A Critical Study of Women's Empowerment: United Arab Emirates (Dissertation Sample)

A Critical Study of Women's Empowerment: United Arab Emirates, A case studyNameSupervisorInstitutionDate
Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Abbreviations and Acronyms PAGEREF _Toc461445311 \h 3Acknowledgement PAGEREF _Toc461445312 \h 4Abstract PAGEREF _Toc461445313 \h 5CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc461445314 \h 71.1 Aim of the Study PAGEREF _Toc461445315 \h 71.2 Objective of the study PAGEREF _Toc461445316 \h 81.3 Research Problem PAGEREF _Toc461445317 \h 81.4 Hypothesis PAGEREF _Toc461445318 \h 91.5 Significance of the study PAGEREF _Toc461445319 \h 92. CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc461445320 \h 102.1.1 Islam’s influences on women’s advancement PAGEREF _Toc461445321 \h 102.1.2 Qualification versus employment PAGEREF _Toc461445322 \h 112.1.3 Factors influencing barriers to women advancement PAGEREF _Toc461445323 \h 122.1.4 Use of virtual media to promote women issues PAGEREF _Toc461445324 \h 132.1.5 Progress of women empowerment PAGEREF _Toc461445325 \h 142.1.6 Gap in the Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc461445326 \h 172.2 Theoretical Framework PAGEREF _Toc461445327 \h 182.2.1 Patriarchal perceptions of women PAGEREF _Toc461445328 \h 182.3 Research Methodology and Design PAGEREF _Toc461445329 \h 222.3.1 Why the UAE PAGEREF _Toc461445330 \h 222.3.2 Data collection PAGEREF _Toc461445331 \h 22CHAPTER 3: Gender Development in the UAE PAGEREF _Toc461445332 \h 263.1 Gender Inequality Index in the UAE PAGEREF _Toc461445333 \h 26Table 1: Gender inequality index in the UAE PAGEREF _Toc461445334 \h 27CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS PAGEREF _Toc461445335 \h 304.1 Discussion PAGEREF _Toc461445336 \h 304.2 State-sponsored women’s empowerment PAGEREF _Toc461445337 \h 304.3 Lack of female mentorship and role models PAGEREF _Toc461445338 \h 334.4 Lack of Female Networking PAGEREF _Toc461445339 \h 38CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION PAGEREF _Toc461445340 \h 415.1 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc461445341 \h 415.2 Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc461445342 \h 43References PAGEREF _Toc461445343 \h 45Appendix 1: List of Influential Arab women PAGEREF _Toc461445344 \h 50Appendix 2: Interview 1 PAGEREF _Toc461445345 \h 51Appendix 3: Interview 2 PAGEREF _Toc461445346 \h 55
Abbreviations and Acronyms
MMR -Maternal mortality ratio
ABR - Adolescent birth rate
PR- Share of parliamentary seats held by each sex
LFPR - Labour market participation rate
Acknowledgement
First, I will to sincerely thank my mother............. who has always encouraged me to pursue higher education and a professional career against all social and cultural challenges. Her love and willingness to go an extra mile to make sure that I was had everything that I needed so that I could concentrate on completing my dissertation has been second to none. In addition, I will to thank my father by always standing by me and believing in me to achieve academic success. Furthermore, I thank all my family members and friends for their continued support as I continue pursuing my ambitions.
I also acknowledge the influence, mentorship, and guidance that my dissertation tutor ------- has accorded me. He has guided me through the entire process of putting this dissertation together and often gave me advice that helped me to improve on the quality of my work. Without him, this could have not been possible. Likewise also, I would to sincerely thank the Academy of Diplomacy of Loughborough University London and its staff of professors that the honour of learning from. In this regard, profoundly thank ................for their lessons and all the learning opportunities that they created that have helped to achieve education excellence.
I would like to also appreciate all the interview respondents who helped me complete this dissertation by sparing their time away from their busy schedule to share their experiences, thoughts, and opinion regarding the status of women in the UAE.
Lastly, I will like to specially thank professor........... who helped me throughout my time at Loughborough University London. He/she was friendly, easy to approach, and gave me basic information about the institution and London, which helped me settle quickly.
