The sky’s the limit for single Arab women – quite literally, in some cases.

Just ten years ago, it was rare to see unmarried Arab women working outside their home countries. But The New York Times reports that as more young men from poor Arab nations head for the Persian Gulf states to get good-paying jobs in the oil industry, more women are traveling to advance their careers, as well. Many of them are looking to the air for opportunity.

From The New York Times:

Flight attendants have become the public face of the new mobility for some young Arab women, just as they were the face of new freedoms for women in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. They have become a subject of social anxiety and fascination in much the same way.

"I never in my life thought I’d work abroad," said 22-year-old Marwa Abdel Aziz Fathi, who recently graduated from the Etihad Training Academy in the United Arab Emirates after following a newspaper ad recruiting young Egyptians to work for airlines based in the Gulf region. "My family thought I was crazy. But then some families don’t let you leave at all."

Gulf states like Abu Dhabi, which offer many freedoms and opportunities not available in other parts of the Middle East, are providing a place for young Arab women to work not just for a living – but for salaries higher than they ever imagined. They also get a chance to see cities like Toronto, Canada and Australia’s Sydney, that they might otherwise never have been exposed to.

But their newfound freedom not only causes some stress at home; it also creates a feeling of conflict within the women – many of whom were brought up in strict religious households – who are suddenly exposed to a life of bootlegged "Sex and the City" DVDs, night clubs, traveling alone with no man babysitting her and singledom in general.

"A very good Syrian friend of mine decided to resign from the airline and go back home," one Egyptian flight attendant told the Times. "But she can’t tolerate living in a family house anymore. Her parents love her brother and put him first, and she’s never allowed out alone, even if it’s just to go and have a coffee."

"It becomes very difficult to go home again," she added.