Instrumentalizing women’s rights in the United Arab Emirates

Women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have some of the world’s highest levels of political representation and have experienced significant improvements in other key gender equality measures. This reflects growing patterns in parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). While many have associated constraints on the status of women in this region with the salience of religion and religiosity, such explanations shed little light on the changes that we are seeing today in countries such as the UAE. Drawing on thematic content analysis of press releases, this article shows how the UAE is promoting women as economic and political actors as part of strategies to diversify its economy and move away from reliance on hydrocarbons and as part of a virtue-signaling strategy in the service of gaining regional and international favor. These strategies also aim to improve its rankings in international gender equality indices. The article argues that the strategies are more than merely window dressing; at the same time, such tactics have become part of the new arsenal of governing strategies of autocrats to divert attention from their countries' lack of political rights and civil liberties and enhance their own legitimacy to remain in power.