Emarati Women and Education in United Arabs Emirates

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Discrimination on level of education as well as gender
Conclusion
Reference list

Introduction

United Arab Emirates is greatly determined in ensuring that the role of women in developing the country is acknowledged in all levels. The Country’s constitution has provided clauses that ensure there are equal rights for both men and women. Fundamental women rights have been clearly stated in saharjah or what is referred as Moslem law. HH Sheikha Fatima bent Mubarak who is wife to President of united Arabs Emirates, have been one of the main activists in ensuring that women are engaged in national development. One of her main efforts is ensuring that women have fully been educated. Currently the rate of literacy among women almost equals that of men. Women are enrolling for university courses at a higher rate more than men (Kjeilen, 2009, Par. 3). However, education has suffered from gender discrimination and lack of proper government support.

Education has empowered women to make their decisions independently. For a long time women had been relying on men when it came to making decisions with regards to house or national issues. Today, there is a common belief within the country that when one educates a man he or she educates an individual. However, educating a woman means educating a family as women are more responsible compared to men. The country had been dominated by conservatives who could not just allow women to be educated in the country (Salloum, 2003, P.3). United Nations statistics have proved that currently, the country is leading in the world among those countries that have invested in women education. This has been greatly improved by the support from the government and establishment of women movements that advocate for female education. Constitution provisions that women be accorded equal rights with men has also been a contributing factor in ensuring that more women have enrolled for education in the country.

Discrimination on level of education as well as gender

Education has been made free for all genders from primary school to university. There have been establishment of clauses that makes it compulsory for girl child to be accorded education till at the sixth grade. However, government has been reluctant in ensuring that education has been provided as per the constitution. A woman; who is denied the right to education by her brothers or father is not protected by the law. The system of education is mostly dominated by gender isolation. Education materials such as textbooks are provided by the government and academic freedom is curtailed. All Muslims are subjected to go through Islamic education. The education emphasizes on girls taking their roles as wives and mothers. Schools that are perceived to go against this system of education are forced to close.

One of the problems that have rocked female education in United Arabs Emirates for a long time was discrimination of women on level of education attainment. Men had been dominating in deciding careers for their women with women not being allowed to learn some of the subjects. Despite constitution providing for the rights of women in choosing professions, the kind of profession they choose have to be within the set guidelines. Today women are being encouraged to take any subject that they feel to be best suited. They are no longer limited on the kind of career fields to specialize in. Women were not being seen participating in teaching careers as well as doctors. Today, women are not only becoming teachers and doctors but there are numerous women taking leadership roles in the country. According to a research, it has proved that for every three technicians, pharmacists, administrators and doctors, one of them is a woman. Women are making approximately twenty percent of the workforce in the country. Most of women ahs been seen to occupy places in government jobs (Salloum, 2003, P. 1).

Even though many women are enrolling for formal education, family restrictions have been seen as the main reason why there are many unemployed women. Men have been very influential in determining the kind of profession women have to pursue. Women have not been allowed to work in institutions that are not gender isolated leading to their areas of specialization with respect to education being narrowed down. For instance, for a long time, women have not been allowed to study law. The major argument had been that the career involves working and interacting with men which is against their culture. Women were compelled to study in areas to do with teaching as they were the major areas that observed gender segregation. Some ministries could not accept to employ women with their husbands allowing it. Development of women movements have helped in overcoming most of these discriminations that have been directed towards women for along time. Many women are now being employed in sectors that were formally regarded as for male (Al-Muttawa, 2009, Par. 3-5).

The gap between women and men studying in United Arabs Emirates is quite palpable. There are more women than men in all universities. The main reason is not because men opt to pursue their studies abroad nor most of them are assimilated in the military. Women are not allowed to earn an income in the country. For those who do, their proceeds are considered as non-refundable income. Having been relieved the burden of catering for living; they opt to continue with their education completing their degrees and registering for further studies. This makes the number of women in universities high (Kirdar, 2009, P. 9). This has not gone without being influenced by gender discrimination. In spite of women having all the time to pursue their education, they have not been allowed to major in some areas such as sciences. This has resulted in employers regarding their degrees as poor. Consequently women have been seen to earn poorly compared to men due to positions they occupy in working environment.

