Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Poor thing, at her age she will become a SPINSTER!

Hmmm what should I make of this:-

"Up to 50 per cent of Emirati women face Maryam’s fate(a spinster), says Eman Abdullah, president of the International Women’s Cultural Forum in Dubai."

And the reasons for this:-
  • "Khalfan Al Mhriz, Family Counsellor at the Dubai Courts, said one solution is for women to be willing to be taken as a second wife."
  • "Raya Al Mhrzi, a sociologist in Abu Dhabi’s Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Department and a member of the Marriage Fund, blamed fairy-tale ideas about marriage.
    Women, she said, have become too demanding, and high dowries, lavish ceremonies, clothes and jewellery become prohibitive."

  • Get ready for the most ridiculous :-
    "Dr Mohammad Wafeek Eid, a psychiatrist at Al Musa Medical Centre in Dubai, said most spinsters suffer from anxiety, depression and multiple psychosomatic complaints, including headaches, epigastric disturbances, abdominal gases and discomfort. "They tend to be suspicious and they make those around them uncomfortable. They are somehow viewed as abnormal because they do not go through motherhood – spinsters are the object of social pity. They feel they are unfulfilled, incomplete," he said."

  • Almost as ridiculous as the previous one:-

    "Eman Abdullah, president of the International Women’s Cultural Forum in Dubai, said spinsterhood is a "dangerous" phenomenon.
    It waters down the Arabic language, destroys local customs and traditions and creates an unstable and unhealthy family life, she said."

OH MY GOD! Almost every single reason stated places the blame on the solely woman's shoulder. Call me a new-age-pussy-whipped-metrosexual-male version of a feminist if you want, but this is one of the most insulting articles about women I have ever read.

What about the men? To me its seems this is a classic example of a change in sociological role of the sexes, resulting from the modernisation and liberalisation of the society. Female Emarati roles have changed in society, however male Emaratis "prefer the traditional image of a housewife whose only role is to run the house, take care of her husband and children and nothing else". This is perfectly summed up by

"The marriage I want should be based on equality, understand-ing and love – something I haven’t found with the men I have met. Sumaia, 38, Emirati businesswoman"

Additionally I DETEST the word spinster. The horrible connotations attached to those words conjure up images of desperation, failure, an anomaly in society that people pity. Women do not HAVE to be married to have a successful life in a financially developed society.

And one more thing:-

"Legally, Emirati women are allowed to marry foreigners, but UAE traditions discourage them from marrying expats – only 500 Emirati women married expat men in the last seven years, according to a recent forum."


Yes that is correct. But that is ONLY 1 of the reason. If a female Emarati marries a non-Emarati:-
  • Her husband will never be granted the citizenship
  • Her children will not be granted the citizenship and will not be legally considered as Emarati
  • Her children and husband are not entitled to all the benefits of being a national.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Its an epidemic

A few months back I wrote about the intricacies of the job market in Dubai for graduates. I had a gathering a few days back with some friends from high school and everything I had said in that entry seems to have come true for most of them.

It has been almost a year since most of us have graduated, if not more. Out of 12 people there(excluding myself), only 4 of them had found full time jobs! From those four people 2 are working in the family business and the other 2 found jobs through wasta! What's even more shocking is that most of them studied at some of the top Canadian, US, UK or Australian universities.... All of them had, at some point, experienced discrimination from at least one company during the interview process.

These are people who spent their entire lives here. Yet, not a single one of them was able to find a job based on their potential and abilities.


Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I don't know the answer to this one

why is society so segregated based on culture and ethnicity?