Spouses of Student Mothers in the United Arab Emirates: Enablers or Constraints to Their Pursuit of Higher Education?

Abstract

The educational status of Emirati women in the United Arab Emirates has developed rapidly over the last five decades, with females now outnumbering males in higher education institutions. Marriage and motherhood often take place during the years of undergraduate study for women, particularly for those from families who retain Emirati cultural traditions of relatively early marriage and childbearing. This study analyses the role which spouses play in their wives’ pursuit of education, using the theoretical gender and development lens to explore whether a transformation of power relations within the marriage takes place for the growth in female participation in higher education to occur. Spousal behaviours are identified and categorised through the gender and development lens as either enablers or constraints to women’s empowerment and participation in higher education, and potential reasons for these behaviours surrounding gender relations are discussed.

This study centres on Emirati women’s participation in education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and explores the role through the gender and development (GAD) lens, which certain aspects of spousal behaviour (as perceived by their wives) play in a wife’s pursuit of education. A GAD approach looks at the gender relations which underpin development, and in particular seeks identification of institutionalised patriarchy, where it exists (Stromquist, 2013). This study is an exploratory one, since whether or not there may be unequal relations in the first place is often debated in the literature on Emirati women, and contradictory perspectives abound. In the case of Emirati female participation in higher education, this might involve simultaneously addressing strategic needs by dealing with the power relations which exist between Emirati women, their husbands and families, which could prevent equitable development for women. Specifically, we look at the role which spouses play in their wives’ pursuit of education using the GAD lens.

Emirati Women and Society

The development of education for women in the UAE has been extremely rapid over the last few decades. Over a very short period of time, women’s literacy rates have risen by 15% and primary school enrolment for females has risen from almost zero in the 1960s to close to 100% today (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2014). In federal educational institutions, the number of female students vastly outnumbers number of male students; 77% of the students studying at higher education institutes in the country are female (Centre for Higher Education Data and Statistics Report, 2012). Women are increasingly seeking out higher education and breaking away from the traditional cultural focus on the home (Green & Smith, 2006). This is testimony in large part to the prioritising of education by the UAE Government. This rapid development for women means that the contrast between the educational levels of Emirati women today and their grandmothers (or even mothers) three decades ago is great. Many students in UAE institutions today are the first females in their families to attend higher education (Daleure et al., 2014), and Emirati women are also performing very well in business and entrepreneurship (Jabeen et al., 2015). Women work in or are members in all sectors, including the Federal National Council, the military, police and special forces, and female workers make up two-thirds of the government sector and 20% of the diplomatic corps (Al-Ali, 2013).

The rapid development in the UAE has brought improvements in living standards, but with it challenges to social traditions (Daleure, 2017; Marmenout & Lirio, 2014). The significance of the family as the root of traditional Emirati cultural values (and that of most of the Gulf and wider Middle Eastern settings) is a prevalent theme in studies of Emirati women and men in the workplace, leading to an expectation that extended families support each other both economically and socially (Houjeir & Brennan, 2016). Both getting married and having children soon after, are still highly desirable in Emirati society (Schvaneveldt et al., 2005; Tabutin & Schoumaker, 2005).

Younger generations of Emirati women may find themselves caught between traditions, that are established, and modernity (Ghubash et al., 2001). The current generation of Emirati women is ‘… reacting differently from long-held marital traditions such as arranged marriages, not knowing their husbands before marriage, living with the extended family and absolute patriarchy in the household’ (Bromfield, 2014, p. 351).

There is evidence of a recent shift in the perceptions of family and society in some cases, in which many families encourage their daughters to consider getting married after graduating from university and not before (Hassane & Abdullah, 2011; Nereim, 2012). Despite this, there are certain sectors of Emirati society where more traditional values remain, and some women do marry well below the national average age. Many young women have opted to marry as soon as a proposal arises from a ‘suitable’ man (Al-Ali, 2013). On average undergraduate students in higher education are around 18 years when they begin, and around 21 or 22 years upon graduation. A recent registry survey of one institution showed that over 60% of students in the final year of the undergraduate degree were married with children. ¹ In Bromfield’s (2014, p. 346) study of Emirati undergraduate students ‘… all but one of the respondents were married in their teens or early twenties, with the youngest being 14 at the time of marriage’. The finding echoes that of Bristol-Rhys (2007, 2010) that getting married during undergraduate degrees is relatively common, particularly as the women near the end of their degree. In effect, those women from traditional families often have the same expectations and experiences with regard to marriage and having children as their own mothers, but with an additional, contemporary expectation that they also obtain a university degree.

