Watch: First Emirati woman car mechanic over the moon after royal recognition

An Emirati woman running a garage in Sharjah was taken aback after she recently received a phone call from Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Huda Al Matroushi, Sharjah’s first female car mechanic, has been hailed for breaking gender stereotypes in an industry dominated by men.

On Thursday, Al Matroushi was left astonished upon receiving a heartwarming call from the Abu Dhabi crown prince, reported Khaleej Times.

In a video, which is making the rounds on social media, she can be heard speaking to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed on the phone. The Abu Dhabi crown prince can be heard congratulating her on the opening of her very own car repair workshop and asking her to get his own car fixed.

“We are proud to have such great people, and we encourage you and stand with you,” MBZ told her.

Brimming with emotion, a teary-eyed Al Matroushi accepted the acknowledgement from the Abu Dhabi crown prince, who insisted that she continues to fiercely walk this path of turning her ambitions into reality, becoming a role model for the generations to come.

At 36, Al Matroushi owns and runs her own garage, which is a brick and mortar materialisation of the car mechanic’s childhood dream and fascination with toy cars. Bolsters and pliers in hand, she is defying age-old stereotypes of archaic gender roles, repairing more than just automobiles, through her garage.

“I love this work, and I started doing it 16 years ago, but I opened the auto shop in 2020,” she shared with Sheikh Mohamed over the phone.

The article originally appeared in Khaleej Times