Women in Oman now pursue careers and professional training, moving from their previous and traditional role at home to the public sphere.

After decades of stagnant to non-existent growth, Qaboos overthrew his father in a palace coup and immediately began numerous social programs, commissioning hospitals, clinics, schools, etc.

[8] Sultan Qaboos also recently signed the Decent Work Country Programme, a service dedicated to increase job opportunities for women as well as stand for justice, equality, and freedom.

[10] Before the reforms made by Sultan Qaboos, there were only three primary schools serving 900 boys, focusing mainly on reciting the Quran and learning basic math and writing skills.

In the 1980s, the Omani government sponsored construction of school buildings, the providing of adequate equipment and textbooks, and the provision of teacher training.

With a leader who embraced the ideals of modernization and progress, women were able to hold jobs in nearly every profession: banking, medicine, engineering and teaching.

The main goal of this unit was to set up classes for women to learn basic household skills and day-care centers for the handicapped and disabled.

[20] Despite the slight setbacks, Oman is still considered to be one of the leading Gulf countries in terms of gender equality and continue to make positive strides.

The ministers of higher education, tourism, and social development in the cabinet are all women, as well as the US Ambassador and the head of national authority for industrial craftsmanship.

At home, the Omani woman wears a long dress to her knees along with ankle-length pants and a leeso, or scarf, covering her hair and neck.

For some of a more conservative religious background, the burqa is expected to be worn to cover her face in the presence of other males, along with the wiqaya, or head scarf, and the abaya, an all-enveloping cloak revealing only her hands and feet.

The cotton burqa is symbolic of the expectations of the ideal woman and act as a mark of respect to represent her modesty and honor as well as her status.

The multitudes of designs and decadent embellishments on the modern day abaya has allowed it to become a versatile clothing that can be made either plain or a fashion statement, in Oman and in other neighboring Islamic countries.

Though Sultan Qaboos extended both males and females the legal right to choose their spouse in 1971, tradition holds that the girl's father is responsible for setting up a proper match and securing his daughter's happiness.

In 1994, the government implemented a birth spacing program and encouraged the use of contraceptives among married couples by providing them for free in most health centers.