Gender and development: The role of women in the formal economic and political spheres in the United Arab Emirates

This dissertation explores the relationship between women's political rights and their role in the economic development process in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 1982 to 2002. While women are integrated in the public life as workers, they have limited access to the top positions in the government hierarchy and are completely denied political rights. Specifically, this study (1) examines the ways in which the structured cultural factors, such as religion, traditions, customs, and constitutional laws influence the nature and practice of political life for women, (2) addresses how aspects of gender, tribal identity, and neopatriarchy are articulated in UAE society, as well as how they impact social change and the development of women in the public life, and (3) presents how culture, economy, and politics affect each other, as they are eternally joined and cannot be separated. To expose the existing reality of women's lives in the UAE, this research is guided by a theoretical framework that includes development theories, such as modernization, dependency and neopatriarchy as well as feminist theories. Women's experiences of everyday life in the UAE are the source of investigation, in that the study draws upon 65 face-to-face interviews, 35 focus groups, field observations, and informal discussions that emerged from five months of fieldwork throughout the seven Emirates. To gain a specific understanding of women's economic and political position, the research utilizes statistical evidence from the government archive. The findings of this research can be summarized in the following five declarations: First, women's achievement in the labor force does not push them toward politics. Second, because of oil wealth and modernization, culture is impacted by external aspects to create neopatriarchy. Third, this neopatriarchy sets up barriers for women in politics that are not in the labor force. Fourth, women in the UAE wish to take part in politics, but only through their social groups. This dissertation asserts that in order for any advancement to take place, women need to empower themselves from within, as a collective movement and as individuals, as well as recognize their potential as a social, economic, and political power.