The UAE is an Islamic country with related values, beliefs and legal systems, which strongly influence sociocultural norms and expectations. Islamic work ethic plays a significantly influential role on women’s empowerment (Shaya & Khait, 2017). Marriage is fundamental to the formation of a family in Islam, and the household and financial needs of both spouse and wife are the responsibility of the husband (Omran, 2012). The practice of Sharia Law, for example, in giving unequal inheritance shares to women, has at its root the premise that women would be supported by the close male relatives in their families. In this way, the Koran prescribes for women rights, responsibilities and restrictions that may differ from non-Muslim countries. For example, the stipulation of patriarchal responsibility towards women along with their support and protection (McIntosh & Islam, 2010). Islam has as one of its chief features agreements on this financial responsibility of a man towards his wife (Oman, 2011).

In the UAE for example, the state has provided only men with either land or houses in some cases, because of the expectation that women will be housed by either her spouse, father or brother (Augsburg et al., 2009). As a result, Emirati males are strongly considered to be the patriarchs, breadwinners and protectors of female family members and may tend to let their wives dominate domestic and child-rearing responsibilities (Bristol-Rhys, 2010; Erogul & McCrohan, 2008). Around 91% of eligible males are employed full-time, compared with 47% of females (Global Gender Gap Report, 2014).

Theoretical Framework: Gender and Development Lens

A GAD framework is an approach to development that focuses on exploring and identifying gender inequalities. It was initially developed as a reaction to the perception that the women in development (WID) approach was not going far enough into deeply investigating gender relations, and that a new framework was needed to affect some of the inequalities which may arise as a result of gender power dynamics, particularly within social and domestic spheres. A key difference between the WID and GAD approaches is that the WID approach looks at women in isolation, whilst the GAD approach focuses on the root causes of this isolation. It is meant as a lens through which a phenomenon is examined, in order to explore whether there are indeed gender inequities, namely the subordination of women to men (Moser, 2012). This necessitates a focus on gender relations, so GAD views the fundamental aspects of gender in the context of social relations, and analysis through this lens seeks to challenge women’s disempowerment, where identified and appropriate. Moser (2012) discusses how critical it is to look not at ‘half the story’ which is the category of women only, but to explore issues in the relation of women to men and how these relations are socially constructed.

Some studies in higher education have shown how unequal gender relations influence, and indeed structure, daily life (Morley, 2006). The GAD framework emphasises empowerment through removing barriers to gender inequality. This manifests itself in a myriad of ways, including access issues and the under-representation of women in certain fields. A key strand of gender equity is access, and policies which ease access to higher education in some countries include decreasing entry requirements, provision of childcare facilities etc. The GAD framework allows us to consider ways in which relations between women and men are socially constructed, with special focus on the subordination of women, where necessary (DeJaeghere & Wiger, 2013). The examination of the relative positions of women and men within their socio-cultural structures allows for a possible transformation of these. Within this, familial relationships can be examined as a ‘primary mechanism through which the social meanings are invested in, and social controls over women’s … life choices’ (Kabeer, 1994, p. 58). GAD roots lie in socialist feminism whereupon attention is focused on the social relations and societal roles assigned to women and men (Rathgeber, 1990).

