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A stirring account of the experiences of migrant domestic workers, and what freedom, abuse, and power mean within a vast contract labor system. In the United Arab Emirates, there is an employment sponsorship system known as the kafala. Migrant domestic workers within it must solely work for their employer, secure their approval to leave the country, and obtain their consent to terminate a job. In Unfree, Rhacel Salazar Parreñas examines the labor of women from the Philippines, who represent the largest domestic workforce in the country. She challenges presiding ideas about the kafala, arguing that its reduction to human trafficking is, at best, unproductive, and at worst damaging to genuine efforts to regulate this system that impacts tens of millions of domestic workers across the globe. The kafala system technically renders migrant workers unfree as they are made subject to the arbitrary authority of their employer. Not surprisingly, it has been the focus of intense scrutiny and criticism from human rights advocates and scholars. Yet, contrary to their claims, Parreñas argues that most employers do not abuse domestic workers or maximize the extraction of their labor. Still, the outrage elicited by this possibility dominates much of public discourse and overshadows the more mundane reality of domestic work in the region. Drawing on unparalleled data collected over 4 years,this book diverges from previous studies as it establishes that the kafala system does not necessarily result in abuse, but instead leads to the absence of labor standards. This absence is reflected in the diversity of work conditions across households, ranging from dehumanizing treatment, infantilization, to respect and recognition of domestic workers. Unfree shows how various stakeholders, including sending and receiving states, NGOs, inter-governmental organizations, employers and domestic workers, project moral standards to guide the unregulated labor of domestic work. They can mitigate or aggravate the arbitrary authority of employers. Parreñas offers a deft and rich portrait of how morals mediate work on the ground, warning against the dangers of reducing unfreedom to structural violence.

The present study aims to identify potential barriers that women in the United Arab Emirates might face if they pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). For this purpose, a systematic review and subsequent applied analysis of the UAE context was developed. The systematic review was reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews. The review was performed on EBSCO, ProQuest, Wiley Online Library, Gale, Taylor and Francis Online, SAGE Complete, and JSTOR. The initial database search yielded 168 articles. Following a review of the corresponding abstracts, eight full-text articles that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected. The results obtained are discussed in the context of the UAE and help inform policy proposals and future research lines to strengthen the involvement of women in STEM careers. The study found that while women in the UAE have greater access to education in engineering and STEM fields, women’s employment prospects in these sectors remain fraught.

Need to know it all? Our all-inclusive culture report for United Arab Emirates will get up to speed on all aspects of culture in United Arab Emirates, including lifecycle, religion, women, superstitions & folklore, sports, holidays & festivals, and etiquette.

This timely and innovative book delivers a comprehensive analysis of the non-recognition of the right to a family life of migrant live-in domestic and care workers in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Norway, the Philippines, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, and Ukraine.

This article examines the migration experiences of women and men under conditions of temporary migration. It has been amply shown that gender is relevant to most aspects of migration. However, despite the fundamental increase in research on gender and migration, a transnational space, where gender matters but which has not bee so thoroughly explored to date, is the experiences of women and men migrants in the migration process, especially under conditions of labour migration in the Gulf States. Focusing on Bangladeshi male and female migrant workers in the UAE, this research sheds light on gender-differentiated patterns of demographic profiles, recruitment and pre-departure costs, working and living experiences, wages, savings, and remittances, health care and leisure activities and reports substantial variation in migration experiences across gender lines.

In recent years, we have witnessed huge economic and socio-political change in the Gulf. This book examines the rapid industrialization of the region and how local economies are starting to diversify away from petroleum, exploring how this transformative process is starting to impact on the region’s economy and social make-up. With contributions from some of the top scholars and practitioners in the area, this book discusses crucial topics related to the region’s transformation, from issues of economic development and relations with Iran to foreign labour and women’s education and work outside the home. Chapters explore how in addition to the massive growth in investments and products such as oil, gas, chemicals, metals, and cement, this growth has triggered numerous societal changes, such as labour migration, educational reforms, declining natality, and shifting gender roles. Covering in detail a broad range of issues, this book will appeal not only to Middle East experts, particularly those with an interest in the Persian Gulf, but also to development experts and political scientists. Jean-Francois Seznec is Visiting Professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, and is Senior Advisor to PFC Energy in Washington, D.C. His research centres on the influence of the Arab-Persian Gulf’s political and social variables on the financial and oil markets in the region, with a focus on industrialization of the Gulf and, in particular, the growth of the petrochemical industry. Mimi Kirk is Multimedia and Publications Editor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. She has a B.A. in anthropology from Haverford College and an M.A. in cultural studies from Emory University, where she focused her research on Islamic and French colonial architecture in the city of Fès, Morocco. Foreword Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al-Khalifa Introduction Jean-Francois Seznec Part 1: Financing the Growth 1. Lean and Mean: The New Breed of State-owned Enterprises in the Gulf Monarchies Steffen Hertog 2. Financing Industrialization in the Arab-Persian Gulf Jean-Francois-Seznec 3. Hawkamah in the Gulf: Local Reception of Modern Corporate Governance Standards for Publicly Traded Companies in the Arab Gulf States Alastair Hirst, Denton Wilde and Sapte Part 2: Competing Models: The Gulf Arab States and Iran 4. The Political Economy of Saudi-Iranian Relations: Present and Future Paul Aarts 5. Strategic Dynamics of Iran-GCC Relations John Duke Anthony 6. Gulf Cooperation Council Diplomatic Coordination: The Limited Role of Instiutionalization Matteo Legrenzi Part 3: Labour Constraints and Migration Issues 7. Dependence, Disdain and Distance: State, Labour and Citizenship in the Arab Gulf States Gwenn Okruhlik 8. Great Expectations: Western-style Education in the Gulf States Mary Ann Tetreault Part 4: The Role of Women in Industrialization 9. Saudi Women: Modernity and Change Hatoon Al-Fassi 10. The Role of Women in Industrialization in the Gulf: The Case of Bahrain Munira Fakhro Part 5 : Gulf Industrialization in Perspective 11. Gulf Industrialization in Perspective Hazem El Beblawi 12. Industrializing Gulf Society Frances D. Cook

What's notable about Dubai isn't so much the flocking of Arab talent to its burgeoning skyscrapers and affluent neighborhoods. It's that unlike neighboring Arab countries where women traditionally remain in the shadows of public life, here they fill corporate headquarters, retail shops, school corridors and nightclubs. The resulting economic explosion here and in the six other cities that comprise the United Arab Emirates rivals the fastest-growing markets in Asia. Because about 60 percent of the Arab world's population is under 25 and most other Arab countries suffer unemployment in the double-digits, Dubai beams as a beacon of opportunity. CAPTION: Courtesy of [Nayla] al-Khaja Nayla al-[Al-Khaja], one of only a handful of Arab women film directors, enjoys life in Dubai. Although she owns some of the trappings of modern culture, she also wears a headscarf and stylish abaya, a modest, cloaklike garment, each day to work.