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Local women up in arms over Dubai doctor’s talk with Oprah
Haneen Dajani
- Last Updated: November 14. 2009 10:35PM UAE / November 14. 2009 6:35PM GMT
A recent episode of a top-rated American TV talk show has prompted a barrage of comments on online forums about the way it portrayed Emirati women. The Oprah Winfrey Show, which is broadcast locally on MBC4, featured women from various cities around the world including Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Istanbul talking about their daily lives.
Dr Lamees Hamdan, a physician, businesswoman and mother of four from Dubai, was one of six women featured on a show about the happiest people in the world. She allowed cameras into her five-bedroom house, her daughters’ bedrooms and her kitchen, which she said she rarely uses because her in-laws, who live across the street, have a private chef.
Dr Hamdan said that people in the UAE do not pay for electricity or health care. And although she chose not to wear a shela or abaya, she told Oprah, via Skype, that her sisters did and that their decision was cultural, rather than religious.
The episode of the show, which draws an average of 10 million viewers a month in its Saturday-to-Wednesday twice-daily broadcasts, prompted women from the UAE to voice their opposition on online forums including Oprah.com and the social networking site, Facebook.
In addition to pointing out that health care was not free for everyone, many complained that the episode made Emirati women look dependent, and that Dr Hamdan’s comments about the abaya were misleading.
Fatima al Dhaheri, 25, an Emirati investment analyst at Abu Dhabi Investment Council who saw the programme, believed the issue was with the way Dr Hamdan’s comments were portrayed.
“The problem with the segment is that it was not based on facts, it was based on her own thoughts,” she said.
Fatima Amer, a 25-year-old Emirati financial analyst at the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, agreed: “She should have said, ‘I don’t pay’.”
Dr Hamdan, a general physician, has her own cosmetics brand called Shiffa which is sold online and in several stores and spas in the region. She was not available for comment when contacted last week. Her chief operating officer said she had just delivered a baby overseas. However, in an earlier interview from the US with the Dubai newspaper Emarat Al Youm, she said: “During my interview [on Oprah] my comments were directed at the American public opinion, who have a misconception about Arabs’ lifestyle.”
Representatives from the Oprah show did not respond to requests for comment.
Jinan al Madfai, 24, an Emirati operations manager at the Office of the Brand of Abu Dhabi, chastised those who had lashed out online.
“At the end of the day, she is a wife, a mother, a doctor. We shouldn’t be defaming her, instead we should send her personal messages explaining our views,” she said.
“We were raised in the UAE to be like brothers and sisters, and now this is what we are showing the world: she makes a mistake and we all jump to attack her.”
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Added: 11/17/09 12:14:00 PM
Personally, I don't see why the women of the UAE are "up in arms" over Dr. Lamees' discussion on the Oprah show. I had not seen that episode until I kept hearing everyone talk about it and kept getting messages on my blackberry making fun of her. I knew I had to see what was making everyone so angry.
To be honest, I was highly disappointed that people got this worked up about what she said. I feel she said nothing (of substance) that was wrong, except for the fact we don't pay utility bills. Other than that, it was all spot on. The abaya and the sheila are in fact culutral rather than religious. Let's take a few steps back and recognize that our culture as a whole is based on religion. The reason why you cannot claim that the abaya and sheila are religious is because our religion preaches about hijab and modesty - not abaya and sheila.
She was representing the UAE as a whole and I think she did so in a good way - she's very well-educated, she was dressed modestly (in the cultural jalabya) and she emphasized the importance of family. Overall, she was a happy woman and that's what the show was about - all else aside, we should be proud that the UAE was chosen as one of the happiest places in the world and we were represented by a very bright, very happy woman.
We've come a long way.
Haif Zamzam, Abu Dhabi
Added: 11/17/09 11:21:00 AM
What's all the fuss about? She should probably have said that nationals pay considerably less that expats for water and electricity, but if people are going to criticise her interview on such minutiae they really are petty. She was a very articulate spokeperson for her country. I just wish she had told Oprah's viewers that Skype is blocked in the UAE!