We utilise a theoretical structure used by Morley (2006, 2005) to help in understanding the case of the Emirati female access and participation in higher education; a model utilising ‘enablers’ and ‘constraints’ as viewed through the GAD lens. Describing factors found to have been ‘enablers’ of women’s participation in or access to higher education. Morley gives the example that the ‘social and cultural capital of the extended family … play a crucial role in determining women’s access to higher education’ (Morley, 2006, p. 66). Constraints (or barriers) on the other hand, could be presented by elements such as negative assumptions about gender, ability and academic performance. In this study, we specifically look at the student mothers’ perceptions of their spouses’ actions and attitudes in relation to their studies, to identify themes in that arena which either enable or constrain the women to successfully participate in higher education.

Study Aims

The aims of the study were to find out, for those students who have become mothers whilst at university, the ways in which they perceive their spouses to have or to have not supported them to continue their degree, and what challenges, if any, they have faced in this regard. By doing so, we aimed to ascertain, through the lens of the GAD framework, whether these behaviours could be identified and categorised as either enablers or constraints.

Research Questions

1. In what ways do the student mothers perceive that their spouses have supported them, where applicable, to return to college post-childbirth (GAD enablers).

2. In what ways is it perceived by student mothers that spouses have either not supported or hindered the student mothers’ return to college (GAD constraints).

Methodology

The research design is chiefly guided by social constructivism. Social constructivism emphasises the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in society and constructing knowledge based on this understanding (McMahon, 1997). Burr (2015) states that social constructivism assumes that ‘all ways of understanding are historically and culturally relative’ (p. 4) and that, as a culture and society, our own versions of reality are constructed via social processes. This is an important concept in this study, since it is an exploratory study of responses linked closely to society and interactions between members of a particular society.

The sample of women in this study, drawn from a gender-segregated teacher-training college, may not be representative of other Emirati women who are making bounds in fields such as leadership, science etc. Many women like the ones in our study have chosen the particular degree programme due to personal and family wishes of a gender-segregated working environment, should they choose to work later (Sharif et al., 2014), suggesting more traditional family values. It may be that these findings cannot be generalised across Emirati society as a result.

Qualitative methods were adopted in order to explore the role that spouses play in the women’s decision and ability to return to college post childbirth. Non-probability purposive sampling methods were adopted to recruit study participants. The purposive sampling technique is so called due to the deliberate choice of a participant and due to the qualities they possess. The researcher sets out to find people who can and are willing to provide information which they need, due to their experience or knowledge of that particular area (Bernard, 2002). It enables the selection and identification of information-rich cases from available resources (Patton, 2002). Suitable participants were asked to satisfy the following criteria:

Full-time registration on the college undergraduate programme.

Have given birth to at least one child whilst studying at college.

All final year students (₹60) were emailed initially with a brief description of the research study, and with the participant information and consent form. If they met the selection criteria and were interested in participation, a time for interview was arranged which was convenient to them. Our interview guide was informed by the literature review which indicated areas in which new student mothers feel most challenged, in order to explore the spousal role in these areas. For example, literature which suggests the spouse’s supportive role is often critical to continuation of their studies (Tennant et al., 2014), where the existence of a spouse reduces a student’s level of strain (Poyrazli & Kavanaugh, 2006) and conversely where a spouse does not support study by contributing to household chores, childcare etc., the ways in which this could be detrimental to study completion (Cragg et al., 2005). Other aspects of spousal support such as empathetic, emotional and psychological encouragement are also noted in the literature to have import (Legako & Sorenson, 2000; Martens & Grant, 2008). These included both domestic and college arenas, and included questions regarding their home lives such as childcare arrangements, who normally undertake certain duties, and their spouse’s role in all of this. The work of this particular article has focused on the spousal role in the student mother’s journey, but was part of a wider study looking at multiple aspects of their lives (see the appendix for an abbreviated interview guide of questions specifically relating to the work described here).

Aside from an initial few closed demographic questions that were asked, the majority of the interviews followed a semi-structured style. This is characterised by Cohen et al. (2013) as being an open situation which provides flexibility and freedom, and which allows for gathering of in-depth data. The interview questions were piloted with a small number of Emirati student mothers who were not selected by the sampling strategy mentioned earlier, and some critical information was provided on the questions’ validity and cultural sensitivity. Appropriate adjustments were made thereof.

