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In an interview published in The National on International Women’s Day, Razan Al Mubarak discusses the differences in her experiences as a woman in the UAE and on the international stage:
“I can honestly say that I wasn’t stereotyped [in the UAE]. Maybe I was too young and too naïve to recognise that I had been stereotyped early in my career, but I am hearing more [stereotypes] internationally now that I am campaigning, than I ever had in the UAE.”
As the only woman running for president of the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Razan describes her sense of duty to help challenge the stereotypes of Arab women: "Now that I am campaigning, I am struck more by the residual stereotype of an Arab woman, and it has been a great privilege to be able to turn this on its head.”
Women in the UAE have achieved a level of equality and parity seen only in the most progressive countries. More than fifty percent of STEM degree students in the UAE are women, half of the Federal National Council members and a third of the Cabinet are women, and according to the World Economic Forum, the UAE ranks second in wage equity.