Thoughts on diversity in Dubai

I’ve been postponing this post for some time now as I attempted to get my head around the sociocultural eccentricities of this region, but a conversation with the Director of the Trauma Centre a few weeks ago helped me to complete some of my thoughts, to confirm a few of my suspicions, and to provide greater insight into the implications of these issues.

I was asked to share my initial impressions of Dubai with the Director. Side-stepping the obvious glitz, glamour, and generally over-the-top impression of the city that any tourist can get after a few hours on the ground here, I told him about the real issues that took me by surprise upon my arrival and have continued to shock me as the weeks go by.

An initial caveat: I’m new to this region of the world and acknowledge my naiveté … by no means am I trying to make sweeping accusations or generalizations about the ways of the world.

With that said, one of the things that I’ve struggled with the most during my residency here is the pervasiveness and intensity of racism in the region. In a city of expatriates (let me remind you that a recent healthcare provision report stated that over 90% of the city’s population is made up of expats), where much of the progress is driven/implemented/built up by immigrants, there is a very clear racial hierarchy that defines the way business is done and the way people are treated. At the top of the chain sit the Nationals (Emiratis)... in a country that is still ruled by tribal politics, the establishment of personal relationships and ‘wasta’ (read: one’s power of influence based on personal connections) is absolutely essential for personal success.

Next in line, I suppose, are the Western ex-pats. As described to me by a private hospital director in the city: “In the West, employees learn from the companies they work for. An employee of GE, for example, will benefit from exposure to the firm’s best practices and past successes. In Dubai, however, companies learn from their employees. Expat ‘experts’ are brought in to share their knowledge as a commodity, which the company collects and uses for future development.” Regardless of whether it is deserved, this mentality affords Westerners a certain amount of local authority and independence.

As we continue down the hierarchy, we hit the East Asian ex-pats – predominantly Filipinos – and then arrive at the ‘bottom rung’, occupied by the Indian labourers. I don’t mean to sound crude or disrespectful in my description of this system. I wish I could say that it’s just a conceptual hierarchy, but I realized quite quickly that this hierarchy defines how (many) people treat each other, with interactions often becoming increasingly nasty and discourteous as you travel down the line. This hierarchy also defines the roles people can fill here (i.e. taxi drivers and construction workers vs. receptionists and nurses vs. managers and CEOs) as well as the salary that workers receive... many HR departments I have been exposed to (often through conversation with others) seem to have completely different salary packages established for the workers they bring in from each country. This applies to Westerners as well, with Americans receiving better salaries than Canadians, Europeans, South Africans, Australians... etc.

I’m not new to the implications of globalization (though the hierarchy existed, it was definitely ‘simpler’ in Tanzania), nor am I trying to get up on a soapbox and preach that I have the solution to resolve the inequity in the region. I am only making observations and sharing my discomfort with the race-related way of life here. Some examples:

- The Indian workers who build the skyscrapers (and frequently fall from them, due to poor workplace safety standards, ending up in the Trauma Centre with spectacular injuries) are bussed into the city every day from labour camps. These labour camps frequently sleep 10-15 people to a room. Labourers wear blue or orange jumpsuits, giving their buses an unfortunate likeness to prison transportation. These guys work hard, they work in the heat, they work through the night. I have a lot of respect for them.

- Many Filipinos are allocated accommodation through work, but will be put up 2 to 4 to a bedroom as well, in apartments that would be singly occupied by one of their Western colleagues.

- Friends of mine went out to “Ladies Night” at a restaurant near their home (there are lots of Ladies Nights in town… males make up about 75% of the population here). Two Filipinas approached the door ahead of them, and were turned away because they weren’t escorted by a male. My two (Western) girlfriends were there alone, but the bouncer informed them at the door that he had already let their ‘husbands’ inside (not true, they’re not married), so they were free to enter. Blatant racism.

- I heard a story of an Indian nurse working at a hospital in the city who was approaching 30 years of service at the facility. Her pay grade had not changed once during her 30 year tenure, and I suspect that wasn’t because she was unqualified or undeserving.

I don’t deny that it is a choice for expats to be here in Dubai, nor do I deny that they make more here than they would in their home countries (and tax free!); however, this doesn’t excuse the marked inequality, especially regarding the way that different groups interact with each other. I find it to be especially disheartening when it becomes clear that the racism affects productivity, teamwork, and the confidence of employees. In a work environment where patient safety is of central importance (i.e. a hospital), this is especially worrying. I do hope that the negative impact of these behaviours begins to be understood and that progressive changes are made over the next few years to improve the acceptance of the diversity which characterizes the city of Dubai.

I’d like to believe that it’s especially difficult to adjust to these realities because of the tolerance and acceptance of diversity that I have grown up with in Canada; however, I know that I would be glossing over many similar issues that pervade Canadian society. My great hope is that this and other international experiences that I’ve had will make me increasingly sensitive and dissatisfied with the ‘status quo’ as I move forward with my career.