Emirati women in Dubai’s hospitality industry: Their personal experiences and perceptions

Neelofer Mashood

Middlesex University Dubai

Abstract 

The aim of the paper is to examine the factors that influence Emirati women to work in the Dubai’s hospitality industry and subsequently to make recommendations to increase the participation of female Emirati in the sector. In order to do so, the perceptions and experiences of female Emirati employed in the sector have been captured through semi-structured interviews and form the basis for recommendations made to various stakeholders, such as the government and hotel companies. The interviews showed that there are various religious, social and economic reasons which impact on the participation rate of female Emiratis. Furthermore, the interviews revealed a number of acceptable and less-acceptable functions within the sector. Based on these findings, recommendations were made, which echo and extend those made by Al Marzouqi and Forster (2011) for the IT sector, and as such include education, subsidies and incentives to remove the stigma associated with working in the sector and for making the sector financially more attractive.

Biography

Neelofer Mashood is a lecturer at Middlesex University Dubai. She teaches Human Resource Management and Services Management at the University’s Business School. She has a BSc and an MBA degree from Aligarh Muslim University, in India; an MA in Education in leadership Management and Change and a PG CertHE from Middlesex University. Neelofer has been teaching for the last 17 years and has research interests in Cross Culture Management; Localization policy; Entrepreneurial Research and Best Practice in Higher Education.