Women in the United Arab Emirates have seen remarkable advances, thanks to a constitution, which guarantees equality between men and women in areas of legal status and access to education.

Before 1960 there were few opportunities for women outside the realm of home and family but since the discovery of oil in the 1950s, their role has gradually expanded. A report from the United Nations Development Programme ranked the UAE 29th among 177 countries in the Gender Empowerment Measures, the best rating in the Arab world.Leadership plays a big part. The late president, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, made the importance of women in the workforce as well as in the home a priority. Another major success is in education. After completing high school, 95 percent of Emirati women today continue on to higher education and women comprise 70 percent of college graduates in the UAE.Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri, the first female fighter pilot in the history of the United Arab Emirates, is a great role model for girls and young women. When she was a teenager, al-Mansouri had aspirations of flying fighter planes. After graduating in 2007 from Khalifa bin Zayed Air College, which had opened its doors to female recruits, al-Mansouri spent several years working for General Command before becoming the first woman to join the air force.She is now a veteran operations pilot, working with F-16 Block 60 aircraft. Two weeks ago, she led air strikes over Syria against ISIL, the Islamic radicals who have been terrorizing and conducting atrocities throughout the region and have vowed to bring its fight to America.Al-Mansouri said there is no difference between men and women with regards to training and assignments, and said she received no special treatment because of her gender. She advises Emirati women who aspire to fly in combat is that it's a time and effort-consuming field that requires a great deal of passion.Here in the U.S., women first began entering pilot training in 1976, and in 1993, then Secretary of Defense Les Aspin opened combat aviation to women, allowing women to fly combat missions.During Desert Storm, Major Marie T. Rossi became the first U.S. woman pilot to give her life while flying in a combat zone when, on March 1, 1991, the Chinook helicopter she was piloting crashed near her base in northern Saudia Arabia. Major Rossi is buried in Arlington Cemetery where a simple epitaph on her grave marker reads "First Female Combat Commander To Fly into Battle."Young girls looking for quality role models might bypass the Hollywood scene and look to women military fliers like al-Mansouri and the late Major Rossi who truly have and are making a global difference.By Jim Zbicktneditor@tnonline.com