By Aisha Al Hameli ~
Half way along the Arabian Gulf, far and wide apart from each other in the location of convergence of revolution and tradition, United Arab Emirates women are writing a new page—redrawing the book on inspiration, on motherhood, on leadership. From the multi-national corporation boardroom to the walls of the art gallery, from the yoga mat to the schoolroom, Emirati women are not only a part of the rebirth of the country—she is spearheading it.
It’s not the outcome of fortune in UAE Vision for an entrepreneurship-driven, future-facing nation, women as business and beyond leaders. Instead, it’s the product of policy vision, faith in culture, and leadership by pathfinder women to shape the nation’s lifestyle and identity for all.
A Surge in Women Entrepreneurship
Enter any UAE souk, coffee shop, or wellness business today and the chances are greater than likely there is a female CEO. Female entrepreneurship has never been more powerful, particularly in lifestyle sectors such as fashion, wellness, hospitality, and tech. Women hold almost 50% of SME licenses issued in the UAE, reports the UAE Ministry of Economy.
Programs like Emirates Women Award and She Means Business by Facebook and Dubai Business Women Council are empowering women through the exposure of it, training them, and providing them with seed capital. They have Sara Al Madani, Emirati serial businesswoman whose technology and fashion companies capture the essence of tradition and innovation at the center of being Emirati.
They are not profit-making business organizations. They are storyplaces—narrative heritage in embroidery, hospitality in Bedouin-style hospitality, and empowerment in work form.
Pathfinding in Education and Healthcare
Though it gets all the limelight, the reality is that millions of women work behind the scenes to produce entire healthcare and education sectors. Women graduating from UAE universities at a pass rate of over 70% end up becoming teachers, policy-makers, and healthcare practitioners.
Change agents Dr. Fatima Al Dhaheri, specialist in pediatrics and public health, and Dr. Mona Al Bahar, specialist in education and social work, have been performing at the level of public awareness in well-being, mental well-being, and lifelong learning. They are contributing to UAE Vision 2031 goals of an empathic knowledge society.
Wellness and Well-being Lifestyle Movement
Later years saw the UAE wellness economy take off, and the ladies have been leading the way. From boutique Dubai Marina gyms to Abu Dhabi holistic healing centers, wellness entrepreneurs have been integrating old Emirati wisdom with best-practice global best practice.
Women like Sheikha Majda Al Mualla, whose success story is that of The Hundred Wellness Centre, confirm this movement towards holistic, human-centered well-being. Such wellness centers are not spas—these are refuge for body and psychic strength.
With diet, stress reduction, and mental health education, such women have spaces which weave in well-being as intersubjective, environmentally sound living.
Constructing Arts and Cultural Narratives
From Nabati poetry legacy to contemporary art in Alserkal Avenue, women are writing the UAE cultural history. Women such as Fatma Lootah and Najat Makki put Emirati narratives in faces of the world, and fresh faces put the narrative on identity, gender, and social change.
Literally, success such as the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature puts one’s mind thinking of women of literature, usually writers whose literature outlives them.
Advocacy, Sustainability, and Social Impact
No longer artists and businesswomen anymore, Emirati women today are social activists and eco-warriors. They are ecologists such as Bahrain Women’s Environment Society founder Reem Al Mealla and UAE social media influencers who practice what they preach in being a sustainability practitioner with advocacies for anti-plastic wars, sea creature rescue missions, and becoming an eco-aware consumer.
Civically, women are organizing for gender justice in MENA, orphan empowerment, and refugee resilience. E7 Daughters of the Emirates and Women for Women International UAE empower next-generation women leaders and civic participation of the next generation of women.
The Road Ahead
The UAE’s institutional empowerment of women is concrete and actual rather than symbolic. Political law has reacted to maternity leave, political equality within the workforce, and political citizenship. The UAE set the pace in making the country a model of gender equality in the country when it issued a decree in 2019 for women to occupy a minimum of 50% of the seats in the Federal National Council.
