Abstract

At first glance Emirati women can appear shallow and preoccupied with themselves. To an outsider unfamiliar with the UAE, seeing these women descend on shopping malls in swarms of black Abayas, adorned with glitzy trinkets and designer accessories often brings on feelings of disbelief and aversion. They seem an impermeable breed of aloof, idle, spoilt, and comfort seeking creatures, unwilling to assert themselves and prevail upon the world in ways that have become raison d’être for most Western women. But this is only one side of the story of Emirati women, a story that is fast waning and a superficial echo of a past that is being superseded by a new emerging reality. There is a new breed of Emirati women who are fiercely ambitious, focused, and driven to succeed in a context traditionally exclusive to men. These women are nothing like the stereotype that visitors so easily assume at first glance. They are very real and relatable. Their danger lies not in their womanly wiles but in their determination and desire to be top contenders in the dynamically shifting social climate of their country.