Would you live in Dubai ?

[Lardlizard]

?

I’ve lived here for ten years and have no plans to leave any time soon, so yes.

Some of the misconceptions on here are amazing. The UAE is one of the most positive, diverse and hospitable places I have ever been. The government is moving forward at breakneck speed to push things like female empowerment, sustainability best practice and religious tolerance.

This is a country that is less than 50 years old but recently sent its first citizen to space and has a higher percentage of women in government than the UK.

Come here and see for yourself before you pass judgement. And I don’t just mean come and stay in a flashy 5* hotel (yep, we have plenty of those because tourism is a far more sensible and sustainable economic driver than oil)

Come and talk to the 200+ nationalities that are so proud to call Dubai home. Where their families thrive and they have opportunities they would never even dream of in their own country.

No way. I wouldn't even go for a free holiday.,

@Inkana where do you holiday?

Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum's wife, Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein, is the third female member of his court to apparently try to run away. This month she was reported to be in hiding in London and is said to be in fear for her life.

Yes. This is not good either.

I’m amazed at how many people actively burrow into their bubble, refusing to risk any contact with “different”.

I would never go there for any reason

I’m amazed at how many people actively burrow into their bubble, refusing to risk any contact with “different”.

What do you mean by that?

Certainly not. Have been there and seen how the staff from India are treated. The women are completely covered up also. I went into a shop and they wouldn't acknowledge me only my Husband. So no! Not on your Nelly!!!

Terrible Human rights recors, Sexism. Racism, terrible environemental impact, all about the money. No absolutely not.

@HulksPurplePanties I wouldn't think there are that many people on Mumsnet who would have been in a position to influence government in 1971!

@BigPinkFlower different cultures/religions/areas of the world have very different ways of thinking about things. There are multiple posts on this thread from people who actively avoid places where things are too different from their normal. Does that help? Sorry I thought my first post was clear.

There are multiple posts on this thread from people who actively avoid places where things are too different from their normal.

No they avoid Dubai- that isn't the same
No-one has suggested that they avoid all places where something is different.

I can assure you I don’t suffer from any ‘misconceptions’, @PrimeraVez. I lived in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

You’re being very disingenuous when you talk about ‘government’. There’s a very limited role for a federal advisory body whose advice is not legally binding, and which is appointed by the hereditary rulers of each emirate, but political parties are banned, there’s no opposition, and the seven hereditary rulers have all the effective power.

And if the UAE rulers are so desperate to forward women’s empowerment, why not alter the laws to make spousal rape and wife-beating illegal, and to prosecute rape, rather than viewing it as illegal extramarital sex and viewing the victim as equally guilty? Why not stamp out FGM? A survey suggests 34% of Emirati women have had FGM performed on them, and it’s a popular destination for FGM ‘tourism’.

And as a pp has pointed out, that the ruler of Dubai’s most recent wife, and two of his daughters have escaped or tried to escape does not speak highly of the ‘empowerment’ of women.

If you all had lofty ideas about governance in 1971 you probably should have enforced it then.

Isn't the average age on here mid 30s? Difficult to enforce anything much when you're minus fifteen.

Canapes - well put. That kind of sums it up.

I’ve lived here for ten years and have no plans to leave any time soon, so yes.

So at what point do things become the norm and you stop questioning them?

How much media censorship is there? There is internet censorship of certain websites in Dubai

I lived in Egypt for 3 years. Nothing would drag me back to the Middle East

How much media censorship is there? There is internet censorship of certain websites in Dubai

No porn sites at any rate.

I do roll my eyes at these threads. There was a thread where a poster was considering going to Uzbekistan recently. Well, MNetters just raved it about it. Claims that this was now the top of bucket lists, flights being booked, people were just tripping over themselves to claim they couldn't wait to get there as it looked so amazing. Someone posted a detailed post about the terrible human rights record of this country - which was largely ignored. I did some research myself. Just google "human rights Uzbekistan" if you want to know more. Dreadful human trafficking situation going on there too. You'd never know it from reading MN though. If that thread is to be believed, half on MN will be wandering round the mosques there this summer. You can also google Uzbekistan Mumsnet and find multiple threads where it's being recommended as a destination too.

The moaning about Dubai on here is hypocritical and smacks of reverse snobbery in my opinion.

It wont be half of MN though will it? There are thousands of posters on here and no reason to assume there's any crossover whatsoever between those on the two threads unless you recognise usernames. If so, fair enough on the double standards point, but not otherwise.

I didn't suggest there was any crossover from this thread. That said I'm surprised there wasn't in reverse though whether from this thread or the multiple other UAE bashing threads that appear regularly and get the same reception every time. People who go to the UAE are vacuous chavs with more money than sense and decent people would never go there and there is never a shortage of posters stating this. Uzbekistan fine though as well as various other countries with abysmal human rights records. Why no criticism on those threads? That's a rhetorical question btw, I don't expect you to know the answer.

If you're not suggesting there's any crossover, how exactly can it be hypocritical?

The moaning about Dubai on here is hypocritical and smacks of reverse snobbery in my opinion

I meant generally on MN as a whole including this thread. Perhaps should have been clearer but didn't think it was that difficult to understand tbh.

It’s acceptable to express fairly blinkered anti-middle-East views now. I can understand taking against a country because you abhor their behaviour. I feel fairly uninspired by the US, for example, because I find Trump so very unattractive and I wouldn’t choose to go there. But different cultures DO behave differently. Aren’t you honestly interested in seeing and learning about different cultures?

different cultures/religions/areas of the world have very different ways of thinking about things. There are multiple posts on this thread from people who actively avoid places where things are too different from their normal. Does that help? Sorry I thought my first post was clear.

What's wrong with gay people not wanting to visit somewhere it's illegal to be gay, or women not wanting to visit somewhere that rape victims can be prosecuted? Allowing FGM seems like more than a different way of thinking about things.

No, I refuse to even go there on holiday. Not my cup of tea