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Communicating the Progress of Women of the United Arab Emirates (UAE): An Analysis of
Images on UAE Government Websites
By
Fatima AlMazmi
A Capstone Project
Presented to the Faculty of the School of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Strategic Communication
Supervisor: Dr. Joseph Graf
American University
May 3, 2015
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Abstract
This study is a content analysis of the images of United Arab Emirates (UAE) women on UAE
government websites. The study analyzes the portrayal of women on 30 different websites and
the different roles that women portray. There were 190 photos coded from a period between
April 14th, 2015, and April 28th, 2015. The findings were that women were found in 44% of the
photos. Although men still dominate roles such as government, business and military, women
still appeared greatly with a difference of a small percentage in those roles. Further, women were
found dominating the scientific positions such as engineers and doctors and appearing more
frequently in a familial environment as a parent or a child. Further, Women have appeared taking
the lead in 60% of the 85 photos the women are on.
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Introduction
In my paper, I will be addressing the changing image of women in the UAE. The paper
will focus on women in the Arab world and how women are represented in Arab media. While
talking about images I will also be discussing the stereotypes that people have of Arabian
women.
There have been changes and developments that have occurred in the UAE since it was
found in 1971. I will be talking about political, economic and other developments that the UAE
has gone through in my paper. The changes have resulted in a change of role of women in the
UAE. I will be presenting evidence on the various fields in which Emirati women have
participated. Further, the UAE has greatly encouraged women to attain forefront roles in
developing the country. In my paper, I will be presenting evidence on that not only from UAE
news media but also from international sources such as the Human Rights Watch.
This changing role has affected the portrayal of women in the media. My aim is to
examine how UAE women are being portrayed on government websites. The content of
government websites is significant, and websites are important tools that allow governments to
convey certain messages. I have chosen government websites since they are the most efficient
websites that could describe the country’s development and efforts in women empowerment.
With the developments that the UAE has made and all the progress in such a short period, I think
that it would be interesting to monitor if that was reflected in media.
This paper will examine if women are presented in an image that is consistent with the
success they have achieved, or if they were still viewed in a stereotypical way as playing a
conventional housewives role. The paper will further assist me understand if women are
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portrayed as their current status in the UAE or if they were still undermined by the media. In
addition, I will compare the portrayal of women to the portrayal of men.
My research question is “How are UAE women portrayed in images of the Government
websites?” During my research, I will be analyzing the current content of the websites in order to
interpret the portrayal of women in the images on the website. I will be discussing the type of
messages that photos of women are sending to people. I will be coding for women appearing in
the military, government, business, cultural and scientific roles.
Literature Review
Women and the Arab World Media
In the last 20 years, in the Arab world there has been a dramatic increase of satellite
television channels as well as shows. The whole world and the Arab world encountered the
various changes of the role of television, which changes its primary purpose as an information
source (Nashef, 2012). Television became a source of entertainment and substantial in the Arab
world. Whether you are home alone or sitting with a bunch of friends there has to be a television
on (Schleifer, 2005). Additionally, every Arabian home typically has at least a personal computer
if not a laptop or other electronic tablets (Khalek, 2015). Further, the Arab world has experienced
the sudden intrusion of other media outlets, most importantly social media. Access to the Internet
and the world became as easy as having a drink of water. The Internet was firstly introduced to
the Arab world in 1991 to Tunis and 1993 to the United Arab Emirates (Abdulla, 2009).
The first time the television was presented to the Arab world was in Iraq in 1954, and the
satellite was introduced in Lebanon at the beginning of the 1990’s (Nashef, 2012). British
colonialists were the first to present Arabian women as oppressed in the nineteenth century. With
5
the assistance of British press in order to support their claim at that time, British colonialists
presented Arab men as not capable of ruling their lands (Ahmed, 1992).
It is only in the 1990s that Arab women started appearing in media (Ayish, 2010).
Further, it always takes time for such events to become normalized in the Gulf region. The Gulf
Council Countries (GCC), which includes UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and
Kuwait, tend to be more conservative than the Arab region in general.
Enhancing the image of Arabian women is difficult when the sole influencer of Arabic
media was mainly Egyptian movies. The Egyptian film industry is very powerful, hundreds of
Egyptian movies were produced between 1960s to 1990s, and 80 films being produced in a given
year and had great influence (AlMalki, 2012). The Egyptian media tended to portray women as
being “passive, powerless, and culturally subordinate to men” (AlMalki, 2012, p.5). Hence,
made it difficult to educate people about women and the importance of women being in primary
roles with the media emphasizing that women should be submissive.
Women in the Arab world are still discouraged from appearing in media or pursuing a
career in media because society is still not accepting the fact that women can take leadership
positions (Ayish, 2010). Hania Nashif argued in her article that the images of females on Arab
channels shows that the media focuses on undermining females by presenting them in a “Barbielike fashion,” which is against their goal to empower women (Nashef, 2012, p.516). Also, in
another paper, Mellor stated that Arab women tend to be presented in Arab media as dependent
on men, mainly doing traditional and stereotypical activities such as gossiping, wearing makeup
and cooking. Further, Mellor mentions in her paper that Arabs tend to portray women as sex
commodities that lead to regression rather than progression in media. She gives an example of
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Hawa Sawa, which is a reality show, that presents different girls who live together and each of
them competes to stand out as a housewife material. The main purpose of the show is aimed for
men to choose one or any of the girls as a housewife. She also states that they are greatly
presented as sex commodities in entertainment as well as commercial advertisements (Mellor,
2010).
