Progress Amid Resistance

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 527Initiative, but no legal framework currently exists to accommodate civilsociety organizations outside the state’s sphere of influence. 29RecommendationsF The government should launch an educational public-awareness campaignthat portrays domestic violence as being intolerable, illegal, andsocially unacceptable, and the police should strictly enforce laws thatprohibit physical abuse.F Enslaved human trafficking victims should be protected from prosecution,encouraged to testify against their captors, and provided withre settlement assistance.F The UAE should ratify the UN Convention against Torture, and thepenal code should be brought into compliance with the agreement.F Recent changes to the personal status law should be widely publicizedin mediums that will reach all segments of the community, particularlythose who are traditionally vulnerable to abuse such as the poor andthose with less education. A radio and television campaign should belaunched that depicts the practical repercussions of the changes, andthe print media should feature articles that detail the changes and theiraffects.F Additional reforms to the personal status law should be enacted thaten sure freedom of movement for adult women, regardless of their maritalstatus.F Foreign women should be provided with the legal means to resist—and the practical means to report—exploitation or confinement byemployers.ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITYEducational awareness campaigns, scholarships, and Emiratization laws,described below, have allowed women to make steady inroads into universitiesand public and private sectors jobs in recent years. The proportion ofworking adult women has grown from 25 percent (in 1990) to 35 percent(in 2000) to 40 percent (in 2007). 30 Nevertheless, women in the UAE aresignificantly underrepresented in upper level positions both in governmentalinstitutions and particularly in the private sector. Moreover, the LaborLaw (No. 8 of 1980) continues to place certain restrictions on women’semployment options and rights based on gender stereotypes.