It was her daily commute into London that first started to grate on Amy Skinner a year ago. A successful recruitment consultant placing high level executives in top professional firms, work was starting to get stale after a few years at the same company, and the recruitment industry was beginning to slow down.

But then life took a sudden turn when she and her partner booked a holiday to Dubai. "A few people mentioned that they knew someone living out there and it put the seed in our minds," she admits.

Sending out CVs to Middle East companies, Skinner and her partner received immediate responses and she was soon sitting in a Sloane Square hotel being interviewed by the MD of Charterhouse, a high profile recruitment firm in Dubai where she now works.

"The credit crunch has hit my former colleagues in the UK, and there has been a definite decline in new positions there. Here, it's completely the opposite, I have nearly too many positions to deal with. Over 30 new consultants have joined Charterhouse in the last six months and the same will join in the next six. The market is just getting more and more competitive," she insists.

"Yes, men are still looked upon as having the major role, and women may find it harder to get into the really high end positions right now, but even that is changing"

Recruitment is one of the many thriving industries in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Middle East federation of seven states which include Dubai (the most populated city with 1.6m people), Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quawain.

Along with prosperous property and banking markets, a flourishing magazine and newspaper industry, and strong petroleum and gas exportation, such are the opportunities there that foreigners now make up 85 per cent of the UAE's four million population. And many of these are women.

Even today, the Middle East is considered a place where women are treated as second class citizens rather than somewhere they can develop a career. But while this is still the case in countries like Saudi Arabia, in the UAE, it is changing.

That's been the experience of Jasmeen Singh, who moved to Abu Dhabi with her husband this summer to take up a position at ADCB Macquarie bank after being made redundant twice in the UK by Deutsche Bank and UBS.

Hailing from Windsor, but with an Indian background, Singh understands the inequalities women can suffer in other cultures. "You don't have many rights as a woman in India whereas in the UAE, it's much more westernised and you're considered quite equal. Yes, men are still looked upon as having the major role, and women may find it harder to get into the really high end positions right now, but even that is changing."

"The authorities here feel that once you have a degree, are clued in, and able to adapt to a different culture, it's enough to become a teacher. There's just so much opportunity here"

In fact, the UAE has given women like Jakki Moriarty opportunities they wouldn't normally get in the UK or the rest of Europe. Moriarty moved to Abu Dhabi in August to begin a new career as a primary school teacher at one of the prominent international schools.

This wouldn't have been possible elsewhere as Moriarty has no previous teaching experience, having spent the last few years working in property development and real estate.

"The authorities feel that once you have a degree, are clued in, and able to adapt to a different culture, it's enough to become a teacher," she says. "So after some detailed questionnaires and several interviews, I was offered the job. There are just so many opportunities here."

But it's not only career prospects that have an increasing number of women professionals moving over, the overall lifestyle in the Middle East is proving more tempting. Skinner and Singh count the year-round sun, tax-free living, American-style shopping malls and petrol prices which are cheaper than water ("It costs eight pounds to fill up my car," Skinner says) amongst its high points.

But, drilling down further, it's their day-to-day existence there compared to the UK that they most appreciate. "There is very little crime in Dubai, and that's one thing I really appreciate after living in London. You always feel safe," says Skinner.

The fact that alcohol is restricted to certain areas, like bars attached to hotels, is also an upside. She continues: "The hotels are all five star, so you get five star service. Also, you can't buy drink here unless you have a license, so you never see any drunks or kids drinking in the streets."

For Singh, relocating to the Middle East also means being able to practise her religion more freely. A converted Muslim, she says: "You get looked at for practising a religion in the UK whereas you don't in the Middle East. You feel part of something and it's really comfortable."

But there are also downsides. All three admit missing the UK's efficiency. "If you need something done in the UK, you can get it done the same day. Whereas in the Middle East, you have to wait a week or two," says Singh.

And then there's the steep rents people will pay when they do relocate there. While many expats like Moriarty receive free accommodation as a perk of their job, for others, finding a property means beating the crowd and often putting down deposits of six months or a year within minutes of seeing it.

"A couple of apartments we liked were gone within a day. There's such a high demand here," admits Singh. And there's little alternative for foreigners, as laws state only locals can buy properties in Abu Dhabi city, which explains the number of islands being developed there, enabling Expats to live nearby.

But neither property prices nor laws stating foreigners must leave the UAE after retirement age are putting people off relocating. Currently fifth in the world for GDP per capita, the UAE's economy continues to boom, opportunities for women are only on the up, and the mass exodus there seems to only have just begun.

RBS Coutts, Coutts & Co's international arm, has recently opened three branches in the Middle East – Dubai, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. To find out more, visit www.coutts.com

By Barbara Walshe