The interviews took place in a private, closed space where the participants were not visible to others and unlikely to be disturbed. Each interview took around 30 min. The language medium was English, and as the students have a level of English language sufficient to partake in an entirely English medium Bachelor’s degree, this was deemed to be acceptable. Nonetheless, care was taken to exclude complex terms from the interview schedule and to give students opportunity to seek clarification on any question as needed. Face-to-face interview mechanism was selected as the data collection tool, with the hope that more authentic and truthful data might be gathered more easily with aid from non-verbal communication. The interview transcripts were also sent to the participants for member checking and agreement with its authenticity.

The researchers were well aware of the possible sensitivities of the interviews’ subject matter, and the limitations that could present as a result, that is, the student mothers being reticent to speak freely about their spouses. However, both researchers are female, mothers themselves, and both had resided in the Gulf region for over a decade each. They are also very well known to the students, having worked at the college for a number of years. All of these factors undoubtedly influenced the students’ willingness to participate and share their views during the interviews. This was an inevitable limitation of the exploratory and personal nature of the study, being that in Emirati culture, discussing family matters outside of the family might be considered intrusive or disrespectful, but more likely, they may not divulge true sentiments in all areas. We acknowledge this fully and tried to counteract the effect in two ways. Firstly, we repeatedly emphasised the students’ right to not answer any question which made them feel in any way uncomfortable, and secondly, continually reminding the students of their anonymity and confidentiality of data. This would be key to facilitating them to speak more freely about the subject matter. Hawamdeh and Raigangar (2014) noted in their interviewing work in Arab settings that there was often evidence of a hierarchical relationship in the interactions between interviewer and participant. Okasha (2003) notes that due to the high value given to modesty in Arab society, social interactions are often carefully controlled and perhaps not as open as they are in Western societies. We were mindful of all of these points and tried to ensure that the participants were comfortable and at ease whilst trying simultaneously to gather rich data.

The interview data were analysed as follows. After initial main themes emerged, partly in conjunction with the response themes which the question structure generated, data were classified according to these, and in further analysis, organic sub-themes developed. These were anticipated to be, for example, key ways in which the women’s spouses did, and did not, support them to enter or continue in their degree studies. Codes within these were then analysed. This was not a linear process, with much going back and forth revisiting and re-evaluating initial code development, allowing us as researchers to explore the data in-depth (DeCuir-Gunby et al., 2011).

These data gave us insight into the lives of the women, the kinds of relationships that they had with their spouses and how they perceived support or lack of support from them in relation to their status as full-time degree student mothers. We also gained insight due to the narratives which were being constructed about the dynamics between themselves and their spouses.

Findings

The 16 women interviewed had between one and six children each, and as per the requirement for inclusion in the study, all had given birth to at least one baby during their time as a college student. The students were aged between 21 and 35 years, and had been married from between 2 and 15 years. Of these participants, five lived with their extended family (four with their husband’s family), whilst others lived independently of their families but with close family living in proximity (this applied to four women). All but two had full-time domestic help at home, but more than half of these said that they did not ask their helper to look after the children. The chief form of childcare was either maternal grandparents, in around half of the participants’ cases, or nurseries outside of the home. Through their responses to the ways in which they perceived their spouses supported them to remain at college, or the ways in which they presented challenges for them, themes began to emerge of how perceived spousal behaviours acted both as enablers and constraints to the mothers’ studies.

Enablers

Of the total sample of 16 women, 13 provided responses which demonstrated examples of enabling behaviours by their spouses in at least one form (even if they also reported constraining behaviours in other contexts). The women recounted a number of ways in which they felt that their spouses supported them and eased their lives as college students, in other words, enabling factors or aspects of spousal behaviour. Much of this was practical domestic support in the form of taking turns to meet their baby or young child’s basic demands, for example, getting up in the night, feeding and dressing the baby. A small minority of women reported that their husbands did undertake domestic tasks such as cleaning. These reports have to be considered within the fairly unique Gulf context where employing domestic help is a social ‘norm’. Since most of the domestic chores are undertaken by these employees and not by either the women or their spouses, this is not an indication of a lack of support on the spouse’s part. Some couples had an arrangement of rotating responsibility for babies and young children in the evening. For example, one mother describes her husband being ‘in charge’ when she returned from college to allow her to rest while he took care of the baby:

He tries to help me when I come back from college at 4 o’clock, I sleep for one hour. He holds the baby, gives him milk and wants me to relax.

