Cultural Barriers for Women in Education in the United Arab Emirates - Research Paper Example

Cultural Barriers for Women in Education in the United Arab Emirates Abstract The study focuses on various cultural barriers within UAE that prevents women from attaining their educational and economic goals. In this case, there have been several government intervention programs that the policymakers adopt for the purposes of realizing the intended results in enacting educational policies. Such policies that focus on empowering women incorporate reinforcement of strategies dealing with education, workforce, and upgrade of relationships amongst public, private sectors and educational institutions. There are also effects on development of necessary measures within community based programs that incorporates training as part of investment in women. The literature review discusses various social, technological and economic challenges that contribute towards girl-child retardation in development issues within UAE society. There elaborate discussion on various implications of the study on the entire economy and social aspects, then finally the conclusion. Keywords: Culture, women, barriers, UAE Cultural Barriers for Women in Education in the United Arab Emirates Introduction The GCC countries are experiencing a booming economy and UAE is considered an Upper middle income country and such position alone attracts increased demand for workforce. Such increased awareness makes clients to demand more qualified employees for the purposes of meeting the needs of the population (UAE Interact, 2013). Generally, the profile of the workforce is defined by the destination countries and the source countries. In the Arab world, the countries in the GCC are destination countries as they have better work conditions compared to their immediate neighbours. Nonetheless because they are middle income countries, they also lose their own workforces to the developed countries in the west. UAE is experiencing mixed activities where it is a destination country, to the low income countries’ expatriates and a source country to the developed nations (UAE Interact, 2013). Building and developmental activities within any country requires collective efforts by both men and women. It is of profound importance that women participate in productivity without being left behind since this leads to an unbalanced rhythm of life (UNIFEM, 2004). In this case, women considering their education and employment opportunities are considered well-placed to impact country’s development within political, economical, educational as well as social sectors (UAE Interact, 2013). Currently, the world is experiencing a rise in the population of women as well as gradual educational opportunities that coincides with changes in traditional attitudes towards women role in the society. The works of Al-Adhab (1992), asserts that the rapidly changing needs of the UAE as a country calls for involvement of women who are required to broaden their understanding of work and active participation in the planning of development activities and careers. This study focuses on understanding of barriers that limit national women’s entry, as well as career progression. Such knowledge is important since it can be used in empowering national female educators. This ensures that women are considered as integral part of the workforce making their leadership roles a key factor towards realization of UAE government goal of Emiratisation (UNIFEM, 2004). This research study complements earlier researches by other authors by providing an additional dimension in considering cultural barriers that surround women education and participation in national development. The study remains significant since it explores national women in UAE as compared to women in other societies such as western society. The research also serves to add discourse on gender discrimination in education and work opportunities by exploring cited cultural barriers and their relevance for UAE women. Review of Literature Emirati Women and Cultural Influences on their Operations History reveals that UAE is in the process of transforming its formerly tribal Bedouin society into an emerging economy that is attracting the world’s attention (UNIFEM, 2004). For instance, Dubai one of the seven emirates countries is currently known as a financial hub, therefore, attracting expatriate workers as well as investors from all over the world. Abdulla (2006), observes that amidst all the developments, Emirati women previously known to be bound by cultural background are currently undergoing transition. This is attributable to foreign influences that has caused them adapt to changing identities while protecting both religious and cultural traditions. According to Al Gurg (2006), the UAE government has worked through legislative laws to ensure that there is provision for women rights through reforms. For example, there is an increase in cases of women entering new professional fields that are known to be technical and only suit men. At the same time, there is eminent and rapid expansion for women in higher education. The field of workforce also continues to absorb more women making the ration of females to males to increase. However, there are still some restrictions to some professions due to variation amongst the emirates in the support for advancement of women’s rights. To some extent, legal changes have led to acknowledgement of women’s pivotal role (Al-Adhab, 1992). Social disparities as well as gender biases have significant contribution towards subject choices in emirates. The culture has led towards “feminization” of certain fields of study. For example girls are discouraged from the study of science in the emirates outside of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Research