On being introduced to Ghanima Hassan Al Bahri, the care and rehabilitation director, I again asked how the centre was funded. "We have a full, newly established fundraising department. We have a fund from the regular court. We also have an agreement with the hospitals for our sheltered clients — they receive medical attention free of charge. We also have an agreement with one law firm, so each sheltered client receives one lawyer free of charge."

Al Bahri spoke at high speed, having obviously delivered her speech on several previous occasions. She appeared slightly put out when I held up my hand to ask a question. I asked what the relationship was between the centre and the Dubai police. "They have been a really good partner for the women. As far as we are working with the Dubai police, they have been more than helpful."

Did sharia, I asked, affect the way the police deal with domestic violence? Al Bahri had no answer for me and told me I should speak to the foundation's legal director.

Afsana, who spent a month in the DFWC in February 2012, told me that when she was taken to the shelter she was informed that, under Emirati law, the staff were obliged to tell her husband where she was. Two other women, both expats, whom I tracked down, told me the same thing had happened to them. "I left immediately," said Afsana. "I no longer felt safe."

Was it required that husbands of women escaping domestic violence had to be informed, under UAE law, of their wives' whereabouts? No, said Al Bahri. "We operate under a system of complete client confidentiality."

Despite Al Bahri insisting that Dubai has progressed significantly in terms of tacking violence against women, the law remains archaic and deeply misogynistic. Article 53 of the UAE's penal code acknowledges the right of a "chastisement by a husband to his wife and the chastisement of minor children" so long as the assault does not exceed the limits prescribed by sharia. Similarly, article 56 of the UAE's personal status code obligates women to "obey" their husbands.

There have been multiple instances of women in Dubai being sent to prison for sex in public or outside marriage, including a number who alleged they were raped. Unsurprisingly, it is illegal for women to get abortions, and UAE's sharia divorce laws are biased in favour of men. A Muslim husband can divorce his wife by simply saying, "I divorce you." 

A divorced mother is forbidden by law to travel outside the UAE with her child without written approval from the child's father. A father may even place a stop order on his ex-wife travelling with their child, which is enforced by officials at airports and borders. In February, the UAE passed a "children's rights" law requiring all women to breastfeed until their child is two.

Nevertheless, prostitution is tolerated and visible in the city. In one of the hotel bars I visited there were a number of British male tourists sitting with Chinese women who, I was informed by the security manager, were "known working ladies". Behind the Dubai Grand Hotel at 6pm on a Wednesday there were women on the street corners waiting for trade.