Mentioning that her husband wants her to relax suggests a genuine care by the spouse for the woman’s wellbeing and the provision of practical support to do so. Some spouses helped older children with their schoolwork and looked after toddlers while the mothers focused on the babies, and the mothers also reported the spouses sharing in the driving responsibilities; dropping children off at school and nursery. Some also carried out grocery shopping and cooking. This was reportedly enjoyed at times by the spouse too:

No, he likes to help me, but also in cooking, he enjoys it, even if I tell him, I can do it, he told me no, I will.

Other examples of practical support were described as occurring either when the woman specifically requested it, for example, during the woman’s nap or while she gets ready:

When I take shower or do something, my husband holds the baby.

or at particular times which might be more stressful than others, but were definitely special and requested rather than being everyday occurrences. Frequent examples of this are during examination periods or before assessment deadlines where the mother has to spend more time than normal on her college work. In these cases, mothers reported their husbands looking after their children in a different physical space to allow her to focus, as this statement shows:

I leave my daughters with my husband and I go to the other room and I close the door, because I don’t want someone to come to me saying mama mama!

This suggests that the support provided by their husbands during those times of stress certainly enabled them to get through those critical periods.

Other forms of support for the women were more abstract, yet appreciated just as keenly and so could be considered as enablers to the women’s ability to keep up with her studies. Examples of this were the idea of feeling encouraged and supported emotionally or psychologically. When the women were prompted to give examples of this, not all were able to do so, and yet it appeared to provide an important psychological support element, as one woman describes:

He encourages me to study and get good GPA and graduate. [Interviewer: Other than say it is good to go back to college, does he do anything else?] No.

Husbands’ involvement in their wives’ studies was notable in a way which might be considered unusual in Western societies, but which is in keeping with other research regarding the extent to which Emirati families become involved in their female family members’ education (Daleure et al., 2015). In one example, a mother describes how she wanted to sit in a final exam after having given birth:

I came after 2 days from delivery – I think they didn’t allow me to do the exam but my husband tried hard to let me to do it and they … wanted me to do it next year … but in the end let me do it on Saturday ..

It was clear that the mother considered her husband’s intervention—presumably to meet with the college administration to ask for a special case of exam delay or some such mechanism—was an enabler to allow her take the exam, at a time when she was likely feeling vulnerable and unable to carry out the negotiations herself. This does not necessarily indicate that the husband would always be involved to this degree in his wife’s academic affairs, as it might be particular to the extraordinary circumstances at the time. Either way, it was definitely perceived as support at a vulnerable time in the woman’s life.

Four of the women mentioned receiving some type of encouragement from their husbands that was at least partially financially motivated, such as that by completing their studies they would be able to work and contribute, along with their husband’s salary, to the household income. Two of these women also mentioned their own desires to be able to work and receive their own salary as a partial motivation for completing their studies. It was felt that this would give them spending freedom which they perceived they did not currently possess, for example, to pay for domestic help. Note that this may appear to contradict the traditional teachings of Islam, as mentioned before, as the male is supposed to provide help financially for his wife. However, here it was observed that in the case of at least two participants, the spouse was encouraging his wife to study in order to work primarily to earn money. This was not perceived negatively, however, and instead was thought to be an encouraging act of ‘team’ membership in building their family’s finances.

Constraints

Constraining aspects of spousal behaviour are now identified. A sizeable minority (four) of the women made frequent reference to their husbands being extremely busy, and either unable to help with domestic work including childcare or being distant either physically or emotionally. The reasons for physical distance were usually work related, for example working in the military which necessitated being away from home for long periods of time. Some of the reasons given for their husbands’ lack of involvement were less clear, for example,

My husband is not around, studying outside and working.