Media in the Middle East has changed since the 1990s and women’s representation has
increased over time (AlMalki, 2012). As women's representation on TV shows increased,
different shows related to women have started broadcasting in the Gulf Cooperation Countries
channels. Examples of that are TV shows on women’s rights on MBC-FM. A couple of
examples of the TV shows are Saudi Women Speak Out and Lil-Nisa Faqat (For Women Only).
The shows talk about women’s social and legal status in the Arab world (AlMalki, 2012).
Women started gaining greater presence and also started fighting for further rights publicly.
Women are now leading successful careers as TV anchors, reporters and also war correspondents
(Mellor, 2010).
However, in the Middle East, although being a woman in media professions was
considered bold ten years ago, today women are heavily presented in different media outlets. The
UAE has established the Women and Media Forum in Abu Dhabi in 2002 that aims to eliminate
discrimination and negative stereotyping of women in media (Skalli, 2006). The forum brings
1,000 Arab women to talk about the media’s misrepresentation of Arab women’s lifestyle and its
lack to support women’s accomplishments and how to overcome that. In his research paper,
Skalli stated that Media in the MENA region became so developed that women are presented as
being powerful in the region. However, they should start aiming to reach this high level of
visibility in global media not just local media (Skalli, 2006).
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Although times have changed, and women have gained increasing roles on TV as anchors
and in other representations. There are still regressive representations of women, which are
presented on Arab television, that conflict and serve as hurdles to the developments the women
have made in the Arab world.
A lady from Saudi Arabia told her story that she was veiled her entire life while being
extremely careful when encountering men who are not part of her family. She was married at the
age of 17 to a complete stranger, and she does not have the right to travel on her own or drive.
This story would sound like a typical to a Westerner, however, what they do not know is that this
same girl grew to become a doctor. She works full-time and in hand with her male coworkers, as
well as holds a Ph.D. in speech pathology and participates in community work (Gaouette, 2001).
Not many Westerners know about this side of the Arabian women’s story. Evidence of that is the
progress that women have made in the UAE.
Arab Women and Stereotypes
In Orientalism that was published in 1994, Edward Said emphasized the unremitting
arguments about misrepresenting Muslims and Arabs in the West. In his paper Orientalism, Said
stated that in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, European Orientalists conveyed a bias
against the Orient (Miladi, 2010). The European Orientalists, who study and report about the
Orient, have been creating a negative image of Arab women either as being submissive or as sex
objects. They also presented veiled women as being passive and submissive to men, and they
also mentioned polygamy. The European Orientalists made the veil a symbol of degrading
women and corruption of the Arab world (Miladi, 2010). There are different programs on the
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radio and television in the American and European media that are liable for the constant
misrepresentation of Arabs and Muslims around the world (Miladi, 2010).
To further emphasize the final point in the previous paragraph, Jack Shaheen, a writer
who specializes in racial and ethnic stereotypes, conducted a survey of 900 Hollywood movies
from 1896 to the year 2000 to examine how Arabs are portrayed. The researcher found that in
most of the movies, whether action, drama or children cartoons, Arabs are presented as different
and intimidating and are downgraded because of their religion and race (Shaheen, 2009). Arabs
were either presented as terrorists, naive and silly, uncivilized nomads or downgrading to women
(Shaheen, 2009).
On the other hand, AlMalki in her book Arab Women in Arab News examines the
dominance of submissive Arab female stereotype in various Arab media outlets. The author’s
research consisted of examining Arab news stories that were translated into English. The authors
also included Arab news after September 11 events. In her coding scheme, the author coded the
women’s behavior as being passive or active. The author relied on measures such as grammatical
transitivity, source affect and agent-reference affect to identify whether verbs and verb phrases
are either active or passive. Grammatical transitivity is the clarification whether a verb "acts
upon" its object (AlMalki, 2012, p.28). The authors defined source effect as the female being the
active agent of a story who assists in building the story in the news article. Also, by agentreference effect the author means that the female’s actions are a base for the news articles.
Further, by active the author meant strong speech as acts of affirmation, powerful actions and
strong speech acts of opposition and by passive the author intended social and physical passivity.
The author’s used female keywords such as “she,” ”her,” ”woman,” “female,” “wife” and others
(AlMalki, 2012).
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The coding scheme was applied to 237 briefs of Arab news based on four different
dimensions, which are the power or viewpoint dimension, occupational status, personal status
and social status. By viewpoint, the author meant the point of view of the female in the articles
and the viewpoint of the person who is reporting the female. The author found that there were
936 mentions of women in the Arab news briefs (AlMalki, 2012).
The results were that 44% of the time Arab women were referenced in an active context
and 10% as passive. Further, 22% of the time they were referenced in a neutral context, 3% in a
negative context and 21% were references to non-Arab women. During the research, the author
examined women in different categories which includes “aspiration and drive”, “education”,
”fear and threat in war zones” and “passivity.” In each category, the researcher explains whether
the women have been portrayed in primary or secondary roles (Taha, 2012).
One of the most cited studies on Arab women in the American news was published by
Comment [a1]: Periods and commas always go
inside quotation marks in American punctuation
usage. You may have been trained in British usage,
which has different rules.
Nonetheless, if you write for an American publication
the rule is that periods and commas always go inside
quotation marks.
Wilkins in 1995. Wilkins compiled 230 captioned photos of people related to the Middle East
from the New York Times from July 1991 to June 1993. Her photos were from the following
countries, Israel, Gaza Strip and West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq. Wilkins
coded the appearing of females and males in the photos and the photos captions. Her findings
were that 75% of the images she compiled had males in them, and only 13% were with females.
