Nothing compared to being in a war zone. Many foreign women live on their own in Dubai, working for multinationals, by choice.

One thing is to boycott it in principle, which either a man or a woman might want to do, and another is to rule it out as an alternative to Syria.

I worked in Dubai and that is not correct. It is not a major issue, but Dubai currently has tightened on visa requirements for Syrians and is next to impossible for Qatar also, which would have been another alternative. I am moving again to Dubai next month for a two year stint. If you know anyone in Dubai that can push for you to get a visa, make it your first choice. At least it will give you time to make your next move.

Not really, if you are a woman that would triple your chances of finding Jobs and great life.

The amount of respect and importance women get in Dubai is incomparable to any other country.

Rape victims can be jailed for over a year for "extramarital sex". That is not respect. http://www.ibtimes.com/dubai-safe-female-travelers-norwegian...

People like to generalize a lot.

for someone who lived in Dubai for 5+ years, I find those stories really strange. the city is really different than what you get from Media.

the government give a lot of privileges to western residents that's why the local population is nearly 18% of the total population.

Dubai has a lot of problems with its social system, but these sex/rape stories are definitely not the major ones, and its totally uncommon to read such stories.

I'd say the biggest problem is the treatment of foreign workers. Maybe foreign workers from "the west" get good treatment, but the ones bussed in from Asia, for example, aren't treated so well.

I agree, that's one good example of social inequality. though, to be fair, I think the rulers are trying to improve the laws and the culture, for a third-world country UAE can never be compared to any of its neighbours where women can't even drive.

> I think the rulers are trying to improve the laws and the culture

How? As I understand it the actual UAE citizens are getting 'fat' off of the oil money, so all of the menial labour work goes to poor foreigners that are bussed in from SE Asia. It's going to be difficult to change a culture of people that are used to poor Asians doing all of the 'crap jobs' for them while they just bask in money (so to speak).

> People like to generalize a lot.

Especially the mainstream media (MSM)...

This is the polar opposite of everything I ever read on Dubai.