真正的中东革命：女性进军商界

    她们来到这家迪拜酒店的舞厅时，有的在绣花长袍下穿着跑鞋，有的在修身裙下穿着出自设计师之手的高跟鞋，有的包着丝绸头巾，有的显然刚从美发店出来。一位女青年穿着披头士T恤，另一位则露出小块纹身。她们啜饮着黑咖啡或薄荷柠檬汁，彼此交换名片，交流提升品牌与媒体形象、寻找天使投资及获取政府合同的策略。

    总的来说，她们回避政治上更敏感的女性人权议题。德勤（Deloitte）中东地区首位女合伙人、来自贝鲁特的拉娜•甘多尔•萨哈卜说：“我们必须将改革当作商业发展的必需品，探讨它对该地区经济竞争力的重要性。”

    尽管如此，探讨如何推动女性地位的提升仍然颇为微妙。阿联酋是该地区最宽容的国家之一，但上周该国仍然追随埃及的脚步，关闭了旨在推动民主事业的美国国际民主研究院（NDI）在当地的办事处，盖洛普（Gallup）的调查业务也被迫停业，表明该国担心阿拉伯之春可能会蔓延到其境内。去年秋季，该国政府还要求一场国际律师协会会议的组织者调整关于女性与伊斯兰教的分组讨论议题。

    此外，短期内政治动乱的经济影响已经波及职业女性，不过来自埃及的阿拉姆认为工薪阶层的处境比企业家更值得担忧。“企业家是在用自己的钱创业，自己承担风险，”她说。“而那些为政府或非跨国企业工作的女性更让我担忧。有一种观点认为，如果就业机会有限，仅有的工作应当留给男人，于是就会导致女性被裁员。”

    有趣的是，女性的教育成就超过了男性——科威特、卡塔尔和沙特的大学毕业生中，女生分别占到了67%、63%和57%。自由之家指出，女性的身影正更多地出现在公共与商业生活中。巴林、科威特和卡塔尔都废除了要求女性必须获得监护人批准方能申请护照的法律，沙特现在也开始允许女士学习法律及单独入住酒店。通用电气（GE）等跨国公司正招聘少量沙特女性。通用电气能源集团阿联酋人力资源主管乔•卡洛西说：“我们将这一地区的女性视为未经开采的人才富矿。”

    如果说去年的阿拉伯之春运动有所启发，那就是中东并不能免疫于文化变革。活跃在经济第一线的女士们认为变革断断续续，但她们都坚信改革必然会实现。

    译者：小宇

    They arrived at a Dubai hotel ballroom wearing running shoes under embroidered abayas, designer heels under slim skirts, some covered in silk head scarves or others in salon-fresh hair. One young woman wore a Beatles T-shirt; another sported a small tattoo. They sipped dark coffee and mint lemonade as they swapped business cards and strategies for branding and media imaging, finding angel capital and accessing government contracts.

    Mostly, they avoided the more politically sensitive talk of human rights for women. "We need to make [reform] a business imperative, and talk about its importance to the economic competitiveness of the region," says Beirut's Rana Ghandour Salhab, Deloitte's first female partner in the Middle East.

    Still, talking about advancing the status of women remains a delicate exercise. The UAE, among the most tolerant in the region, followed in Egypt's footsteps last month by shutting down the local office of the National Democratic Institute, a U.S. group whose mission is to promote democracy, as well as Gallup's polling operation -- a sign of worry about the Arab spring uprising spreading into its borders. Last fall, the government asked the organizers of an International Bar Association conference to revise a panel on women and Islam.

    And, in the short term, economic fallout from the political tumult has taken a toll on working women, though Egypt's Allam says she worries less about entrepreneurs than salaried-employees. "You're doing it with your own money and at your own risk," she notes. "I worry about the women who work for government, or businesses that aren't multinationals. [There's a view that] if there's so much unemployment, the few jobs we have should be given to men, so women will be laid off."

    Interestingly, women outpace men in education -- as 67% percent of university graduates in Kuwait, 63% in Qatar, and 57% in Saudi Arabia. Freedom House notes that women are becoming more visible in public life and in business. Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar dropped laws requiring women to get a guardian's permission for a passport; Saudi Arabia now allows women to study law and check into hotels alone. Multinationals like GE (GE) are hiring small numbers of Saudi women. "We see women as a rich untapped talent in this part of the world," says Joe Chalouhi, HR director for GE Energy in the UAE.

    If anything, the lesson of last year's Arab Spring is that the Middle East is not immune to cultural change. The women at the forefront see reform coming in fits and starts -- but they're betting it will come.