Veiled Women of the Middle East

Although I have traveled to the UAE before and have developed a profound respect and form of childish admiration for the veiled women of the Middle East, throughout our trip, an issue that many of us kept in mind, particularly, us female students, is the role of women and the so-called oppression of women in the area.

A Western perspective is to write-off the abaya practices of the Middle East as oppressive and backwards thinking. But this ethnocentric view is an uneducated one, as it fails to recognize that the choice to wear the black veil is a personal choice made between a woman and her religion; the operative word being choice.

Additionally, as discussed with the COO of Sheikh Khalifa Medical Centre, who is an American woman herself, the mistreatment of women is an international phenomenon; it is no more apparent in the Middle East as it is in the rest of the world. As sad as it is, there are abusive relationships the world over, whether it is in Abu Dhabi or New York City. And, as a matter of fact, Islamic religion preaches a great respect for women – as every woman is said to be somebody’s mother or somebody’s sister. Therefore, women in the UAE are neither oppressed nor are they battered. Rather, they are enjoying prosperous career as well as social opportunities and freedoms.