Woman and the Barriers They Face

Emarati woman has made steady progress in the last decade and despite some cultural barriers she has contributed very well to the development of the country. However, it is regrettable that woman leaders ( be it a top position in a company, some school or any other organization) are fewer in number despite the support and encouragement the get from the government and other organizations. Before I focus on this issue I would like to describe what is meant by the term ‘ leadership’. The term ‘leadership’ is multifaceted and does not have one concrete definition. The simplest definition of leadership is to have the ability to inspire and lead people to achieve a common goal. It is a combination of personality and skills with the purpose to let others want to follow his/her direction. “ Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills”. Even though being in the organization as a manager or a director etc. provides the ability of achieving main chores and projects, however it does not mean that you can be a leader.

The leadership ability is not restricted to men alone, rather due to the availability of almost equal number of opportunities in the field of education, there has been a steady increase in the number of educated women in the recent years, and as a result women are adding up to the workforce of our society. The number of employed women are increasing and they are also challenging men by having more education and better jobs with higher salaries. Besides, women have also started leading many big organizations which, earlier, was considered men’s unchallenged right. They are taking more responsibilities in the offices, defying their long established role of being a child-raiser only. With this global change, the status of an Arab woman has also improved a little bit in recent years, but still there is a long way to go. Earlier the role of an Arab woman was strictly limited...