tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post9106922248976171798..comments2024-03-27T15:45:49.926+04:00Comments on Life in Dubai: Here's one to get you going.Seabeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06939892206726271433noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-6771670567502675122010-12-29T10:05:31.919+04:002010-12-29T10:05:31.919+04:00There is no doubt in it that there is discriminati...There is no doubt in it that there is discrimination in UAE and it is very difficult and time consuming to eradicate it because it is very DEEP in UAE society.Dubai Propertyhttp://www.bayut.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-65751630275039304092009-08-09T11:40:25.743+04:002009-08-09T11:40:25.743+04:00it is the same in most south asian countries? you ...it is the same in most south asian countries? you mean countries like india/ pakistan/ srilanka etc? could we have a better understanding of this? where else except the gulf do you have so many nationalities coming for jobs in such numbers? and where else is the discrimination by race so supported by the govt and legal system?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-64851953180300546672009-08-09T08:25:10.373+04:002009-08-09T08:25:10.373+04:00This, quite honestly is the ugliest truth in the U...This, quite honestly is the ugliest truth in the UAE. People discriminate because they can. I'm not sure if things shall change. It's quite widespread across most Asian nations. Sad stuff..roshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03271894997251528158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-50956307015738447382009-08-07T20:42:14.147+04:002009-08-07T20:42:14.147+04:00It's a difficult one isn't it.
Amen to th...<i>It's a difficult one isn't it.</i><br /><br />Amen to that.<br /><br />I find the best way to deal with this issue, at least for myself, is to not think about it. Or, at least, doublethink about it.<br /><br />There is a certain through-the-looking-glass quality to this place that I find almost impossible to relate or translate to family and friends back home.James O'Hearnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09403962558124511636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-7679212130587967092009-08-07T15:51:55.708+04:002009-08-07T15:51:55.708+04:00Terry, no, nothing to do with the US Seabees.
Jam...<b>Terry</b>, no, nothing to do with the US Seabees.<br /><br /><b>James</b>, it's very complicated here isn't it, making where to draw the line even more difficult. <b>Keefie</b> used the key phrase in his comment - 'guest workers'. In a guest worker society where the guest workers can't become citizens but are here temporarily to earn money to send home, salary parity can't work in the way it does in the societies we're used to. It's a much more complicated formula based on salaries, education levels, cost of living of home country. If a westerner and a South Asian ( or a Brit and a South African) are both paid, say, twice what they would earn at home that makes a very different salary here. <br /><br />Very different salaries here, yet they're all earning twice what they were at home.<br /><br />Affirmative action is discrimination, but should it be banned (not only here) because it is?<br /><br />And the language, culture thing comes very much into the equation, as you point out.<br /><br />It's a difficult one isn't it. I suspect that here, a truly international guest worker area, the line has to be drawn in a very different place from where it's drawn in places like the UK and Oz.Seabeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06939892206726271433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-20040841240022132112009-08-07T03:08:38.522+04:002009-08-07T03:08:38.522+04:00Just curious if your screen name "Seabee"...Just curious if your screen name "Seabee" has any connection to the U.S. Navy Seabees?<br /><br />www.seabee-rvn.comTerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10671967181210155737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-48046402543222478672009-08-06T23:20:30.543+04:002009-08-06T23:20:30.543+04:00It's a right can o' worms: foreigners (eve...It's a right can o' worms: foreigners (even from the GCC) are pretty much denied the opportunity to become Emiratis and avail of all the benefits entailed by that. Until the UAE assimilates 'guest workers' into its society, there will always be racism of this kind. It's not going to happen, though, is it?Keefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04820411415545249138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21258644.post-70784760810863081642009-08-06T21:19:30.954+04:002009-08-06T21:19:30.954+04:00Dubai is in a really complicated bind when it come...Dubai is in a really complicated bind when it comes to the whole "discrimination" issue.<br /><br />Take pay, for instance. In other countries, it would be illegal to have such wildly disparate salaries based on nationality. I know of more than a few instance where two people working at the same job earn wildly different pay levels. Usually a Westerner will get one pay, and a South Asian about a third to a quarter the same amount.<br /><br />In the US, Canada, Australia, or the UK, I am sure that this sort of standard practice would not be tolerated. But here is it a matter of discrimination? Or is the practice more related to economic factors like purchasing power parity? The South Asian making a quarter the salary of the Westerner may actually be getting the better bargain when you factor in the fact that most expats here are only here to earn and save and head back home.<br /><br />Another are where "discrimination" is not so simple an issue is in regards to shared accommodation. In Dubai, people are often very polite because impoliteness and misunderstandings can head to very ugly areas very quickly. So often ads regarding shared accommodation specify gender and ethnicity. Not because the city is filled with rabid racists, but because factors like gender, religion, language, and ethnicity can be a recipe for trouble. Mixed gender shared accommodations may be fine for Westerners, but not for many other nationalities. Mixed language, religion, or ethnicity? Unless the people know each other, trust each other, and can communicate with each other, serious problems have a way of popping up.<br /><br />One other element to factor in is "Emiratization." The policy is essential if the UAE is to build a highly skilled, educated, and experienced domestic workforce. But hHow do you classify this policy? Is it akin to affirmative action? How does it fit within the non-discriminatory framework? <br /><br />The whole non-discrimination thing sounds noble and great in normal, pluralistic western nation, but I think there are factors at play in Dubai which should at least give policy makers pause.James O'Hearnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09403962558124511636noreply@blogger.com