The four women appeared to be quite accepting of that situation, at least outwardly, in that none openly voiced displeasure. Two women mentioned that their spouses were also studying for their own degrees at the same time. While they did not explicitly say that the spouse’s studies could be or should be prioritised over their own, there was a prevailing sense of this in some of the responses, for example,

He cannot [help] because he is away, doing his own business and studying as well, so he really cannot do it. I am the driver, father, mother, cooker …

For some of the following discussion, we debated whether we could classify the examples as being enablers or constraints, but due to the fact that the women had experienced the strain of the debate as to whether she should continue at college, we eventually placed them as ‘constraints’. The issues also need to be carefully placed within the context of the relative novelty of the men’s wives being in higher education. A student wife may have been acceptable to the spouse upon marriage but more difficult to accept once his wife became a mother, particularly in more traditional families in Emirati society. This necessitates a negotiation on the part of the woman, sometimes involving other family members too. The following statement exemplifies how this dynamic can shift after becoming a mother:

Before marriage I was studying in X … I got my certificate but after marriage when I had my baby, he wanted me to stop. Later I talked to him and he agreed …

Possibly, the ability to negotiate or argue their right to remain at college demonstrates a certain power dynamic that almost certainly could act as an enabler.

The student mothers frequently referred to their husbands having decided they could study, and many used this as a buffer for other family members (particularly in-laws) who were less pleased about their studies, for example,

My mother in law wanted me to stay at home but my husband had a different idea for me: to study.

The mothers tended to consider this as an enabling factor, in that it meant they did not have to contend with additional questioning pressure from family who would rather they did not study. We have classed it as a constraint, though, due to the inherent imbalance in power between the gender relations that the statements imply. One woman described how she gave authority to her husband to plan her day:

My husband works in the planning so he makes the plan for everything. Each day he plans for us … he says I have to drive, got to study and discover the world outside.

This may, of course, be viewed favourably and as a sign of love and interest by the women, and often appeared to be perceived as such. A few of the women described a point during their studies when the pressure of combining motherhood and studies became too much for them and they had contemplated dropping out. In each case, they explained that their husbands were opposed to this idea and told their wives to continue. The women viewed this positively, indicating that their spouse had faith in their strength and ability to multi-task:

Also, when I wanted to stop the college this semester. He told me ‘no, complete [your studies] and it is not good to stay home and only take care of the baby’. He told me to work, manage my time and all will be fine.

An interesting finding from some of the women (though not all) was that whilst their husbands appeared to be very supportive of them completing their degree, the idea of their wives working afterwards was considered to be a different issue all together. One of the women in the study had spoken enthusiastically about her husband, describing him as undertaking the majority of the household tasks, cleaning, cooking, taking care of the children, and being fully advocative of her studies. However, when asked about teaching after graduation, she then explained:

Actually … I don’t think I will be [a teacher]. I don’t think my husband will allow me to work.

This statement is not necessarily as starkly contrasting as it first appears, because the women who explained that their husbands may not support them to work after college had also mentioned their husbands playing a large role in the decision making and planning of their wives’ schedules. There are also of course important reasons within the religious and social context of the UAE why this may occur, such as that the male is supposed, by both Islam and culture, to provide economically and materially for his wife. Being educated, on the other hand, both formally and informally in the sense of seeking knowledge, is also highly encouraged in Islam, which may play a role in the husband’s support of this (Halstead, 2004).

One of the mothers expressed feeling constrained by the way her spouse reacted to her college work. For example, demanding she complete her work at college and not in the home, or by expressing worry about their children’s care whilst their mothers studied and implying that the children were not being taken care of as a result of their mothers studying outside of the home. These types of behaviours definitely acted as a constraint to the mothers.

Discussion

Proponents of GAD do not consider examples of women’s lives where they ‘passively receive assistance in a top-down approach’ as examples of empowerment (Tasli, 2007, p. 2). Some of the examples of ways in which spousal behaviour acts as a constraint fall into this category, and sometimes even those which are perceived to be enablers, espouse this power differential. For example, the spouses planning for their wives’ day, or making the decision that they should return to college, may imply an inequitable gender power dynamic.