63% of the women who were presented were veiled which she thought did not only conceal her
face but delete her identity as well (Wilkins, 1995). Moreover, Wilkins analyzed the captions
and mentioned that men were most likely presented as soldiers, police officers, and working
professionals. On the other hand, women were shown in the sideline of the news story in victim
roles. Wilkins also found that women were six times more likely to be presented in war scenes
than men where she is in grieving (Wilkins, 1995).
Comment [a2]: Italicize the names of
publications.
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The West has always depicted Arab women in media as being veiled, submissive and
abused by men in their family. The American culture is continuously exposed to photos that reemphasize that women who are veiled are oppressed. As a result, this makes it difficult for
American citizens to comprehend why American Muslims choose to be veiled. Therefore, they
view those who are veiled as second-class American citizens (Williams and Vashi, 2007).
United Arab Emirates History
Forty-four years ago, a man named Zayed Bin Sultan decided to join seven different citystates into one country. That man, known now as the late Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, had a vision
of leading and developing the country, which became the United Arab Emirates. The UAE was
founded in 1971, and at that time it was nothing but a vast desert. Forty-four years later the
country a global leader due to its developments in aspects including military, economy and
energy that I will further emphasize on later.
In the 20th century, long before oil was discovered, and before the union of the seven
city-states, the primary economic source of income was pearls. The region’s ancestors used to
leave for pearl diving trips for months in the Atlantic Ocean in order to obtain precious pearls to
provide for their families. There was an enormous dependence on pearls, and the region began to
become wealthier due to the sale of pearls. In 1930, the Japanese invented cultured pearls, which
lead to the crash of the region’s business and economy. Not only was the main source of income
lost but also the principal export. The region faced its first financial crisis. After the union of the
city-states, and after the lessons learned from that financial crisis, Sheikh Zayed, pledged to not
have a single dependent source of income that the country. Rather, he encouraged diversifying
the country’s source of income (UAE Interact, 2013).
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Oil was discovered in 1939. Sheikh Zayed decided to diversify the UAE’s portfolio rather
than depending solely on oil (UAE Interact, 2013). The UAE today focuses on many things for
income such as renewable energy, aerospace, petrochemicals and others.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, the crown prince of the UAE, stated during his speech at
the Government Summit 2015 that people might think that we will be sad once the last barrel of
oil is shipped. However, he said the UAE would be waving happily because we will finally have
the chance to prove that we can depend on a diversified portfolio (The National, 2015). Today
71% of the country’s gross domestic product comes from non-oil products (Abdulkader, 2011).
Although the country is small, similar in size to the state of Maine, it has been able to
prove itself on both the regional and international stages. The UAE came a long way from being
a deserted land to winning the bid of hosting the prestigious 2020 World Expo last year (Levick,
2014).
The UAE enjoys an excellent educational system (New York University recently opened
a branch in its capital, Abu Dhabi), and a reliable healthcare service (the Cleveland Clinic is
opening a branch in the UAE). Furthermore, the UAE is ranked as the 19th worldwide and the
first in the Arab World in the Social Progress Index (SPI). SPI is used to measure the welfare of
various countries around the world, which includes the fulfillment of both social and
environmental needs of the nationals of the countries (Emirates News Agency, 2014).
Additionally, the UAE has excelled in its economic status, where the World
Competitiveness Report ranked the UAE in 12th place globally, exceeding countries such as
Canada, South Korea, and Denmark. It is noteworthy to mention that the UAE has increased
seven rankings compared to the year before, which is an indicator of the fast pace at which it is
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developing. In addition, the UAE is also ranked in the World Economic Forum’s top 30 most
networked countries and the top 20 best countries for global service business (UAE Embassy,
2014). In a report that measured the global competitiveness of 60 of the most important
countries in the world, the UAE ranked 3rd in the Global Competitiveness Report. The UAE
obtained this ranking based on the field of international trade and economic performance
(Emirates News Agency, 2014). The Global Competitiveness Report evaluates the
competitiveness of 144 economies as it also offers information about the reason behind the
different economies productivity (World Economic Forum, 2015). In energy, the UAE has
created the first carbon neutral city in its capital Abu Dhabi under the name of Masdar, which
means “source” in Arabic. It also houses a permanent headquarters of the International
Renewable Energy Agency and became the first Arabic capital to do so (Emirates News Agency,
2014).Further, according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2012, the UAE carries the
17th largest natural gas reserve in the world (British Petroleum Company, 2012).
In military, the UAE also ranked 151 in the world’s highest military expenditure and will
become the world’s 3rd largest defense importer in 2015 (Bienaime, 2014). The UAE is
continuing to present efforts to progress its military. It issued a law early last year that enforced
conscription for men between ages 18 to 30. The law also allows an optional choice for females
to join as well (AlJazeera News, 2014). In an article in the Washington Post, Anthony Zinni, a
previous U.S. military commander, stated that the strongest relationship that the U.S. has in the
Arab world is with the United Arab Emirates. Zinni used to be a commander of all U.S. forces in
the Middle East. Additionally, other generals who spent time in the Middle East have started
calling the UAE “Little Sparta” (Chandrasekaran, 2014). The following information proves the
robustness of the UAE military and the trust that its U.S. allies have put in it.
