Women in the United Arab Emirates

In the last decade, the United Arab Emirates has introduced several reforms to improve the status of women, modernizing its legislation to enhance their status in divorce, child custody and financial independence. UAE performs better on metrics of gender equality than many other states in the Gulf region, and it has been making reforms to protect women's rights and empower women in different sectors. However, according to Human Rights Watch, the reforms are not enough to dismantle the system of discrimination against women.

The Human Rights Watch reports in 2025 and 2026 consider the UAE's efforts to improve women's rights as limited and falling short of fully addressing gender discrimination. Despite the trends towards greater equality, some describe some of these reforms as window dressing. Emirati women live under male guardianship. Whereas men can marry multiple women and unilaterally divorce, women are required to obtain a court order to divorce their husband although they can request it in circumstances such as financial abandonment and neglect. Honor killings can go unpunished, as the victim's family can pardon the murderer. Marital rape is not criminalized in the UAE. The UAE is a major destination for sex trafficking.

Female members of the royal family have been subjects of abuse and restrictions by the male royalty. On 5 March 2020, a British court ruled that on the balance of probabilities, Sheikh Mohammed, the absolute ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the UAE, had abducted two of his daughters, Shamsa and Latifa, and had threatened his former wife, the Jordanian princess Haya bint Hussein. Allegedly, Shamsa and Latifa were forcibly medicated while held in Dubai under Sheikh Mohammed's orders since 2000 and 2018, respectively. On 16 February 2021, BBC's Panorama broadcast a documentary featuring Sheikha Latifa's video messages that she made secretly under enforced detention in Dubai on the orders of Sheikh Mohammed.