Kvinnorna har fattat sina pennor - Utbildning och litteratur vid Piratkusten

Abstract

This artide treats education and the authorship of women in the United Arab Emirates. Women have only since the early 1970s been offered schooling and education on a basis equal to that of the men. Nevertheless, today the first generation of educated women are active in the field of literature. They are writing and publishing modern fiction, mostly in the form of short stories, on a considerable scale in comparison with most Arab countries. The early works by woman writers in the Emirates, stemming from the 1970s and early 1980s, often reflect a tendency of social criticism, sometimes despair. Lately, though, a surrealistic and unconventional form has appeared in for example Salmä Matar Sayfs short stories. While a few novel writers are found among the body of male writers, female novel writers in the United Arab Emirates have vet to appear.