by ECSSR (2002), shows that this aspect has made employers to devalue degrees from subjects that are traditionally associated with female. These subjects include humanities as well as social sciences which have been well documented in international research. Ultimately, regardless of the grade attained upon graduation, women are more likely to earn less as compared to men in addition to gender discrimination (Abdulla, 2006). Concerning economic rights of women in the UAE, Article 34 of the constitution provides every Emirati citizen with the right to freely choose their own occupation or profession within the domains of the law and subject to regulations on the chosen profession (Al Gurg, 2006). Conversely, Article 29 of the constitution prohibits involving women in physically or morally harmful work. There are also legislative laws that prevent women from working during night hours (Al-Adhab, 1992). Such provisions of the law hinder a woman’s right to freedom on choosing their profession, therefore, making women feel incapable of making independent decisions on health and safety. Further, Article 34 provides for the fact that a woman’s guardians shall be held responsible in the event that they consent to employment that violates law provisions. In such cases, women are treated as minors who must just be protected by their guardians. Therefore, guaranteeing guardians full control over female occupational choices (Al-Adhab, 1992). The perceptions in the public and private sector is that there is inclusion of women for the purposes of satisfying the regulations, therefore, making it difficult for Emirati women to advance beyond entry-level. The reality of the matter is that cultural barriers rather than legal constrain women from being associated with certain professions. Barriers to the use of ICT as a tool for the women empowerment The existing gender relations exert a strong influence towards the relationship between women and technology in ICT-related work. Implementation of ICT reproduces gender inequalities as can be seen in the broader Islamic society. In this case the ICT policies take into account the gendered roles as well as practices that influence operations within labour markets and households (Arun and Arun, 2002). ICT has the potential of giving boost to the economic, political as well as social empowerment irrespective of the gender divide that reflects lower numbers of women using ICT as compared to men (Sandys, 2005). There is a belief that ICT’s are designed and created within male-dominated environments that makes them not correspond to specific women needs. The aspect concerning disparities in access and application of ICTs by women and men is referred to as “gender digital divide” (Huyer and Mitter, 2003). In the gender digital divide, women’s capacity to fully embrace the new ICT as an empowerment tool is under numerous constraining rules and laws. Some of the constraints are linked to technical infrastructure, connection costs, proficiency in language as well as computer literacy. Most of these constraints are implicated to particularly disadvantage women. However, full potential of ICTs can only be realized in cases where gender dimensions within information technology are adequately addressed by all those involved. According to ICT development scholars, the sector is socially constructed in the manner that it impacts men and women differently (Hafkin, 2002). Such situation is considered worse in Islamic societies where women are socially, religiously as well as politically restricted as compared to other societies (Wheeler, 2004). Modernity and the Islamic Society There is the view that modernity is a way of thought and living within contemporary world that works alongside acceptance on change through integration of new ideas in different domains within the society (Munir, 2003). Modernization has rapidly spread into various parts of the world and has mostly become identified with Westernization as well as secularization (Munir, 2003). Those in Authority positions within UAE consider Internet as having culturally inappropriate content. This has made access to internet in the UAE to be tightly controlled and censored by the government in an effort to regulate exposure to certain thoughts and ideas (Arab Governments and the Internet, 2006). According to Hassan (2003), religion has been used as a tool by Arab authoritative governments to dis-empower women. There is mistrust on the use of ICTs as a tool of modernity since it is perceived as channel that is capable of corrupting their traditions, beliefs and values where women as the central players. Parental Influence on Female Decisions concerning Career In the UAE occupational roles are developed at childhood stage as a result of direct parental influence. Creamer and Laughlin (2005) shows that women personalize most impressions from the prevailing socio-cultural norms and peer groups that are directly influenced by their parents. Such gender expectations have a major influence in occupational decision-making and the process of recruitment selection. Parenting roles are gendered among men and women since they champion for the fact that men and women should accommodate their careers to spouse’s careers at different levels. In such cases, parents are considered as major players in educational and career decision making processes of their children. Further, parental influence on women education is most pronounced in patriarchal societies where women roles are subjugated (Cohen, 2006). Such stricter parental control within UAE society has negatively influenced women as compared to men. Research conducted by Hindi et al. (2008) concludes that authoritarian family environments results in proportionately more career indecisions for women