Much unhappiness in gender-skewed cities of men

Justin Thomas explains why it might be helpful to look beyond the physical living conditions of labour camps and consider the psychological consequences of living in gender-skewed environments

The world’s most gender-skewed populations aren’t to be found in India or China. They are, in fact, in Qatar, the UAE and other countries in the region. Silvia Razgova / The National

I attended an all-boys school in the north of England. This was before professional footballers made “beat bullying” rubber wristbands fashionable. Back then, an all-boys school meant lots of bullying. “Boys being boys” was synonymous with frequent outbreaks of violence and the occasional aggressive act directed at school property. Having experienced first-hand the testosterone-fuelled tribulations of an all-male environment, I can honestly say I’m not a big fan.

In his 1992 novel, The First Century After Beatrice, author Amin Maalouf describes a dystopian future where gender-selective technology brings about an irreversible gender imbalance. Maalouf’s doomsday scenario is, for me, a fictional exaggeration of the current reality in India and China.

It’s argued that China’s one-child policy elevated levels of female infant mortality and increased the rate of gender selective abortion. Some commentators describe the Chinese situation as “a demographic disaster”.

Chinese women are a relative minority, but they’re hardly an endangered sex. Best estimates suggest that there are around 100 woman for every 120 men. Still, in a country of 1.3 billion that’s a lot of ineligible bachelors and unhappy male-spinsters. Such a large gender imbalance will have significant consequences. It’s likely to affect marriage patterns, fertility rates, and potentially give rise to unrest among the young men unable to find partners.

The world's most gender-skewed populations, however, aren't to be found in India or China. They are, in fact, in Qatar, the UAE and some other Gulf countries. The CIA World Factbook suggests that in the UAE, between the ages of 16 to 65, there are 2.4 males for every female.

The UAE’s gender imbalance, of course, has nothing to do with female infanticide or gender-selective technologies. Rather, the skew here is attributable to the large numbers of male expatriates in the workforce.

Many blue collar expatriates are employed in male-dominated sectors such as construction, and they also often live in all-male environments. There must be psychological consequences to living and working in such gender-skewed conditions.

Media reports over the years certainly suggest that these all-male environments are not free from violent interpersonal conflicts. In one article, a camp resident is described as punching another in the face over the right to use a new brush. Another story focused on the issue of workers leering at women in the malls. More recently, there were reports of widespread vandalism and arson at a construction site in Ras Al Khaimah when workers rioted after a colleague fell to his death in an apparent suicide.

It might be helpful to go beyond looking at the physical living conditions of these labour camps (cities of men), and also consider the psychological consequences of living and working in such gender skewed environments.

How can we help promote the psychological well-being of the individuals living and working long hours in massively gender-skewed environments? Media reports and published health research both suggest that this is a particularly important question.

A study published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health in 2011, looked at the mental health of workers living in a labour camp in Al Ain. The study suggested that 25 per cent of participants had clinically significant depressive symptoms, 6.3 per cent reported having had suicidal thoughts while 2.5 per cent had attempted suicide.

Is bullying taking place in these labour camps? Do illicit substances find unhappy customers there? Why did the 2011 Al Ain study find such high rates of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts? These are questions that require definitive answers. The answers to such questions should ultimately inform our attempts to promote and improve the psychological well-being of those industrious individuals who reside within cities of men and build the cities of man.

Dr Justin Thomas is an associate professor of psychology at Zayed University

On Twitter: @DrJustinThomas