I've lived in the middle east since the last 18 years (I'm 18), and I just want to clarify something. It's more about the type of work you do (and the money), and its less about your gender. If you are sponsored by a good medium sized company or better than that then you'll probably be having the time of your life. It really doesn't matter whether you're male or female unless it's saudi arabia which has a few restrictions.

My dad is a doctor and if I feel like I've had an AMAZING childhood here in the UAE. If I could go back in time and choose where to spend my childhood I wouldn't change a thing. When I was in school my mother basically dropped me to school and did whatever she loved to do. She went to the mall, she joined clubs, went to libraries and parks, she went for walks; basically it wouldn't be different if she lived in the united states. If you go to Dubai today you can see it's a very diverse place just like any other modern city (London, New york) and people can do the same things they can anywhere else in the world.

The real issue lies with smaller companies and single sponsors. There is always the threat of being deported whenever your sponsor wishes to do so and usually workers who are in this situation have much less freedom. I would admit that this is very wrong and this issue should be resolved. The reason this happens is because humans are very paradoxical. At one point they empathize with each other and help each other out; later they compete with each other, they fight and they take revenge. On one hand they try to create a good justice system, and on the other hand they surrender to their own desires and misuse their power to break the laws that they themselves made. In the western world literacy rates are much higher than the middle east and people are much more aware about social issues. This is why people with power cannot explicitly misuse their power in favor of their desires. Instead they find smaller and more subtle loopholes for this purpose. (remember: humans are messed up). Over here in the middle east people are much less concerned about what powerful people do because they are less enlightened by education. This is why powerful people can easily do whatever they want, like paying the labor class much less than they deserve and giving them less rights. Taking all the money for themselves. When people who are educated look at this they feel bad just like me and you are. One thing is for sure, humans must put a limit to their desires and find a solution to this problem, which is much easier said than done, sadly.

Finally my point here is that it all comes down your financial status rather than your gender, in the middle east. I would say that it's a bit harsh to say that women are living in the shadows because its far from the reality. I also wish people stop blaming a certain race or area where people live, and start digging into what the real problems are.