Impressions...Three, Society & Clothes

Yvonne, my wife was a little nervous to begin with. Arab countries do not have a great reputation in the West for their acceptance of women in society. Well that may be true in some places – KSA for example – but not here. Although customs vary she can pretty much be herself. Indian and Arab women spend little time with their husbands in public. But that doesn’t mean that a Western woman who wants to sit in a café alone gets bothered or ignored or treated badly. In fact people love to talk – non threatening and very interested. A smile and an invitation to chat always produce great results. And no hassle. And she’ll often go and sit and talk to a group of Emirati women all in Black and be made very welcome.
Emirati Society has changed in the last 35 years since independence. They are much less approachable and friendly than before. It’s much harder to make acquaintance deeply – get beyond the basic social niceties. Consequently I only have a couple of local friends – though that’s a couple more than many Westerners. Perhaps that’s a consequence of being a minority in your own country. Whatever, it’s a change and a sadness. The old style is till there in some of the other Emirates as well as Oman and Bahrain and to some extent in Qatar but it’s gone from Dubai.
But Arabs from elsewhere remain unbelievably inviting. Endlessly curious to learn more about our world- its good bits and its bad bits and endlessly willing to share the same about their world.
A word about the clothes. Emirati men – and some others – wear the Kandoura (dishdasha as it’s called elsewhere) – that’s the white robe we associate with Gulf Arabs in particular. Women wear the black Abaya. This is actually a light coat and underneath is a variety of clothes from jeans and Tshirt to very glamourous long flowing Arabic dresses. The Gutra – the headdress of generally white or checkered cloth – is part of the men’s costume. The ladies wear a Hijab almost invariably though a minority are totally covered.
And a head covering is vital in this climate and even poor labourers on building sites will use a towel or cloth over the head to keep off the sun.
The traditional men’s clothing (I can’t speak for the ladies’) is generally comfortable and cool because it keeps the air flowing and the sun off your head. But it’s hard to drive in and going to the men’s room can be a little daunting. It also helps explain why squat toilets were the norm here.
Oh…and the puddles on the floors in toilets are not unhygienic messes – on the contrary it where people wash down the whole thing for the next user. Honest.