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The UAE continues to receive visitors and expatriates from across the world, where there
are 200 nationalities living within its borders and 30,000 U.S. citizens. Although the UAE is an
Arabian country with different Arabs living in its lands, the term Arabs includes those of
different religions including Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Today, the UAE is ranked in first
place of the top 10 countries of residence and the 24th of the best expatriate destination in a
report issued by Expat Insider 2014 (Emirates News Agency, 2014). It is also ranked the first in
the most peaceful coexistence among nationalities by the UN International Organization for
Peace, Care, and Relief in 2014 (Emirates News Agency, 2014). The Dubai Airport also
recently exceeded Heathrow Airport as it became the world’s busiest airport in the world, with
71 million passengers in 2014 (Hutchinson, 2014).
Role/Status of Women in the UAE
Just like any other women around the world, Women in the UAE face typical life
challenges. They need to earn their college degree, raise their kids and make time for their job
and families. Sheikh Zayed comprehended the vital role of women and that they make up half of
society. Despite the stereotypes that are associated with women in the Arab world, women in the
UAE have proven those stereotypes wrong through pursuing leadership and forefront roles in the
society. Through a transparent legal system, the country ensures that UAE nationals and
expatriates enjoy their full rights and that women are being treated equally as men. Today,
women in the UAE compete with men in various aspects including workforce, education and
politics, as I will mention in the paper. The gender equality law has been in the constitution
since the formation of the country. Under the UAE law, women enjoy various rights equal to
men such as education and practicing various professions. The UAE’s constitution states
“Equality, social justice, ensuring safety and equality of opportunity for all citizens shall be the
Comment [a3]: 200? I don’t think there are 200
countries. I think you might mean “ethnicities.”
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pillars of the Society,” Article 14 (United Nations Children’s Fund, 2011). The country’s efforts
toward women empowerment are ongoing. The efforts proven through its latest law to ensure
that women are not hindered to reach leadership positions and, therefore, led them to increase the
maternity leaves (AlQassimi, 2015).
The country has also signed the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) that was issued by Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2015).
There are also continuous efforts by the UAE's leadership toward women. Sheikha Fatima Bint
Mubarak, the wife of the late founder, was praised by Ban Ki-moon for her efforts in the
development of women in the UAE in health and literacy aspects. He applauded her efforts in
encouraging Emirati women to access higher education as he looks forward to seeing more of
them in fields such as diplomacy, politics, and business (UAE Mission to UN, 2015).
Women in the UAE account for 49% of the population (Federal National Council Affairs,
2014). However, that did not stop them from pursuing higher education and taking up leading
positions in the government and private sectors (Federal National Council Affairs, 2014).
Further, in education, the UAE is considered to be a country with the highest rates of females in
higher education in the Middle East and North Africa region (Federal National Council Affairs,
2014).
Today, the UAE has a female dominant labor force with 59 percent of the labor force
being female (Federal National Council Affairs, 2014). The UAE has four women in the Federal
Cabinet, judges, ambassadors and female fighter pilots (Federal National Council Affairs, 2014).
Women account for 60% of positions in the government sector and 30% of those who are posted
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abroad as diplomats are females. In politics, the UAE ranked the first in the Middle East and
North Africa region in gender equality in political contributions (Emirates News Agency, 2014).
Additionally, half of those who own small to medium businesses in the UAE are women,
and 48% of the female business owners are sole owners of their businesses (Ministry of
Economy, 2013). The UAE has four female fighter pilots and one of them, Miriam AlMansoori,
led an air strike against ISIS in 2014 (Emirates News Agency, 2014). Women are also present in
numerous other fields including engineering, health and oil industry.
The UAE established the Gender Balance Council in 2015, which was initiated to
enhance further women’s roles in the country (Gulf News, 2015). The UAE has empowered
women to pursue their goals in their desired field. Sheikha Lubna AlQassimi, the Minister of
International Cooperation and Development, is one of Forbes’ 100 most powerful women in the
world. According to the World Economic Forum report of 2012, the UAE was ranked as the first
Arab country in the gender gap index. In the 2013 report the UAE was ranked the first country in
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that provides an equal right to healthcare,
education, economic and political contribution to women and men (Emirates News Agency,
2014). It is noteworthy that the MENA region has the biggest gender gap in the world (Shafik,
1996, p.2).
Cultivation Theory: Why is this research important
Continuous exposure to images creates certain perceptions about something. Cultivation
theory, which is basically the constant exposure to television for a long-term period and its
impact on people’s perception, would be relevant (Reyes, 2008). George Gerbner, the founder of
cultivation theory, stated that the core principle of this method is conceptualizing the role that the
Comment [a4]: So UAE is really quite different
from many of the surrounding countries. You might
state that.
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television plays in one’s life. He basically points out that watching television for a significant
amount of time is related to holding a particular idea of reality. Gerbner also emphasized that the
people who spend more time in watching television are more expected to perceive the world in a
way that are similar to the persistent messages presented on television compared to those who
watch less television. Further, Cultivation is the consequences of “stable, repetitive, pervasive
and virtually inescapable patterns of images and ideologies that television (especially dramatic,
fictional entertainment) provides” (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999, p. 5). The cultivation theory
focuses on the connection and implications of the continuous exposure to television for long
periods of time (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999).
Rossana Reyes has conducted research to test the cultivations theory. The researcher has
used the television series Desperate Housewives and focused on the Latina character, Gabrielle,
to understand how the continuous exposure of her behavior would shape the viewers perception.
She later found that viewers tend to perceive Latinas as being hot tempered and materialistic
based on the show. Hence, since Westerners were exposed to Arabian women as being
submissive and obedient, this may have shaped their perception to women of that region (Reyes,
2008).
