Dubai Reactions Thus Far

Helen

Middle Eastern Time

I came to the UAE without any particular expectations because we were previously warned that our itinerary is subject to change as we travel, and this was definitely true for practically every day that we have been in the UAE. I knew in the back of my mind that time is not an important issue in this society, however I have completely forgotten about it until it startled me when we were consistently late for every appointment and event that we were traveling to. `this has influenced greatly, but as we are approaching the end of our visit, this test of my tolerance in this newly-discovered culture is teaching me an important message in cross cultural communication, patience is what takes you far. Drawing back from what Salwa Saad Shabani has mentioned earlier in her presentation, it is what takes you across challenging situations in times where you feel like nothing is going your way.


The situation: Traditions vs. Work

I was very intrigued by the family-oriented culture of the UAE and how that greatly influences the way in which women make their career decisions. Their personal life decisions are based on the current family that they have or the future one that that they are planning to have. The girls that we met at Zayed U. in Dubai, most of whom are Emiratis do not aspire to work so hard after graduating. Instead, they choose to have an easy lifestyle and this is the type of attitude that we started to notice as we interacted with a lot of the students there. For the women leaders that we have spoken to such as Raja Al Gurg and the two ladies earlier today at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, I noticed that THEIR personal journey involved a lot of multitasking between their family life and personal life where they are working twice as hard to accommodate to the needs of their children as a mother while proving themselves in the workforce that they are competition and self-assured women. The UAE government is working hard to influence the younger generation of women to take part in the workforce, especially in the private sector in small and middle-sized businesses. This is a challenge that is still in the process of being resolved, and from what I have discovered: it is all in the personal drive, and how well the government/legislation is allowing these women the flexibility that they need to seek alternative scheduling for their busy lifestyle.



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