There were two reported instances of spouses pressuring their wives to drop out of college and take care of the children. In these two cases, the women were able to negotiate this to result in an outcome favourable to them. Whilst the very fact of the spouse pressuring them to drop out might be considered constraining behaviour, that the women had the skill to avert that course could also be perceived as the kind of GAD empowerment, which Tasli (2007) describes as being related to changes in the socio-economic structures of societies. Perhaps the ability to negotiate or argue their right to remain at college demonstrates a certain power dynamic which could act as an enabler. There seemed to be an understanding among the women that there was the need for skilful manipulation of their spouses in negotiating their return to college. This echoes a similar though controversial statement by Gallant (2008), where it was stated that Emirati women ‘… needed to be able to manipulate men in order to achieve their own goals’ (p. 113).

The UAE is a society in the midst of huge social changes, and aspects of women’s lives which were not commonplace even a decade ago, might be today. Emirati women receive much support, both rhetorical and concrete, from their country’s leadership (Forster, 2017), and there are prominent role models of women in leadership in all employment sectors. Key female role models include, at the time of writing, the current speaker and leader of the Federal National Council (a powerful decision-making body) Dr Amal Al Qubaisi. Such role models symbolise the rapid change in development of women’s status and opportunities. Emirati women have been aggressively recruited into the workforce and there are positive discrimination policies in some cases to ensure positions are taken up by women (Kelly, 2010). However, as much as many women are making huge strides in their society, there are also highly traditional pockets of Emirati society where women do not have those opportunities or reach these elevated positions, and are highly governed by the individual tastes and practices of their families. As mentioned earlier, given that the particular sample of women in this study are drawn from educational degrees, and it has been previously shown that female education students often select their degree due to their family’s wishes that they study and later work in gender-segregated environments (Sharif et al, 2014), there is a strong likelihood that our sample may also represent this traditionalist sector. It is important that the picture of Emirati women in society today reflects all of these possibilities.

The concept of women in education beyond school is, as we mentioned earlier, increasingly common yet still relatively novel in UAE society, and women’s attendance in higher education (at least in public universities) is often still paternalistically governed. In our university, for example, a woman may not leave the college during the day without written permission from her male guardian. ² This context is important because it reminds us of the novelty of a man’s wife being away from the home where young children are present. The situation is therefore complex in that the husband’s tacit agreement of his wife’s education could actually be considered significant in terms of support. Furthermore, the fact that the majority (14 out of 16) of our participants provided responses which at least in part consisted of some form of enabling responses or behaviour, suggests that perhaps spousal support for women in the UAE is high, which bodes well for women in higher education.

Our findings showed that some spouses who acted as enablers by appearing to be extremely supportive of their wives studying for their degree, had already made it clear that working after their degree completion was not an option. This may seem contradictory, but the fact that the men might be happy for their wives to study but not necessarily to work, might be explained by the societal expectation in the UAE that males are responsible for provision of the household budget, including paying for housing itself (Bristol-Rhys, 2010). Islamic law which requires males to take care of his family’s financial needs, including his wife, as discussed previously, may explain this, as Al-Nasr (2011) writes: ‘while both men and women accept predominantly paternal values, the strides in women’s status may be contradictory to traditions, customs, and expectations’ (p. 43).

These socially constructed relations and roles for women and men in Emirati society may be slightly shaken by the recent educational developments for women. A GAD approach is concerned with the interaction of roles between women and men in terms of the gender relations dynamics (Brown, 2007). Women are considered to be agents of change, which must be addressed within the social context, whilst at the same time, unequal social relations between the genders which may limit female participation in education (and development in general) are of critical importance (Brown, 2007; Rathgeber, 1990). Crabtree (2007) pointed out over a decade ago that there seemed to be little evidence of aspirations of Emirati couples towards the merging of maternal and paternal roles that is becoming increasingly popular among Western couples. Our study indicates that this may not always be the case. Possibly, with support from their spouses, women are less likely to drop out from college programmes. The converse is also true, and indeed some women specifically cited feeling alone in dealing with their children and household, as a reason for thinking of doing so. Further research into the causes of female students’ dropping out of higher education is recommended to explore this possibility.