The continuous exposure to images of UAE women in a certain role will build a certain
perception. Studying the roles in which women appear in is important to comprehend the
perceptions that people will perceive.
Methods Used
Content Analysis
Comment [a5]: I would put all of this in the past
tense.
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My research is based on content analysis of websites. I have studied 30 websites of the
most important government entities in the UAE. The websites will give an excellent overview on
how UAE women are represented and portrayed in the images of the country’s government
websites. I have examined each of the 30 websites on a daily basis from April 14th to May 1st to
look at the images and then code for the representation of women. I made sure to choose
websites of different varieties, which include military, business, science and culture to include
women and men from each sector.
I have chosen a daily review to be able to compile as much data as possible. I will code
for the different roles that women are presented including cultural, government, business,
scientific and military roles.
My method will be observing the main page and the second page of the website. I will be
coding pictures that have people on each page. Part of my research would be monitoring how
often do women appear on the different websites and in what role, whether in military, business,
government, scientific or cultural roles in comparison to men. I have sampled that over two
weeks.
Coding Sheet
My coding sheet codes the representation of men and women in the images of the
websites (See Appendix). I code for whether there were any photos on the first or second page
and if they were at the top of the page. I chose the first and second page of the website since they
are the most visited and the most visible. Hence, if a female appeared on either page, this
represents the increasing role of the female in the government. I have also asked if they appeared
at the top of the page to ensure that the photo was visible to a person who opens the page
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firsthand. By the top of the page I meant the part that was visible to a person once he opens the
page without scrolling down.
Then I ask if there were any women in the photo and if she was smiling. Whether the
women are smiling or not will tell me if the women are mostly presented as happy and satisfied
with her role. I also asked if there were other men in the photo to identify whether women are
presented independently and solely alone in photos or continuously being accompanied by men.
To include further details, I ask if the woman is wearing a scarf around her head to identify if
there were religious women that are pursuing different careers in the government. I also asked if
the women are wearing traditional, western or work related clothes. The purpose of the clothes is
to identify that Emirati women have pursued their careers whether in their traditional clothing or
if they chose to adapt to globalization and dress up in a western style. Further, by Western
clothes I mean business suits or any other clothing other than the traditional abaya, the long
black robe, and scarf. Also, by workplace related clothes I mean if they were wearing a doctor’s
coat an engineering suit or any other uniform that is required to be worn for workplace purposes.
In the coding sheet, I also asked if women that appear in the photos are from the UAE, or
if they were expats or if it was unclear where the woman is from. This will assist me in
identifying if the country supports women in general or just UAE national women.
I also ask if the women and men are either standing or sitting to identify whether women
or men are presented in an authoritative position. I analyzed that since people with authoritative
positions tend to be seated opposed to those who are in secondary roles who are usually standing.
I have also coded whether women are presented in an indoor or outdoor environment. By indoors
I meant if she was presented in her house and by outdoors I suggest otherwise. Identifying if the
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female was indoors or outdoors will assist me in understanding whether women are still viewed
as solely housewives in the UAE or if they have other roles in society.
I then go on in coding the representation of women and men in various categories
including business, government, military, cultural, scientific or unclear. I start off by asking if
either are taking the lead or in a secondary role. In the military role, I have coded for whether
men or women are in a military base, with military equipment or wearing military outfit. In the
business role, I would identify if either the men or women are represented in a business
organization, business meeting and in a business suit. Also, in the government role I would
identify if either of them were presented in a government organization and government meeting.
On the cultural role, I have coded based on whether the woman or man are a student, teacher,
artist, parent, child, married, with family. I also identified some of the cultural activities they
would be doing such as reading, writing, with electronic device, in school and practicing a
hobby. Further, in the scientific role I have roles such as engineer and doctor. The roles could
also be unclear which explains the last option I had on my coding sheet.
Results
Out of the 190 photos that I have coded women appeared in 85 photos that make an
approximate 44% (See Table 1 and Table 2). Further, men appeared on 141 photo of the photo I
coded which makes up 74% of the photos. Men and women appeared on photos together on 62
photos that are approximately 32%. Men appeared in 39% of the photos alone without women
and women appeared in 12% of the photos alone without any men.
Women appeared in the first page approximately 40% of the times; men appeared on the
first page 64% of the times. Women appeared in the second page 4% of the times and men
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appeared in the second page 10% of the times. Women appeared at the top of the page
approximately 26% of the times while men appeared at the top approximately 74% of the times.
Women were smiling in approximately 64% of the photos they appeared on which are 85.
Women appeared in 53 out of 85 (62%) photo sitting and in 46 out of 85 photos (54%) standing.
Men appeared in 85 out of 141 photo (60%) sitting and in 81 out of 141 (57%) standing. Further,
women appeared in 83 photos outdoors and in 2 photos indoors.
Out of the 85 photos, women wearing scarves over their head made it in 51 photos, which
is approximately 60%. Women in traditional clothes were in 61 out of the 85 photos they
appeared on, (71%) and women in Western clothes appeared in 36 of the 85 photos (42%).
Women in work-related clothes appeared in 13 photos out of the 85 (15%).Furthermore, in the
85 photos UAE national females appeared on 69, 81%, of them while expats appeared on 36,
42%, of the photos.
Women took the lead in 51 of the 85 photos, this makes up an approximate of 60%, and
on the other hand men took the lead in 110 photos out of 141, which makes up 78%. Women
appeared in 35 photos (41%) in a secondary role while men appeared in 60 photos (42%) in a
secondary role.
