Published by
Al-Araby
Al-Araby
In October 2019, Saudi Arabia allowed women to join the kingdom’s armed forces but maintained a legal glass ceiling limiting them to subaltern positions. In parallel, the United Arab Emirates shone a spotlight on Mariam al Mansouri, the first Emirati woman fighter pilot, as she was leading a squadron conducting airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State group (IS). The integration of women into Arab armed forces remains uneven across countries, slow and fraught with obstacles, whether they be legal, religious, or societal. However, women are gradually entering the military institution, thro…