My UAE: Hessa Al Malek’s pioneering career in public works

Hessa Al Malek became the first female Emirati urban-planning graduate. Within two years, she was the director of the roads department at the Ministry of Public Works.

Hessa Al Malek at the Ministry of Public Works, where she has forged a successful career. Jaime Puebla / The National

Hessa Al Malek tried to register for an engineering programme without telling her parents. It was 1994 and few Emirati women worked outside the home. Those who did worked at segregated workplaces.

Before her registration could be approved, she required a parental letter of consent “because it was weird for ladies to study engineering”, she recalls. Now, 20 years later, she’s the Dubai-based urban-planning director at the Ministry of Public Works.

After graduating from Al Ain’s UAE University, she joined the Ras Al Khaimah Public Works Department. She was one of the first four women employed.

“That was very difficult, not only for me, but even for my parents to agree,” she says. “They always feel that I’m at risk. Not at physical risk, but the risk that people will start talking about their daughter, that she’s doing something weird, working in an office full of men.”

During her first project, the construction of the Cultural Centre, she fought for the right to go on-site. “At the office, they kept dealing with us as females, not as engineers,” she recalls. “But you know, we insisted on going.” That department is now full of female employees.

In 2002, Al Malek began evening classes towards her master’s degree at the American University in Sharjah. Like many women at that time, she didn’t drive. Her family accompanied her to Sharjah each day, waiting in the car while she took courses.

In 2005, she became the first female Emirati urban-planning graduate. Within two years, she was the director of the roads department at the Ministry of Public Works. Her projects include the three-lane motorway between Fujairah and Dubai.

The mother-of-two’s busy life taught her to balance family and career.

“I was already very well trained,” says Al Malek. “I try hard never to take my job home.”