Flight Stories: Women in UAE

A new article in a new potential series of articles. During your flight there are always loads of people to meet. You will sit next to someone for a couple of hours and all those people have their own story. It is also a good moment to learn from places around the world in a different perspective.

This first article is based on a story from a Sri Lankan woman, who I will call Silvia for now. She is living and working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi. As you may expect your live in the UAE isn’t easy if you aren’t Muslim but as a woman it can be even worse. The stories she told us were quiet shocking.

Silvia

The UAE is a country where a lot of the traditions that are coming from being a Muslim is brought back in their laws. For example, during Ramadan period it is forbidden to drink or eat in public. To overcome this problem, Silvia is carrying a water bottle and some food with her, that she can only eat and drink when she locks herself into a toilet. There is no other occasion where she is able to eat or drink in public.

This is one of the direct impacts the country has on her life. Another thing what is still common are death sentences. The only difference is with a death sentence here than in for example America is that this can still happen in public. Publicly on a square the head from a criminal can be chopped of. If the crime is for example only stealing, then your hand will be chopped off in the middle of the square in public.

At this point you maybe think, okay I can still avoid those squares, or I choose to live there when it is Ramadan. However, if you grow up in this country it gets even worse. Especially as a woman.

Local traditions

First of course it is normal as man to have multiple wives. This only works if you are rich. To be able to get a second wife, your first wife needs to agree on this and you need to give her everything what the second wife gets. So, this means probably an extra house, car, maid and so on. If as a man you want a third wife, you need to do this again for the previous two. So that means you need to buy 3 houses in total and so on. So yes, this happens a lot but only for the very rich.

Worst is probably the perception and even in law that women have to wear a scarf. They don’t have a choice on this. There are reports from for example women, who made pictures of themselves on Instagram. Their scarf was a bit loose and the police put them in jail for this. Or even worse, a woman who did this on her holiday in Europe and when she came back she was put in jail for this.

I shouldn’t be here to judge this, and Vivian was only working here because she gets better paid than in Sri Lanka. However, don’t expect too much of this either. People in her position don’t get that much money and rent prices are ridiculous. You pay around £200,- rent a. month for only a bed and you will sleep with 10 people in the same room. For £1000,- you will have a very small studio but your wage will be already lower than this.

Conclusion

It is interesting to hear those stories from other people. In this case it definitely opened my eyes, and while on the one hand I don’t want to judge on those matters. Sometimes it is difficult not to judge.