Formal, informal education and government support

There was negligence of establishment of informal sectors of education to cater for women in the country. This was mainly due to most women focusing their interest in formal sectors of education which they believed could earn them nice jobs in the country. With time, Women’s Federation of the United Arabs Emirates has developed various informal sectors that cater for women education. There is still need for informal education to be provided in the country. Statistics shows that women have greatly take part in formal education provided in the country. They have been seen to perform brilliantly in their studies compared to men in most of the fields. According to Sheikh Fatima, women are entitled to perform well in education to compensate for the years they were marginalized. She asserts that for many years women were denied the right to education and now it is their time to enjoy the privilege (State University. Com, 2009, Par. 2).

For many years, government and other organs of leadership did not value female education. Women were marginalized and could not participate in any national affairs. Enduring and strong support from the government today, on women education in the country has led to many women participating in national affairs. The support led to establishment of Zayed University for women in the year 1998. Despite the number of educated women not being so big, United Arabs Emirates women are currently being employed as university lecturers, civil servants, engineers as well as lawyers. A legal framework, alone could have not managed to see great levels of liberation being enjoyed by women today. Non-formal education programs considerably facilitated in alleviating problems that women were going trough. On realizing that there was great need for management at the grassroots, Sheikh Fatima came up with the first women association in 1973 which was referred to as Abu Dhabi Women’s Society. The success of this society led to development of other women societies in the country. To date, these societies play greater role in helping women realize and nurture their potentials (State University.com, 2009, Par. 5).

The government has also introduced strong incentives to facilitate in encouraging more women to take part in education. Discrimination in education as well as in job market scared away most women. They did not see the essence of getting educated as they resulted in being employed in low income jobs while others ended up being unemployed. On realizing the potentials that women had in developing the country, United Arabs Emirates government sought for ways to attract more women to enroll for education. The government came up with new policies that favored women participation in education. As a result, more women have enrolled for schools and have been seen to perform well compared to men (Stensgaard, 2003, Par. 2).

Despite women liberation in United Arabs Emirates, there has been a significant disparity between women and men on issues to do with employment. Most of better educated women have not been assimilated in higher jobs within the country. This has led to stakeholders looking for methods to reduce the disparity. After evaluating some of the methods used by other countries, the country has embarked on coming up with a continuing education program that covers the whole country. This is aimed at developing more professional women. The program is offered in all Higher Colleges of technology.

Insights gained from doing this research paper

Women play significant role in developing any nation. Their role, however, can be curtailed by gender discrimination practiced in most countries. Negligence from the government can also lead to women being marginalized in matters to do with nation building. Gender discrimination with respect to subjects and levels of education to be attained by women has been a major reason why women have not be involved in development agendas of most countries. Men have been influential in determining what subjects to be taken by women. This has led to women not being in most of the key job sectors that sees development of a country. Poor government regulations have also contributed to this problem not being solved. Despite there being some regulations that guarantees for equal education opportunities between male and female, little has been done by the government to ensure that people go as per the regulations. Many women have been influenced by men to study in areas they did not prefer without government taking any action to control this.

To curb this problem, there is need for government and other stakeholders to pool together there efforts in ensuring that more women are encouraged to participate in education programs. Some of the methods to use include provision of free education to all genders as it is in United Arabs Emirates. Establishment of stern rules and implementing them accordingly can also be so effective as they would cut on discrimination that greatly prevail in education systems of most countries.

Roles of an advisor

Women can do most of the work done by men in today’s world of business some times even better than men. To convince men folk of this idea is one of the most difficult tasks an advisor can opt to take. As an advisor, there is great need for organization of workshops where you can bring together men and women and try to hear from each group’s point of view. Men in United Arabs Emirates need to know that by denying women an opportunity to participate in some fields they deny their country a great opportunity to prosper. This has been evident in other countries such as United States of America where ladies participate in all organs of economy and education. The advisor needs to explain to the government how neglecting to implement stipulated laws on women education can be detrimental to the country.

Conclusion

Gender discrimination is one of the major factors that have slowed development in most of the developing countries. This is because it hampers the enormous potential that women have in accelerating development of any country. From the study, one understands the need of ensuring that every girl child in his community is entitled to education. The education needs not to be influenced by men. Every one is supposed to be allowed to choose her line of specialization depending on her interests.

Reference list

Al-Muttawa, S., K. (2009). Economic Rights And Equal Opportunity. Web.

Kirdar S. (2009). Women’s Rights In The Middle East And North Africa United. Web.

Kjeilen, T. (2009). United Arab Emirates /Education. Web.

Salloum, H. (2003). Women in the United Arab Emirates. Web.

States University.com. (2009). United Arab Emirates – Nonformal Education. Web.

Stensgaard, A. (2003). Women in the UAE workforce on the increase with rising education levels. Web.

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