[huytersd]

Women in the Middle East (Kuwait, UAE) don’t have the freedom to do everything they would like to, though they can do almost everything an upper middle class woman in the US can do. The one thing I heard constantly when I was there was how bad they felt for the women in the US who were forced to have a job and they would never exchange places with them.

[gamesbrainiac]

I grew up in the middle east. Yes, there are some who want to do things, but not forever. Furthermore, women in the middle east own a higher percentage of small businesses compared to women in the US for example; most who want to work, actually want ownership and not to become yet another wage-slave.

[anon291]

> Furthermore, women in the middle east own a higher percentage of small businesses compared to women in the US for example

I'm not at all surprised by this. When you stay at home and depend on your husband's wage, it's much easier to start a boutique business.

Our church is traditional and most women stay at home. Many of the women have businesses. It makes sense. They work on them in the few hours the kids are in classes or napping. They earn enough to keep going and provide an outlet for them to contribute directly to the income

Whereas if I were to start a business, it would have to be with the goal of replacing my wage. The sorts of businesses the wives engage in would be impossible. They simply don't earn enough.

But some of the women's businesses may take off. It's a high risk high reward thing, except that the risk is actually low due to husband's income.

[csomar]

The middle-east is a lot of countries with different rules (ie: it includes Lebanon). But to help you understand, it's totally feasible for a woman in say, Qatar (the strictest), to become a business woman and do all her affairs by herself. If she is married, her husband become her "guardian". But don't be deluded, the woman family will stand in opposition if things go south. Also the husband doesn't have the right to his wife money under Islamic law. There is no splitting of hers.

[FooBarBizBazz]

In fairness, neither would a Kuwaiti man want to trade places with an American one. You get tons of oil money from the state, and even jobs like "doctor" and "lawyer" are considered menial and delegated to Indian non-citizen workers.