Men appeared on 9 of the 141 photos, approximately 6%, in military roles while women
appeared in 0. Both men and women appeared 0 times in a military base and with military
equipment, however men appeared in a military uniform in 5% of the photos while women were
in 0. Also, women appeared in 16 of the 85 photos, approximately 18%, in business roles while
men appeared in 36 out of the 141 photos (25%). Women appeared in 17 photos out of 85, nearly
20%, in a business organization and men appeared in 39 photo out of 141, approximately 25%,
21
photos in a business organization. In 8 out of 85 photos, women appeared in business meetings
(9%). In 24 out of 141 photos (nearly 17%), men appeared in business meeting. In 14 out 85
photos (16%), women appeared wearing a business suit while in 42 out of 141 photos (29%) men
appeared wearing business suits.
On cultural roles, men and women appeared equally in 21 photos, 24% and 57%
respectively. Further, women appeared in 5 out of 85 photos (5%), as students while men
appeared in 2 out of 141 (1%), photos. Both men and women appeared 0 times as a teacher. In 4
out 85 photos (4%), women appeared in school while in 2 out of 141 photos (1%), men appeared
in school. Men appeared once as artists while there were 0 photos of women appearing as artists.
Women appeared in 8 out of 85 photos (9%) as parents and men appeared in 7 out of 141
(4%). Women appeared in 16 out of 85 photos (18%) as girls, or children, while men appeared in
13 photos (9%) as boys. Further, women and men appeared in 8 photos equally as married, and
in 9 photos with family.
While reading, women appeared in 3 out of 85 photos (3%) while men appeared in 2 out
of 141 photos (1%). Men appeared writing once and women 0. With electronic devices, men
appeared in 30 out of 141 photos (21%) while women appeared in 10 out of 85 photos (11%).
Women appeared in 15 out of 85 photos (17%) practicing a hobby while men appeared in 17 out
of 141 photos (12%) doing the same.
Women appeared in 8 out of 85 photos (9%) in a scientific role and men appeared in 5
out of 141 (3%). Women appeared in 5 out of 85 photos (5%) as engineers and men appeared in
2 out of 141 photos (1%). Women and men appeared equally in a number of 5 times as doctors.
22
Women appeared in 57 out of 85 photos (67%) in a government role while men appeared
in 106 out of 141 photos (75%). Women appeared in 58 out of 85 photos (68%) in a government
organization while men appeared in 108 out of 141 photos (75%). Women appeared leading in a
governmental environment 38% of the times while mean appeared in 57% of the times. Further,
women appeared as secretaries in the government in 4% of the photos while men appeared in 7%
of the photos. Women appeared in 48 out of 85 photos (46%) in a government meeting while
men appeared in 73 out of 141 photos (51%).
In other activities, women appeared in 3% of the photo reading while men appeared din
0%. Both men and women appeared in 0% of the photos writing. While men appeared in 21% of
the photos with an electronic device, women appeared in 11% of the photos. Men and women
appeared three times equally in an unclear role.
Discussion
Women appeared in 44% of the photos that were coded while men appeared in 74%.
Since women make up 49% of the UAE population as I have mentioned earlier, there is not a
huge difference between here between appearance and presence (See Table 1 and Table 2).
Although men appear in a higher percentage, women are still in a development process were they
are being encouraged and empowered to achieve more. Hence, we might see more of them in the
future on the UAE government websites. Further, if we compared the appearance of women,
which is 44% to other countries that empower women, the percentage could be close taking into
consideration that woman empowerment is a global issue.
23
A similar and close percentage is the appearance of women on page 1 (40%) and the
appearance of men on page 1 (64%). This indicates that the women are being acknowledged by
the government and presented substantially in the homepage. Although 40% may not seem as a
high percentage but for a country like the UAE that might have been stereotyped as repressive,
40% is a high percentage. The percentages of women appearing on top of the page comparing to
men is what needs intensive improvement. Women in the UAE are in a few leading positions,
but men sit in most leading positions. Further, since people who usually appear on top of the
page are usually leaders, this might explain why women appeared on top of the page 26% of the
time while men appeared 74% of the time.
In 64% of the photos, women appeared smiling, which is a high percentage. In some of
the photos women were not smiling since they were either in a workplace during a meeting or in
a conference and had to look formal. The percentage indicates that most of the women are happy
and satisfied with their positions or places.
Moving to attire, in 60% of the photos women were wearing scarves over their head, in
71% of the photos women were in traditional clothes, in 42% of the photos women were in
western clothes and finally in 15% of the photos women were in work-related clothes. As I have
mentioned previously that the UAE has more than 200 nationalities and people of different
religions. Government entities mostly have UAE national employees, which explain why 81% of
the women were UAE Nationals. Having 60% of the women with scarves and 71% in traditional
clothes counter the allegations that Arab women and Muslim women are being repressed as
presented in some Arabian media and Hollywood movies that I mentioned earlier in the paper. In
42% of the photos women appeared in Western clothes such as business suits, which indicates
that the country is open and allows for different women from different backgrounds and cultures
24
to take part in society. UAE women were also presented in Western clothes as well. This
explains that women today have the choice of the clothes she wears as she is considered an
independent individual rather than being controlled by a man.
An astonishing percentage was the 97% of women being presented outdoors in the
photos. This proves significantly that women in the UAE today are not considered as housewives
and caregivers as the media and the stereotypes present them. Women are taking part of building
the society out of their homes as part of the UAE leadership's vision to empower women.
