Edited by Avleen Grewal
On a beautiful winter day in January, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Al Shaima Taleb. In the peacefulness of her backyard, we enjoyed the sunshine with some Turkish coffee in true Abu Dhabi winter style. After completing her Master’s in computer science and attaining her Ph.D. in Business Administration at Abu Dhabi University in August of 2017, Shaima Taleb began working for the Government of Abu Dhabi under a Management position with the Abu Dhabi police force.
Taleb’s journey to where she finds herself today began in the early stages of her life as a student at Abu Dhabi University.”I was expected to be financially independent at a very early stage,” claims Taleb, “I started searching for a job when I was only 18, in my first year of college. At this stage in Taleb’s life, she remained by her father’s side, Taleb Hussain, a former Brigadier in the Abu Dhabi police force during the early days of the Emirate’s foundation. “I worked in the same place where my father worked, in the police,” said Taleb, “Working in a military place like the police grows on you because once you are there, they have a special environment. It is a military environment, so the more you stay the more it creates your own sense of loyalty to the country”. The year of 2019 marks 17 years since Shaima Al Taleb first began her journey working with the Abu Dhabi police force, and the path that has led her there is nothing short of inspiring.
Shaima Al Taleb’s journey that led her to work with the Abu Dhabi Police Force is a path filled with motivation, ambition, and determination. Through the eyes of Taleb, her story is one that role models have driven. “I grew up seeing my father wearing the uniform. He is my role model”, said Taleb. For Taleb, many role models have shaped her life path and the identity that she continues to craft for herself. “I don’t have a person as a role model,” said Taleb, “I think about it as ideas. I try to implement the idea of putting pictures of all your models on a wall or something”, expresses Taleb. She then proceeded to show me a wall of photos on her phone, presented in a grid format, displaying the role models in her life she has looked up to over the year up until the present day. “So, I have these pictures of all these people and their ideas that I like,” said Taleb as she scrolled through her photos, “My father, my mother, people that you may know, Mohammed Bin Zayed, some others that may be weird to think about like Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson. It’s just people that you see something in them that you think is great. It inspires me”.
Inspire and Empower
The words “inspire” and “empower” illuminated themselves quite prominently during my conversation with Shaima. Both have prompted her to think about how each has and continues to be utilized within and throughout the course of her life.
“Inspired. It drives me to do something better. I am inspired by people with great ideas or situations that make me a better person,” says Taleb. “Empowerment is basically the bliss of my country. In the United Arab Emirates, women are empowered in an amazing way”. When speaking of the federal parliament in the United Arab Emirates, this year of 2019 saw 50% of the chairs designated to women. “We have a great number of female ministers, the youngest is 24 years old. She is the minister of youth,” commented Taleb.
The words “inspire” and “empower” reside not only in strong governmental positions as such where women are represented as political officials, but also reside in the very comfort of our home. “To think about how women are empowered in our country is amazing,” says Taleb. “The empowerment of women, their encouragement for education and for independence is driven from the great leaders that we are blessed with,” she continues. Inspiration and empowerment in this sense have made their in the United Arab Emirates and continues to grow as a strong force of enriching inspiration for future generations, from Abu Dhabi to the world.
Breaking Boundaries
Speaking in the present, our today has become a time for both women and men to inspire and empower one another by sticking together. On the other hand, oftentimes, gendered agendas rise to the surface of discussion on the topic of “women in the workforce,” inevitably creating a gendered divide in the way both men and women view each other. In this case, the question looms at large how this “gendered” agenda is collectively faced and confronted.
“The gender issue (arises) sometimes because a specific workforce is more masculine than feminine,” says Taleb. “It happens because it is how it is”. In Taleb’s case, taking on the position of management within a prominently masculine workforce comes along with its requirements and standards. “Because it is so masculine, we are required to have special physical abilities. If you are at a crime scene, a woman should be able to be exactly as fit and as resourceful as men are in their job. But do all women have the physical power to do that? Maybe not”.
In this light, just because the “it is how it is” framework sets the standard does not mean that this is necessarily fair trade. “Let’s say that if women are 10% of the force, it means that 10% of the empowerment and positions go to women, not more. It’s not even fair you know.” expressed Taleb.
