their hair and face also.

For anyone that doesn’t know my story, I lived in Dubai for 4 years and lived with a muslim emirati man for 6 months. I saw the dynamics of male and female relationships extremely close up, not just in our household but with his family and friends also.

There were different extremes, just like relationships all over the world. Some of the men in the friendship group were very liberal and their girlfriends would talk about how liberal they were. others, especially the older men in the families, were so conservative that they would not even shake my hand. Some were uncomfortable looking me in the eye.

I remember going to my first big family lunch with the family in Sharjah. The family were all settled in Sharjah in large villas with swimming pools and maids. I wore my abaya but didn't cover my head. We had a lovely lunch, and they made an effort to speak to me in English. As we ended the gathering and I stood up to leave, I gave the aunties 4 kisses on the cheek, and I naturally went to shake the uncle's hands and they pulled them away from me. I felt so embarrassed. Such a massive culture difference.

I know that there is no such thing as equality for women in most, if not all, families and relationships in the Middle East. The rules are very clearly different for men and women and they always will be. No matter how 'westernised' the society becomes, fundamentally as muslims, the rules will always be unequal.

I will continue to explain why in my next 2 blogs, going into more specific detail and examples. Hope you find this topic as fascinating as I do!