Abstract
Women discrimination and under-representation in the workforce is a global issue that is impairing human and society development because societies are not utilizing women full potential. Even the most frequently considered countries like the United States of America has not given women equal opportunities of employment and participation in the workforce as their male counterparts. For instance Hoobler, Lemmon, and Wayne (2011) found that women comprised of 46.5 percent of the American labour force in 2008. The found that although 51 percent of these women had professional jobs and held managerial positions, women that had titles of chief operating officer (COO), chairman, executive vice-president (EVP), and , chief executive officer (CEO) remained at about seven percent of the American population executives. Hoobler et al. (2011) argued that women’s representation in middle and lower management ranks has rapidly grown in the last decade; women are still under-represented in upper management. Although global initiatives have been formed empower women’s progress around the world, women’s advancement towards breaking through the glass ceiling in modern senior leadership position has not achieved much.
Gender inequality continues to be one of the major challenges in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), country is frequently considered one of the most westernized nations in the Middle East. To the outsiders, and most studies, the UAE’s gender inequality is attributed to religious interpretations that have prevented women’s participation in the Emirati labour market. As a result, women are under-represented in important leadership and managerial positions because they are either assigned to subordinate duties or confined to their homes to take care of their families. One of the consequences of women under-representation in decision-making processes, especially in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is implementation of male biased policies and approach to conflict resolution, which are often characterized by the nation to exert dominance as opposed to negotiations.
Mothers in most Muslim countries, including the UAE, often groom young girls to believe that their most important roles as women is to home-making, children bearing and looking after their husbands. This approach fits perfectly within a patriarchal society which tends to discriminate women to some roles considered to fit the women nature. However, since the UAE is considered a westernized country, it is supposed to accord women opportunities, similar to those given to in Western countries to pursue professional careers. On the contrary, Emirati women’s progress is impaired by cultural aspects and Islamic traditions that promote the notion that women’s most solemn and fundamental role is a good mother, wife, and tending to house chores.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Although the UAE government has given women access to higher education through local universities and sponsoring other to pursue education in Western Universities, women professionals are struggling to find employment in the UAE labour market. Although more than seventy percent of Emirati graduates are men, there are more unemployed women than men (Madsen, 2010). Therefore, gender is more important than merit or education qualification for job seekers. According to Bitar (2010) the UAE leadership has endeavoured to support women’s empowerment but women’s progress is impaired by social obstacles and society’s perception of women.
1.1 Aim of the Study
This study aims to highlight the gap in women’s representation in the UAE’s Ministry of foreign affairs and other managerial or high ranking positions of leadership. UAE’s customs and way of life is based on patriarchal male-dominated cultural traditions. These traditions have been further fortified by biased religious interpretations that favour men and confine women to their homes (Omair, 2008). As a result, there is a general perception that women that tend to work outside of their home oppose not only the Islamic law, but also the Quran. Therefore, the fate of women’s development is often decided by a number unwritten or coded social moral within the male-dominated society.
This study also seeks to highlight the influence women in diplomacy. As aforementioned, social barriers tend to limit, if not exclude them from being positions of power to influence policy. Therefore, this study will delve deeper into finding whether Emirati women contribute in decision-making processes or they are just mere pone in public diplomacy. In order to have a wider perspective of this objective, the study will include women’s empowerment in other countries, especially in the West.
1.2 Objective of the study
The objective of this study is highlight that although the UAE is one of the most westernized countries in the Middle East, Emirati women do not have equal employment opportunities like their male counterparts despite the fact that there are more female women graduating from universities than men. After establishing the glass ceiling aspect of men and women in Emirati labour market, the study will explore why women are under-represented despite the state sponsored women’s empowerment and other women empowerment programs founded and run by some of the most influential Arab women. Therefore, the study seeks to explore women’s under-representation outside the usually cited ‘Islam factor.’
1.3 Research Problem
The world, and especially the Muslim world, has brought up women to believe that their most important role to both their society and nation is child-bearing and homemaking. This perception has give...