How Culture Influences Women’s Personal Leadership Journeys

How UAE Culture Influences Women’s Personal Leadership Journeys
Post-Departure Paper

Culture, if it is not one of the many factors in an Emirati woman’s life to consider in making her career decision, then it is probably the determining factor of her career. From what I remember the most during our meeting with Mohammed Al Fahim, the renowned author of “Rags to Riches”, who was present at Zayed University, most of the time culture hinders a woman’s ability or desire to work. However, women have always played an important leadership role in the household and this goes back to life as it was generations ago.

Culture has already pre-disposed women to leadership skills that many do not know of. First of all in this region where Abu Dhabi once thrived on fishing and pearl diving, it was common for a father or husband to be absent from the home because of his travels in the business of trade. Many men would be gone at sea or on land for months or years at the time. For Mr. Al Fahim, it was part of his upraising and growing up without a father in the household is part of the norm in his childhood. During this absence, he noted that it was up to the wife to run the household and business. From raising the children to making the handicrafts, clothes, and preparing the goods to be sold, it was up to the woman to do.

Today, although many women are encouraged to work, they are vastly held back in terms of employment commitment. Mr. Al Fahim noted that many cannot give in to the standard work hours from nine to five or their job because of their families and their children. They must get up early to take their children to school and the commute would not allow them to be on time in the workplace. Furthermore, their children will not have anyone to pick them up from school in the afternoon if their mothers must adhere to the nine to five schedules. For other women, their job opportunity is located in a location where it would not be possible for them to commute to, either by carpool or simply because of the distance. Because households are greatly protective of their daughters, some women do not drive and must rely on designated drivers. These are a few ways in which women may be deterred from the workplace.

Despite these complications, there are truly remarkable women that we have met who have taken advantage of this culture and succeeded in bringing about their personal success. Raja Al Gurg was the first businesswoman that we had the honor to meet. She is one of the leading business leaders in the UAE with over twenty nine companies and three thousand employees under her management. Her journey was a long but determined path and her message stirred our minds as she was envisioning the model Arab woman business leader while forgetting that she is one herself. In this patriarchal culture where sons receive preferential treatment when inheritance matters are at hand, Mrs. Al Gurg was able to take a leap into her career path by proposing to take over her father’s company. She luckily granted with this right over her two brothers, and immediately took it upon herself to prove to the existing managers that she was capable of managing.

An important message that she delivered is that when you are allowed to establish a firm sense of self and unshakable confidence in yourself, you can go out into the world at large and be far less likely to put up with biases. One of the greatest things that she did was integrate her past experience with her new job. As an already renowned school principal, she took this desire to achieve a good reputation with her already solid management skills and approached this new job as if it were another school. With no previous business background, she was able to integrate her self confidence into a new task and this positive attitude allowed her to remain unyielding within the years that she had to catch up with her co-workers in the business field. During this time, she treated everyone with the utmost respect, and even worked in the warehouses alongside the employees who were under her management. Although she never admitted that she faced any skepticism and proved to us that she was successful steering herself away from any doubts because of her diligence and dedication to her work. Her attitude pointed out that in this culture, it is the confidence that you build within yourself which allows you to confront any threat of adversity in a positive way which makes you a strong leader.

When asked about her family, Mrs. Al Gurg noted that it was an important part of her life and any other Emirati woman’s life. In fact, Emirati women want to be treated as wives, because “we have our part, and we take our part equally as men.” She explained that motherhood is something that this culture is proud of, and that it is the foundation of her career as it helped her manage her time wisely. Being a mother allowed her to become attentive in the work place as well as at home, and this is something she is distinctly proud of. For Emirati women, Mrs. Al Gurg stated that the general consensus of Emirati women would choose to raise a perfect family over a perfect career for themselves because they are contributing to the good of society rather than contributing to the corruption with ill-educated children. This part of UAE culture is a particularly strong influence in women’s personal leadership journeys, and this is why some women choose not to take on a demanding work schedule because it would interfere with their first and foremost duty.

Another woman leader we have met was Salwa Saad Shabani, an entrepreneur who ran numerous successful companies in selected industries where she saw her diversified services could be needed the most. Out of the three speakers that we had that day at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, I was left with the impression that she was very innovative as an Arab businesswoman. Already married at the age fifteen and is now the mother of four children, she has proven to be another role model for many aspiring Emirati women today because of her attitude within the UAE culture that allowed her to thrive in the business world, a similar characteristic also found when we spoke with Raja Al Gurg. She chose to remain a part of the traditional culture as a mother while managing her time with her businesses. Because she had two very different responsibilities in her life, her lesson to us was that diligence in the work place and dedication is key to finding the opportunity for success. Being a woman in a male-dominated field in this culture means that there will times when the woman is forced into challenges and times when she has to challenge herself by taking initiative while remaining firm. She reminded us that no matter how much traditional culture can steer many women away from succeeding in their career goals and dreams, the way women can manipulate their lifestyle in order to balance their family and work life that makes them successful. With the changing culture of the UAE where more and more women are given the opportunity to pursue a career, patience and charisma determines how well they will be in the process of achieving leadership goals.

As more and more families are accepting the fact that their daughters should hold a job as a significant contribution to their society, it is more common for women to pursue higher education than men. As learned through my conversations with ZU students at the Leadership Workshop, it was a surprising fact to find that men either take a job in the military or inherit their father’s business, and this is why many men do not complete their higher education degrees. Currently, more women are becoming driven to take on new opportunities and the ZU students that I interacted with had an overwhelming amount of motivation to pursue higher studies to eventually reach their career goals. Through their leadership class they have acquired much knowledge in gaining leadership skills, and many have been actively changing some of their traditional beliefs in the household so that they can enrich their learning experience. One student whom I spoke with, Abeer, came from a conservative family and she was only recently given the permission to go study abroad in Spain with her class. Many women at the Univesity have the opportunity to study abroad, however there are a number who are held under their traditions. Surprisingly, money is not the motivation for their effort and energy spent in higher education; rather, it is the leadership skill that they gain that is valuable because it provides them with an everlasting talent that can be utilized later in the work force and for running their families.

-Helen