Both men and women appeared in almost equal percentages as sitting and standing. This
explains that neither gender has a more authoritative presence or more secondary role in an
organization.
Men exceeded women in a percentage of 18 in taking the lead in photos which is not a
major difference considering a country that is developing and encouraging women
empowerment. Also, both men and women appeared in an equal percentage of 41-42% in
secondary roles, which explains that today secondary roles are not exclusive to women only in
the UAE.
There weren’t many photos that represented women and men in a military role, which is
why women appeared in 0% while men appeared in 6%. During my research I have found
women in military roles however, they weren’t in the first or the second page which I was
researching. It might be due to military classified reasons that I have not seen many military
photos throughout my research. Further, the websites I have been viewing are government
websites rather than military websites which might explain why I haven’t found many military
25
roles photos. I would expect to see more photos in the future of both men and women to be
appearing on websites since the new military conscription law was issued last year.
Both men and women appeared in close percentages in business roles and in business
organizations. This verifies the statistics by the Ministry of Economy that 48% of sole business
owners in the UAE are women, which I have mentioned earlier. The only percentage which men
exceed women in with a bit of more percentage than others is in business suits. Men were found
in business suits 29% of the time while women were in 16%. This might be explained that UAE
women tend to go to work in the traditional scarf and abaya. There is a substantial difference
between the percentage of women appearing in the government role as well as men and in
business role for both genders. Government role’s percentages are higher since the websites I am
analyzing are government websites. It is also apparent in the government and business meetings
that the percentages of government roles are higher for the same reason.
On cultural roles, men were presented more than women with a percentage of 57% while
women had a percentage of 24%. For a conservative country like the UAE, I expected to see
more women in cultural roles rather than men. Women did appear more than men as students, in
school, as parents, married, with family and as children. This was expected due to the
conservative nature of some families and individuals in the UAE. Although women dominated a
few cultural roles, men need to also take part of such roles. The role of a caregiver, mother and a
student should not explicitly be to women. Also, the role of military, government and business
should not explicitly be to men.
26
In scientific roles, women appeared more than men, although they had a close percentage
of appearance as doctors however women appeared more as engineers. With the development of
education in the UAE it is necessary for more men to appear as engineers and as students as well.
Both men and women appeared in almost equal percentages in government roles and in
government organizations. As explained earlier we do have four females in the cabinet that
explains them appearing in a government meeting with the leadership of the UAE. 38% of the
photos showed the women as leaders and 57% showed men as leaders, which shows that they’re
not a major difference.
Finally, both men and women appeared in a nearly equal amount practicing a hobby,
however women appeared more in reading while men appeared more with electronic devices.
There is an indication that men have not been represented greatly in cultural roles which are still
considered significant.
The pictures with women appearing in different business meetings and government
meetings indicate that although men are still dominating, however, women have made their way
through. Women have frequently appeared in the pictures working hand in hand with men;
further some of the pictures presented women only without men in the photo, being engineers
and being in an office. Although, in most of the pictures that I have viewed, whenever there was
a group of women they would tend to stand beside those of their gender rather than mingle with
the other gender for a photo.
Further, women have appeared in leading roles; however men have been dominating the
leadership roles in most of the pictures. On the other hand, women do have an enormous share of
appearing in senior management positions in the business, government, and cultural roles. One of
27
the websites that grabbed my attention was the Dubai Customs website where they a career icon
for those who are interested in joining the organization with a smiling Emirati women on. This
not only indicates how open the country is but also encourages other women to take part of
society and to pursue a career life.
Not only are women presented in official meetings, they are also presented in cultural
events such as participating in a national day celebration and taking part of a philanthropic
charity run. It is also significant to mention that women were smiling in all pictures.
Limitations
As mentioned previously, the infrequency of the websites updates has created a hurdle in
collecting sufficient photos to analyze the results. It is noteworthy to mention that although the
UAE has various media organizations and as it also tends to share different types of information
through different media outlets it remains conservative in some extent. For instance, in some
areas in the UAE, it is still considered a taboo for a women’s photograph to be broadcasted in
any media. Familial traditions and culture prohibit women from appearing in any media outlet.
Other limitations were different parts of the body being presented on the websites. I was
not able to identify whether it was a female or a male. It would also be difficult for me
sometimes to decide whether a woman is smiling or not since they would give their backs to the
camera at some times. In other cases women are not smiling since they would be in a very formal
environment such as meeting where they are not suppose to be smiling.
Conclusion
28
In conclusion, women in the UAE have achieved significantly throughout the years
and they are also trying to catch up on their portrayal in media. Both in government and business
roles, both genders significant, although not equal, appearance proves the country’s efforts.
Women made a significant appearance and perhaps someday they would appear as equally as
men appear in different roles. The allegations that women in the Arab world are either
suppressed and are deprived of their equal rights are proven wrong. Although suppression
continues in some parts in the Middle East region with the current political obstacles, however
the UAE has managed to keep itself safe and unaffected. Images are important in creating a
perception as I have mentioned earlier in cultivation theory. The UAE government websites
should take that into consideration in order to reflect the true progress and development of the
country. Not only through reflecting women in cultural and scientific roles but also to include
them further in military, government and business roles. That said, men’s images should be
included in a more extensive manner in some cultural roles and the scientific roles to balance out
responsibilities. Men’s lack of appearance in those two roles is also considered a weakness.
There is hope that with such images presented of the women of the UAE that the
perceptions of UAE women as well as Arab women would change someday. Although some
Arabian and Western countries media’s tend to portray Arabs in general negatively, the efforts in
the UAE websites can hopefully assist in change some viewpoints. The ultimate goal would be
reshaping media’s portrayal around the world in Arab’s representation.