The enabling spousal behaviour observed in this study suggests evidence of teamwork within marriages and equitable arrangements for looking after the children and household. This, viewed through a GAD lens, provides an important enabler for women to study and is suggestive of an indigenous transformation of what may have otherwise been unequal power relations within the marriage. In this view, it is not only that a transformation has taken place for this growth in female participation in higher education to occur, but that empowerment within the woman herself has contributed to the growth.

Not only do the women in our study take on the bulk of the childcare, but they often espouse an acceptance of their husband’s lack of practical support (where this is the case), instead accepting this as part of gendered role expectations. In some cases, this is cushioned by the presence of extended families, particularly grandmothers who help take care of the children. This facility was only available for women who lived with or near their families. As much as extended families are important in Emirati society, for reasons often linked to internal migration (e.g., from the Northern Emirates to the wealthier Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi), many families have moved away from their extended families to live in nuclear families, and do not necessarily have that support on hand (Bromfield, 2014). In households in the UAE, availability of domestic help may alleviate this power dynamic with regard to the distribution of household tasks in some ways, lessening the strain on both women and men, rather than any fundamental changes in spousal domestic support.

Implications and Conclusion

Our data have shown examples where women consider their spouses to have enabled them to study by negotiating with college administrations on their behalf, such as the mother who missed her exam due to giving birth and whose husband arranged for her to sit the exam directly afterwards. This aligns with the earlier discussions about a male’s Islamic obligations towards responsibility and protection for his wife and family. This is likely to be a hugely influential, motivating factor for instances such as these where males wish to be assured of their wives’ safety; because their religion and society requires that. The World vision Report (2003) outlines a main action principle using GAD, which is to work on practical and strategic levels to bring about change in gender relations: work in a participatory way with men and women—making sure to involve men. In the Gulf higher education context, this could be done by involving guardians and spouses in the recruitment and enrolment process, and having male student advisors interact with the male family members to explain the expectations of the institution for their wives or daughters. This may encourage spouses to act more as enablers than constraints and would fit into the expectations of Emirati and Islamic culture.

Chisholm and McKinney (2003) describe how GAD approaches at that time seemed to move ‘towards dissolving the specific gender focus into broad-based community approaches in which the gender focus is made visible in a related rather than direct manner’ (p. 2). An example of this in practice is observed in one UAE university running a student mothers’ support group, which helps mothers cope with the demands of student and family life. It provides help and advice on everything from meeting coursework deadlines to babysitting (Swan, 2015). This may provide a GAD empowerment situation which utilises strength and support provided by women in a similar position, particularly for those whom spousal support is lacking.

Finally, both Emirati women and men are able to take advantage of generous state-provided educational funding. Education is completely free in all federal universities, is normally gender segregated, and free accommodation is also provided. These initiatives certainly enable more women to access higher education in a WID-inspired fashion and have undoubtedly allowed many women to attend universities who would otherwise been unable to. Perhaps, in the same spirit, a GAD-inspired public awareness campaign could educate young men and their families on the importance of supporting women’s education.

Our study indicates that there are ways in which some spousal behaviours are GAD enablers which strongly aid women to complete their degrees with less struggle and turmoil. There are also indications of spousal behaviour which could be considered to constrain, or act as a barrier to, their wives’ education. However, we note that the tenacity observed in wives’ responses even where their spouses mainly constrain, means that she is still able to study (albeit with greater pressure). Avenues which institutions should explore include gaining a greater awareness of the pressure under which the student mothers function in order to offer better support. Ultimately though, the fact that the majority of spouses described by their wives in this study exhibited behaviours which were highly supportive and GAD enabling, and given the modernity of women in education in the UAE, it seems that the future for Emirati student mothers may be optimistic, as the perception of the spousal role as being increasingly domestically involved becomes more socially acceptable and still applies the realms of the Islamic society in which they live.