than their men counterparts. Further, in such collectivist cultures that operate under close family ties, there is an eminent higher level of parental influence over female education that is considered “interference” (Dietrich and Kracke, 2009). Abdulla (2006) noted that the UAE region still considers national woman’s primary role to be in the family realm. This results from the culture that believes that it is haraam (‘sinful’) for women to closely interact with men that are not from their families. Such implies that it is not easy to involve women in vocational contexts that require frequent contact with men that include healthcare and hospitality sectors. Further, Harry (2007) noted that women working in public sector are considered as operating under less aib (‘shame’) as compared to those working in the private sector. There is the perception that women working in the private sector are failures, since they are not able to acquire employment in public sectors of the economy. Therefore, such beliefs make national women to be cautious in the process of choosing their occupations (Gallant and Pounder, 2008). However, nationalization programs that have been in place for many years throughout the GCC such as Omanization and Emiritization was as a result of a forecast realization that occurred in the early 90s that implicates that the public sectors of GCC countries were no longer able to take in all job-seeking nationals. Therefore, these programs aim to increase national workforce rather than depending on a non-national workforce to reduce national unemployment. Within the last five years, these nationalization programs became mandatory, especially in the UAE due to the 12% national unemployment rate (Al-Adhab, 1992). Influence of Emiritization on Emirati Women Emiritisation is an initiative started by the United Arab Emirates’ government to ensure employment to its citizens both in the private and public business sectors. This program has been in place in approximate ten years (Emirate24/7, 2011). Such initiative ensures that the Emirati citizens are employed in the job sector compared to the number of individuals that are non-citizens/expatriates. With an average unemployment rate of about 3.12 percent in the early and late 90’s, and a forecast of a much larger increase in unemployment, the government and leaders of the United Arab Emirates made a policy decision in an attempt to curb this major challenge to the economy. Thus, the Emiritization project was born; an initiative developed and promoted to secure suitable and sustainable employment for nationals of the United Arab Emirates (Munir, 2003). Emiritization refers to the process of ensuring employment of nationals of the United Arab Emirates as opposed to the employment of non-nationals, referred to as expatriates. Its major goal was to ensure equality and gender balance within government sectors through training and development of program initiatives targeting UAE citizens. The objective was to increase qualifications, credentials and work experience of natives including national women (Emirate24/7, 2011). It is notable that expatriates already formed 88% of the workforce by the year 2011 (Emirate24/7, 2011). This represents a significant proportion of the working population when Emiritization was initiated in order to push Emiratis into becoming competitive working individuals and creating an enlightened and vigorous workforce of the indigenous population in an expatriate-dominated working environment. This was achievable through an effectively structured and efficient education system, the provision of training centered on skill sets, competencies, abilities and positive work ethics that were relevant in the labor market (Munir, 2003). Designed for the recruitment of nationals in the public and private sectors through the most meaningful and effective way, the Emiritization program has only been able to account for success in the public sector. According to the Ministry of Labor (2007), the process of Emiritization has only been successful in government and banking sectors as nationals only represent 0.5% of the private sector workforce It is an important consideration to note that the government and leaders of the UAE have been entirely in support and in agreement of the initiatives and ideas aimed at propagating welfare and development of UAE women (Ministry of Labor, 2007). Hence, when it was brought to light that other developed and developing countries had one form of nationalization program or the other, those at the helm in the UAE were compelled to introduce the UAE’s very own nationalization initiative that focuses on empowering women education. Described as being socially and politically responsible, various government programs such as the Emiritization program paved the way for the government to be unburdened by the need to develop a pension and benefit system. In addition to creating a competitive work environment characterized by motivation within non-nationals or expatriates and nationals into establishing and proving their best, another key factor of the Emiritization project was to inculcate the Emirati culture via UAE nationals in order to aid the private sector with the basic understanding of the traditions and business values of the United Arab Emirates (ECSSR, 2002). Application Despite the positive practices identified the pressures of a traditional society offer constraints to most national women from working based on societal values that expects women to be married off at early age. Such practice requires that involvement of women should only be in raising families. In the UAE, social requirements such as gender segregation limit work environments in recruiting high percentage of national women in full time jobs (American Embassy, 1993). In