Progress Amid Resistance

★united arabemiratesby Serra KirdarPOPULATION: 5,066,000GNI PER CAPITA: US$41,031COUNTRY RATINGS 2004 2009NONDISCRIMINATION AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE: 1.7 2.0AUTONOMY, SECURITY, AND FREEDOM OF THE PERSON: 2.1 2.3ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: 2.8 3.1POLITICAL RIGHTS AND CIVIC VOICE: 1.2 2.0SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS: 2.3 2.5(COUNTRY RATINGS ARE BASED ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5, WITH 1 REPRESENTING THE LOWEST AND 5 THEHIGHEST LEVEL OF FREEDOM WOMEN HAVE TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS)INTRODUCTIONThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) is quickly transforming its formerly tribalBedouin society into an emerging economy that is catching the eye of theworld. Dubai, one of the seven emirates, has established itself as a financialhub that has attracted expatriate workers and investors from aroundthe world. Over the past decade, it has become a sprawling metropolissporting an array of ambitious real-estate projects. However, the billions ofdollars of debt incurred by Dubai-based investors during this period leftthe emirate particularly vulnerable to the global economic downturn thatemerged in late 2008. Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven emirates andhome to the federal capital, has also driven the UAE’s economic growth.It is the top oil producer in the federation, controlling more than 85 percentof the country’s total output capacity and over 90 percent of its crudereserves. 1 As of mid-2009, Emirati citizens comprised only 20 percent ofthe country’s five million inhabitants.Emirati women are undergoing a transition as their society, exposed toforeign influences, adapts to changing identities while protecting culturaland religious traditions. The government has worked to improve severalaspects of women’s rights over the last five years, though some reforms havebeen slow to take effect. Certain steps in the right direction are obvious:517