Emirati University Student Mothers Post-Childbirth: Support Systems in the Home

Abstract

The young female university students of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today are the first generation of women for whom higher education has become not only a possibility but almost an expectation. Young Emirati women today make up around 77% of students in higher education institutions in the country. However, the societal expectations placed upon these women in terms of early marriage, child-bearing, and child-rearing are similar to those placed upon their mothers and grandmothers in a time where women were not expected to go to university. A large proportion of female university students in the UAE are mothers of young children or become mothers whilst at university. This creates a challenging situation for young student mothers, where two weeks’ maternity leave is typical across institutions. The context of this study is in one such institution in the UAE. The authors employed a qualitative approach to gather interview data from 13 new mothers. The ways in which these new mothers have developed coping strategies at home to deal with the pressures of returning to their studies so rapidly whilst simultaneously running their homes are described. The authors found strong evidence of female family members’ support, a deep sense of intrinsic personal motivation in the students, and much less dependency on domestic help for childcare than may be presumed.