Women in Society

It's interesting to see women's place in society here. Abu Dhabi is a very conservative country, most locals wear traditional clothes and women are always covered up. I don't feel it as much in the office as most people are foreign but when I go to public places I truly feel like I'm in a different world.

I've been looking for beauty salons here but never seem to notice any. I only found them when my friend who's been living here for 1.5 years told me that they are normally hidden away, and are usually completely covered so noone can see inside. The above picture is a hair salon hidden away in a corner of one of Abu Dhabi's biggest malls - would you ever have guessed that it was a salon? It's completely covered, in fact it looks like a shop that's yet to open! I went into the manicure shop next to it. It wasn't covered but I could not see any customers even when I went in. Only when it was my turn they took me to the back and it was the largest nail salon I had ever seen, filled with women!

Then today I went to the driving school. I hate going to that place as I'm usually the only non-local or Indian woman, so I'm usually one of the few in jeans and a top. I usually cover up with a sweater because I feel that all eyes are on me as that place is filled with men. They do however have a dedicated service counter for women which is good. I took my theory test today, so I went into the hall and sat down. There were 6 women and maybe 20 men. We all sat randomly first, then the guy asked all the women to sit at the back. Apparently women always go at the back, even in lifts, women walk out last. This is because if women sit in front or walk out first, men will stare at their backs. There is an exception though, in buses, the front seats are only for women.

Then we finished our tests (I passed yay, now to schedule the road test!), and had to wait for our certs. I went into the room, sat in the front 2 rows as there were no other women around. This other man (indian) who took the test with me came and sat 2 seats next to me and started talking. We were chatting, then this Emirati man comes in with his wife who was wearing a burka. He asked the Indian man to move to the back as his wife was going to sit on the row in front of me. At that point I thought, well obviously these men stare at women, they never get to see them as they are always shielded. In any other country, men are disciplined enough and do not stare (well they do gawk but try to do so discretely at least!) but here I think women get stared at all the time because they are always covered up!

I had a taxi driver yesterday who seemed to be super uncomfortable that there were 2 females in his cab, me and my flatmate. He couldn't wait to get rid of us! I also realised that I cannot take private driving lessons from anyone, it has to be a woman because unmarried men and women cannot be in the same car together! Good luck to me finding someone who can instruct me sigh..