most cases, majority of the national women cease employment once they marry and at the same time do not continue their education after secondary school or first degree. According to reports by ECSSR (2002), studies conducted at Dubai Women’s College recorded that in 1996 out of over 140 graduates only 8 were pursuing further studies. This shows that cultural considerations present a great barrier towards career choices as well as planning for UAE national women. There are a number of problems encountered in private sector and government ministries in UAE concerning national women employment (Munir, 2003). This is since national women prefer living with their families away from city centers. In this society, it is socially unacceptable for women to work and live alone away from home and family. Such case requires companies to hire women to work in the UAE but not allowing the posting of national women employees in foreign countries (American Embassy, 1993). However, there is need for change in these traditional attitudes since more women are currently becoming more educated due to the government’s efforts to encourage female employment. There is need to shift role of women in the UAE from traditional housewife to educated career professional. One of the greatest challenges towards such developments concerns how to incorporate the traditional Islamic philosophy and values in the process of educating women and including them into workforce in roles beneficial to the society and themselves (ECSSR, 2002). From historical perspective, college education is regarded as the channel that ensures more fulfilling employment opportunities (Al-Adhab, 1992). In this case, the entrance of UAE national women into workforce is considered as a natural progression. There has been an increase in the number of women employees in the public sector in female dominated sectors such as education and health since 1990s. According to research by ECSSR (2002), women accounts for greater percentage in some traditional occupation areas. For instance in the year 2002 women accounted for 74% of nursery school teachers, 38% of primary school teachers as well as 32% of intermediate and secondary school teachers. In the health sector, women accounted for 54% of total number of employees (ECSSR, 2002). This shows that the health sector provides women with opportunities that engage them in career planning as well as assuming leadership roles. However, there is need for effective training and mentoring opportunities required to ensure full exploitation of women potential. Conclusion The need to increase women’s participation in developmental activities through education requires a multi-pronged approach capable of addressing attitudinal and socio-cultural barriers within UAE society. For instance, the implementation of national action plan at some point addresses barriers to women’s education and employment opportunities while reflecting contexts as well as societal needs. From the research it is evident that prevailing cultural and social norms to a larger extent determines socially acceptable roles for women. As revealed in the study, cultural stigmas act as potential barriers on women participation within certain sectors. This discourages women towards adopting mixed-gender occupations outside careers traditionally dominated by females. The eradication of gender inequalities in both political and economic spheres is an inclusion in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNIFEM, 2004). Currently, the Arab government has continued to develop institutional frameworks aiming at helping to empower women, therefore, encouraging them in their careers. Family conflicts have contributed much to resignations and termination of employment for many Emirati women. There is a tendency for more women joining the public sector rather than private since it is considered more respectable by society and involves shorter working hours. It is also evident that local men often show more respect to foreign women other than local in the workplace. This is since such foreign women are not subject to traditional cultural stigma associated with Emirati women. The world has stressed the importance of education for many years and referred to it as the key to female empowerment. Currently, the UAE government has prioritized education in the long-term development agendas. However, before implementation of the current ambitious education strategies, the nation was under discriminatory legislation that was ratified by traditionally conservative governments that lowered the status of women. Additionally, there were legal barriers that prohibited men and women from operating in same public space and at the same time restricting political and economic participation. There exists segregated schooling system that operates under discriminatory matriculation policies and limited career guidance that pose as barriers. According to Werbner (2007), the prevalence of Islamic fundamentalism within Arab region is identifiable by immense increase in the number of women and young ladies, working class and those still studying in different institutions. This study reveals various ambiguities and other negativities associated with politics of gender segregation within education sector as well as other sectors of the economy. Such issues surrounding girl-child education was traditionally given less attention, therefore, thwarting every effort by women to contribute significantly to the society, especially in the Arab World (Connolly, 2000). Consequently, the implications work in association with endless politics on multiculturalism. This article argues on the same line of publicity surrounding various symbolic practices on religious platforms. 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