all the time people are reading things like the Daily Mail (notice how the reports about Princess Haya use lots of words like ‘allegedly’ and ‘reportedly’?!)
There's nothing 'alleged' about the fact that Princess Haya was seeking a non-forced marriage order for her child in the UK high court. It's a matter of public record, and reported by all the broadsheets.
The UAE has jumped 23 positions to 26th in the 2019 UNDP Gender Equality Index making it the highest ranked Arab country in the world.
The UNDP index, as I'm sure you're aware, is a blunt instrument based on (1) life-expectancy, (2) maternal mortality, (3) education and (4) numbers of women in government.
If we substitute 'ineffective advisory forum directly or indirectly appointed by the hereditary rulers' for 'government', UAE women look fine on all of these, for obvious reasons.
What the UNDP doesn't gauge is whether you can report rape or spousal violence safely, whether you are disadvantaged by your sex in the event of divorce (you automatically relinquish custody of your children if you are a woman who remarries), whether it's likely someone cut out your clitoris when you were five, whether you need to have a male 'guardian' in adulthood who is required to sign off on your marriage, and your right to leave the country etc etc.
I work in a senior role in the public sector. I am surrounded daily by Emirati women, the vast majority of whom are incredibly well educated, intelligent, articulate, confident and ambitious. I think most of them would find the idea that they are in some way repressed quite amusing.
I'm quite sure that's true. The Emiratis you are likely to meet at work in your position are never going to be in any way critical of the status quo. The insanely cosseted position of the luckier Emirati citizens (urban, with the right tribal connections, not the bidoun, or the lawyers, teachers, judges, journalists who have made the fact that they would like to live in a democracy clear, or those unlucky enough to be related to them), and the Emiratisation drive, means that the women you work with are kept uncritical by being bankrolled by the government at every stage in their lives,and seeing what happens to those who step out of line.
Would you toddle about being vocal about your own dissatisfaction with the UAE status quo when doing so is illegal and has serious consequences,including imprisonment, refusal of the right to travel, and being deprived of your citizenship?
The UNDP index also, of course, only considers female Emirati citizens, not the migrant domestic and other labour which makes up the vast majority of the UAE population, or those women in tribal areas who didn't get their papers in order when the UAE became independent,and their families.
One question for you, @PrimeraVez -- would you go to the police to report being raped in the UAE?