Shaima Al Taleb shared her thoughts on what draws women to working environments such as the police force, expressing that when it comes to initiatives for gender equality in terms of numbers in the workforce, it all comes down to incentives. “I think we have the culture of enjoying a luxurious and easy life while working out so much is not a big thing. So, maybe if we had more incentives for women to work in such places, more women would work. Running for 3 kilometers, doing pushups and sit-ups. Would you do that without enough incentives? No.” shares Taleb. Nonetheless, while more women have joined the police force in Abu Dhabi over the past several years, they remain to compose no less than 8% of the force.
While women joining the workforce professionally or within the comfort of her family is nothing new to the ears of many, such initiatives do not come without their accompanying challenges. As women, how do we move past these possible roadblocks? “I’ll tell you something. Today, tomorrow and after tomorrow, when I’m playing chess with a guy, he wins because he is good. If I win, it is because he let me win because I am a woman. He gives in.” says Taleb, “For a woman to prove herself, don’t search for external empowerment, find it from the inside. Don’t accept things just because you are a woman. Don’t accept a position because it is expected for a certain ratio of women to take this position. You are there because you deserve it.” shares Taleb. In this sense, Shaima Al Taleb presents the idea of challenges faced by women in the workforce as a globally experienced phenomenon, reminding us that one is not alone. “Maybe you have to work double as hard to prove yourself. We are blessed with two full-time jobs,” says the mother of 3. “Keeping the sanity is very hard, very hard believe me.” laughed Taleb.
Meeting the challenges and the successes that come with finding a balance between work and life are challenges that are seemingly similar all around the world. Through the eyes of Shaima, the challenges met with existing as a woman in the workforce, whether it is at home or at a desk in a bureau, all comes down to a discussion of believing in one’s rights to reach whichever goal they set out for themselves. “In the Middle East, men are asking for their equality these days. They’re like ‘okay, women are taking over everything. We need to get our men’s rights now not women’s rights!’” laughs Taleb. From ministerial positions to prominent management positions, women in the United Arab Emirates illustrates an image of perseverance demonstrating that there is nothing that one cannot achieve without passion and ambition.
Women around the world take on different superpowers as mothers, friends, and leaders. On this note, how one chooses to balance, or more so juggle, the work and life balance is a line of expertise experienced differently by different individuals. “My father gave me advice that he used for himself. He said ‘When you leave the workplace, dig a hole, put work in it and bury it. When you come back the next day, dig it up again and go.’ ” says Taleb, “It’s funny. I would have a huge argument at work on a Thursday, and once I leave the workplace I forget about it. Gone. Vanished! And then on my way back work on Sunday it all comes back to me.” Shaima Al Taleb’s successful ability to separate the two different worlds yet allow them to peacefully coexist is greatly admired by both her colleagues and her loving family.
Somewhere, out there…
Owning one’s own authentic identity, staying true to themselves, and teaching the children of the present the lessons learned from the past for a greater and brighter future is a vision that keeps the world moving forward. Right at this moment, there is a little boy or little girl with a dream of what they want to be when they grow up. What will they do? Where will they go? Who will they become? It comes down to the power of dreams. Shaima Al Taleb encourages her children to set their own goals and to never let go of strength of their dreams. “I believe that a person that doesn’t have goals is standing in the same place while the world is moving. They are going backward, not forwards. Having dreams and ambitions is very important,” says Taleb. The mother of 3 is a believer in the power of imagination and reflects that onto her children as she and her husband watch them grow. “Even little things. For example, my daughter wants a new room. I am asking her, ‘tell me what you want exactly in your room, think about it. Imagine it’ So she googles ideas about how to decorate, like planning for the future.” says Taleb, “It’s important to increase this imagination. The mind has superpowers”. And indeed it does. Shaima Al Taleb reminds us that the individual is not locked or constrained in a box as the world continues to exist around them. “It doesn’t really matter what they want to do in the future as much as they have the passion, the fire.” says Taleb with a smile, “If you have a vision for the future, to provide something great, do it”.
Leading figures in our lives such as our mothers, fathers, or even sensational pop stars continue to remind us of the power of dreams and just exactly what can happen if we put our minds towards achieving something greater. As Shaima demonstrates, while there is no magic pixie dust formula that can make our dreams a reality, it is the very fire inside of us individuals that drives us to bring our visions to life. It is inspiring, caring, and driven women such as Shaima that continue to empower the future generation of young women and men, noting that anything and everything is possible with a little inspiration, determination, and aspiration.
As a loving friend, daughter, sister, wife, and mother of three children, Shaima Taleb embodies not only what it means to be a woman in the world of 2019, but most importantly, what it means to be human.