DUBAI // When she was 7, Mariam Behnam’s grandmother took her to see a doctor because she wasn’t like all the other girls. She was always asking questions, and going out to climb trees and play marbles. The doctor told her grandmother there was nothing wrong with the child, but something wrong with everyone else.
Mariam Behnam has spent all her 93 years fighting to empower women. A second child, she was born in Iran into a family of Emirati pearl merchants.
Her family were expecting a boy. “A girl again, they said. I think that affected me as I grew up. Being the second child, and worse, a female, I wasn’t considered important.”
Her mother died when Mariam was only 10. Her grandmother raised her and her siblings. “I didn’t have a good relationship with my grandmother, we were always at odds. I disliked my older sister, she always obeyed and was scared of everything. I would always play tricks on her and scare her.
“I should have been born 50 years later,” she says, beaming a childlike mischievous grin. “I wanted to learn classical dance. So I would tell my grandmother I was going for Islamic studies, but I went to learn dancing.”
Mariam was the first woman to earn the post of cultural consul from the Iranian government in the 1960s, and cultural attaché to the Iran Cultural Centre in Lahore, Pakistan. She has published poetry in Farsi, Urdu and English, and is now senior adviser to the Dubai International Women’s Club.
At her home in Dubai all her possessions have a story, and none are there simply for looking good. The sitting room displays art and antiques from Persia, India, Pakistan and Arabia, all of her cultural influences; the room is a walk-in memoir.
“I realised what I wanted in life. I dreamt about it, I planned for it, and I spent all my effort to achieve it,” she says, suddenly full of energy. “The one thing I hate is wasting time.
“There needs to be a revolution in women’s thoughts.”
There is fire in her eyes, and passion in her voice. “Women are still not doing enough, they can do much more; they have to do much more. Don’t expect to have everything brought to you.
“What women say is law at home. How can you expect to ignore them? Besides, what do men do when they sit together? They talk about women.”
Education has always been Mariam’s favourite tool. Growing up she read any book she could find.
“I see these days that in some parts of the world history is starting to repeat itself. When I was young, there were no colleges for women; girls only studied to the sixth grade, but the boys went to university. Tell me, when they come back and marry, do the minds meet?
“Educate a man and you educate one person, but educate a woman and you educate a generation.
“She is looking after and raising the new generation. They will learn from her, carry on her knowledge and experiences.”
When Mariam was a child most girls were home taught, but she watched the boys going off to school and thought: “Why do only they get to be doctors and engineers and scientists? I fought to get into public school.”
She went on to obtain her master’s in English literature from Punjab University.
“Women are their own boss, they are in control today. Born bosses, even if they don’t go out to practise anything, they rule their four walls. But she has to believe in herself first.
“We have better mothers these days. They are more understanding, more giving, more vulnerable.
“I have a very good relationship with my granddaughters. I felt so proud when one of them introduced me to her friends, she thought I was worthy of that, to bring me into that circle.”
Mariam made Dubai her home 33 years ago. She loves to go to Bastakiya and trace her roots.
“I’ve been passing through Dubai for 80 years to get to other parts of the world. Life here for me has been very rewarding. I would never exchange this country for any other part of the world. They call this place Ardh Al Barakah, the blessed land.
“So many life changes in one life is not possible; I must’ve gone and come back,” she jokes.
But Mariam doesn’t feel as if she is done yet. She is working on her fifth book. “This one is also fiction, but as you know all fiction has its roots in fact.”
She is also trying to have her book Heirlooms, a collection of eastern folk tales, republished.
“I also wanted to write something about Dubai. If I am given the time, I would really like to do that. I’ve seen this place go through a metamorphosis from this small merchant city to a metropolis. I thank god that people have not lost their culture to be something else.”
Mariam says many people sell themselves short, and don’t release what they are capable of. “You have to be aware of your value. Always remember that you are important.”
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
On sale: now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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Results:
Men's wheelchair 800m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 1.44.79; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 1.45.88; 3. Isaac Towers (GBR) 1.46.46.