For future research, websites that are not governmental or a wider array of websites can
be considered to conduct a research. A research that includes the business aspect and the military
aspect more would further assist in the analysis. Also, a longer period of time would also help in
getting more precise data and information. Additionally, analyzing UAE or any other website as
29
well as a Western country’s website would be a suggestion to compare the differences and
understand how far Arab countries have reached.
30
Appendix
Coding Sheet
Date:
Website:
1. Is there a photo on the pages?
Y
N
2. What page is it?
a. Page 1
b. Page 2
3. Is the photograph at the top of the page?
Y
N
4. Is there women in the photograph?
Y
N
5. Are any of the women smiling?
Y
N
6. Are there any men in the photograph?
Y
N
7. Are the women wearing a scarf around there head?
Y
N
Some
8. Are the women wearing (Check all that applies):
- Traditional Clothes
- Western Clothes
- Work Related Clothes
9. Are the women mostly (Check all that applies):
- UAE Nationals
- Expats
- Unclear
10. Are the women (Check all that applies):
-Standing
- Sitting
11. Are the men (Check all that applies):
-Standing
-Sitting
12. Are the women presented
31
-Indoors
-Outdoors
12. Do women and men appear in the following roles on the photographs?
Women
Taking the lead
Secondary role
Military Role
-In a Military Base
-With Military Equipment
-Wearing Military Outfit
Business Role
-In a business organization
-In business meetings
-Wearing business suits
Cultural Role
-Student
-Teacher
-In School
-Artist
-Parent
-With Family
-Child
-With Family
-Practicing a hobby
Scientific Role
-Engineer
-Doctor
Government Role
-In
a
government
organization
-Leader
-Secretary
-In a meeting
Other activities
- Reading
-Writing
-With electronic device
-Practicing a hobby
Unclear
Men
32
Table 1: Results of Women
Women (Out of 85 photos)
Smiling
64%
UAE Nationals
81%
Expats
42%
Unclear
0%
Outdoors
97%
Indoors
2%
Scarf over their head
60%
Traditional clothes
71%
Western clothes
42%
Work-related clothes
15%
Table 2: Results of Men and Women
Women (Population= 85) Men (Population= 141)
Appearance in Page 1
40%
Appearance in Page 2
4%
Appearance at Top of the 26%
Page
Standing
54%
64%
10%
74%
57%
33
Sitting
62%
60%
Taking the lead
Secondary role
Military Role
60%
41%
0%
78%
42%
6%
-In a Military Base
-With Military Equipment
-Wearing Military Outfit
Business Role
-In a business organization
-In business meetings
-Wearing business suits
Cultural Role
-Student
-Teacher
-In School
-Artist
-Parent
-Married
-With family
-Child
-Practicing a hobby
Scientific Role
0%
0%
0%
18%
20%
9%
16%
24%
5%
0%
4%
0%
9%
9%
10%
18%
17%
9%
0%
0%
5%
25%
25%
17%
29%
57%
1%
0%
1%
.07%
4%
5%
6%
9%
12%
3%
-Engineer
5%
1%
-Doctor
5%
3%
Government Role
-In
a
government
organization
-Leader
-Secretary
-In a meeting
Other activities
- Reading
-Writing
-With electronic device
-Practicing a hobby
Unclear
67%
68%
75%
76%
38%
4%
46%
57%
7%
51%
3%
0%
11%
17%
3%
0%
0%
21%
12%
2%
Table 3: List of Government Websites
34
Entity
URL
1
United Arab Emirates
Government
Government.ae
2
United Arab Emirates
Government Interact
Uaeinteract.com
3
Dubai Government
Dubai.ae
4
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mofa.gov.ae
5
United Arab Emirates
Cabinet
Uaecabinet.ae
6
Ministry of Health
Moh.gov.ae
7
United Arab Emirates
Insurance Authority
Ia.gov.ae
8
Ministry of Environment
and Water
Moew.gov.ae
9
Ministry of Social Affairs
Ministry of Interior
Msa.gov.ae
Moi.gov.ae
10
Ministry of Energy
Moe.gov.ae
11
Ministry of Finance
Mof.gov.ae
12
Ministry of Higher
Education
Mohesr.gov.ae
13
Dubai Customs
Dubaicustoms.gov.ae
14
Central Bank of the UAE
Centralbank.ae
15
Abu Dhabi Municipality
Adm.gov.ae
35
16
United Arab Emirates
Statistics
17
Emirates Identity Authority Id.gov.ae
18
Abu Dhabi Inevestment
Authority
Adia.ae
19
Emirates Nuclear Energy
Council
Enec.gov.ae
20
Dubai Health Authority
Dha.gov.ae
21
Ministry of Cabinet Affairs
Moca.gov.ae
22
Dubai Tourism
Dubaitourism.ae
23
Securities and
Commodities Authority
Sca.gov.ae
24
Abu Dhabi Chambers
Abudhabichambers.ae
25
Federal Authority of
Nuclear Regulaiton
Fanr.gov.ae
26
Ministry of Public Works
Mopw.gov.ae
27
Ministry of Defense
Mod.gov.ae
28
Abu Dhabi Water and
Electricity Authority
Adwea.gov.ae
29
Ministry of Interior
Mol.gov.ae
30
Dubai Water and
Electricity Authority
Dewa.gov.ae
Uaestatistics.gov.ae
36
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