Women chip away at barriers to advancement

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Khulood al-Atiyat, a 21-year-old student born and raised in Dubai, does not see any barriers in front of her career goals: to set up her own tour agency.

She believes the drive by Dubai’s leadership over the years to open opportunities to women in the emirate has led to a sea change among Emiratis in their late 40s and below. Gone are the days when families in the United Arab Emirates would universally call on their daughters to find a husband and make a home once they had finished their schooling.

Ms Atiyat says the shift has come as Emiratis become more outward looking, thanks to travel and living among a population in which the majority are expatriates – especially in Dubai, where foreigners form more than 80 per cent of the population.