Women in the UAE are allowed to drive, vote, work, and own and inherit property. A report from the In the World Economic Forum ranked the UAE second-best in the Middle East and North African (Mena) region for gender equality.

However, context is important.

First, in the WEF’s Global Gender Gap report, the Mena region had the lowest score of all the regions - and apart from Israel, none of its countries were in the top 100. The UAE was ranked 120th in the world out of 153. And while the UAE does have an anti-discrimination law, sex and gender aren’t included in its definition of discrimination.

Then, while women do have rights, under the Personal Status Law some of these are dependent on the formal approval of a male “guardian” - that is a man, often a spouse or other male relative, who grants a woman permission to do certain things. Although the UAE’s guardianship laws aren’t as strict or wide-reaching as neighbouring Saudi Arabia’s, they do impact women’s lives. At other times, where women do have rights, it is hard in practice for women to defend them in a court of law.

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