Analyzing the progress the UAE has made regarding Gender Equality by comparing it with Iceland & Pakistan.
Gender Equality is the equal treatment of males and females in a society. According to the USAID(1), nearly 98 million girls are not in school. Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. In the developing world, 1 in 7 girls is married before their 15th birthday. These statistics show the level of inequality women face in the world daily. However, the world is changing, and gender equality is a vital part of a country’s development(2).
An example of a country that has succeeded in trying to conquer gender equality is Iceland. Iceland has been the frontrunner in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for the ninth year in a row scoring a 0.878 in 2017 and planning to close the gap in the next five years(3). But Iceland has not always been this way. Iceland had to face a lot of challenges to reach where they are today. In 1975, women earned 60% less than men and there was only 3 MP’s in the parliament which led to 90% of women going on a strike to protest gender inequality. The outcome of the strike led to the creation of a women alliance party which later led to 48% of female parliament members in 2016. Also, the Icelandic government recently announced they will put forward an equal pay law to improve gender equality in Iceland(4).
However, unlike Iceland, not all countries have succeeded in gender equality even though we live in the 21st century. There are still a lot of countries that deprive women of their right to get an education, to work, and to have a political voice (5). An example is Pakistan. Pakistan is ranked the second last on the gender equality index. Its literacy rate for women is 46% compared with 70% for men, even though girls’ education in Pakistan rose to a global effort in 2012 when a then 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban. Also, 26% of Pakistan’s women actively engaged in the job market compared with 86% of men(2).
Unlike Pakistan or Iceland, the UAE was in the middle with a score of 0.639 according to the world economic forum’s global gender gap report in 2016. The way the UAE will improve its status is by introducing plans to improve gender balance and help the country become one of the top 25 countries for gender equality. Here are some statistics on the UAEs improvements so far.
The UAE is ranked 8th for the sub-index of wage equality for similar work and ranks the 1st for the sub-index of literacy rate in addition to being the 1st for the sub-index of enrolment in secondary education according to WEF(6). Furthermore, women are becoming more involved in the workplace. For example, half of the businesses in the small-to-medium enterprise sector in the UAE are led by women. Also, the UAE has opened the region’s first military college for women, and the Federal National Council has nine women members out of a total of 40 members. Furthermore, four women have been appointed as judges, two as public prosecutors, and 17 as assistant public prosecutors and marriage officials in the UAE(7).
Women have slowly raised their voices hoping for equality between them and the opposite sex whether it’s at home, the workplace, or even in public. They still fight and raise their voices even louder to this day.
They teach young girls in school about leadership skills yet when they use it in the later future they are labeled ‘domineering’. Women are told to embrace and love themselves, yet when they do they are ‘selfish’. What about men? The treatment towards the male gender is obviously different as it is becoming more and more evident, as well as the discrimination towards women.
However, society pushes these issues aside because they are women. Therefore, in our opinion, gender equality is a difficult issue as laws can’t simply change it because the root of the problem starts from homes, families, and societies. Therefore, a law won’t change a person’s mind on how a certain gender should be in a society. However, we do believe the UAE’s plans are succeeding towards women equality in workplace and government. Therefore, as young female Emiratis, we feel comfortable to pursue any career with the support of our country. For, after all, the mothers of our future leaders, doctors, and engineers are women, and without them, society is at a loss.
This article was written by Zayed University (Abu Dhabi) students, as part of their course: “Global Awareness” with Mr. Nasser Al Falasi. The students who wrote this article are:
Fatma Murshed & Salma Al Ahbabi
References:
- Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. (n.d.). Retrieved, from https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment
- Hare, B. (2016, October 13). Where it’s hardest to be a girl. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/11/health/gender-inequality-worst-countries/index.html
- Written by Magnea Marinósdóttir , Equality Unit, Ministry of Welfare, Iceland Rósa Erlingsdóttir, Equality Unit, Ministry of Welfare, Iceland. (n.d.). This is why Iceland ranks first for gender equality. Retrieved, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/why-iceland-ranks-first-gender-equality/ (Marinósdóttir.M, n.d.)
- Ibid, 3
- gender equality, the official portal of the UAE government(n.d.). Retrieved, from https://government.ae/en/about-the-uae/leaving-no-one-behind/5genderequality
- Ibid, 5
- Ibid, 5