J C, AD
Added: 11/15/09 03:59:00 PM
I totally agree with S.A.
First of all, Opera and her team chose the wrong person, there are hundreds of Emirati women who could have represented us in a better way. Not that I blame Dr.Lamees, but she should have spoke only for herself, without saying WE or US. It does make a big difference.
I'm sorry Haleema Humaid, but you should be more respectful, saying SHAME ON THEM, because those THEM are emirati women who have their view and got disturbed by how they were portrayed. So you have no right to say shame on them.. The operah show was about some regions and how women are, and we as emirati women are supposed to portray both out religion and culture. They are not two seperate things. It would have been better if she did not name sheila and abaya as "cultural" because it is not cultural. It is pure religious. Saying its cultural is a pure personal opinion. And the show wasn't personal one bit.
Whether people here see hundreds of local girls not wearing sheila for religious purposes, that does not mean the rest of the thousands are the same!..You CANNOT judge a whole nation by a group of people.
JD Rahman, it seems like you are taking it to a highly personal level. Calm down and chill. There is a huge bunch of local girls and boys trying to learn and be independent. You have no right to come and call us spoilt. There are many who still struggle to find a job, Thousands!
Every nation has its pros and cons, we all learn from our mistakes and help build a better and more developed nation. Most UAE girls are proud to wear hijab and cover up and call it their duty as a muslim, they're proud to pay for their own expenses with a big smile, and proud to be an Emirati.
On behalf of PRECIOUS LADIES GROUP !!!
F A, Abu Dhabi
Added: 11/15/09 01:46:00 PM
Want to have your cake and eat it too?
Locals, both men and women, have much of their expenses subsidised by the government. This includes water/electricity, education (including higher education, including education abroad), healthcare, child support, etc.
To say the local population has been a bit spoiled by the government is an understatement.
You cannot both be spoiled and "self-made". Things just don't work that way. I see a generation of locals who are vastly incompetent because they have absolutely no reason to work hard, study hard, or work/study at all. Its like a whole nation of Hollywood brats; all who also think that they deserve this type of lifestyle.
Then you read reports of the divorce rates, lack of emiratization acceptance, drugs/alcohol abuse and a billion reasons for these problems. The problem is simple, bored lazy demotivated spoiled youngsters who cannot take anything seriously.
JD Rahman, dubai
Added: 11/15/09 11:32:00 AM
I think Dr Lamees did a great job, she conveyed a good message to the international viewers of Oprah and shame on those who lashed out at her. Pointing out the 'Abaya/sheila cultural thingybob' everyone s so offended by, it is cultural issue and we re not talking about the hijab here and nor is the Oprah show about religon!
Haleema Humaid, Sharjah
Added: 11/15/09 09:53:00 AM
Of course Dr. Lamees represented her views, she was a guest on the show, not a journalist, one who appropriately crafted her messages for an American audience, one that is pitifully ignorant about the Middle East and Islam. The people who are attacking Dr. Lamees would cringe (or worse) if they knew the questions and comments I field from my fellow Americans as a single American woman living in Dubai.
Dr. Lamees was chosen by Oprah's producers for this segment, it is not something she sought out. For those who are jealous, grow up. For those with differing points of view, by all means, discuss them - without the personal attacks against Dr. Lamees: she is entitled to her perspective, as you are yours. Personal attacks only serve to distract from a meaningful - and free - debate about differing views.
Elan Fabbri, Dubai
Added: 11/15/09 01:55:00 AM
I was wondering when The National would carry an article on this. I found Dr. Lamees to be articulate and sophisticated, but she should have done her homework before coming on a show like Oprah. She should have clarified that she was speaking for herself. It irked me how she passed personal experiences as facts. When she started talking about mobile phone bills and how her dad and now her husband takes care of it, I was half afraid that she was going to declare that to be free as well. While I do not condone a witch hunt, I think Dr. Lamees needs to take responsibility for her words. When you're going to appear on an international show and represent the women of a country, you should expect and be ready for a reaction.
S. A., Abu Dhabi