Hanan Sobati is not a big fan of the word empower. “I’ve never really liked [it] because I feel like we are already empowered, you know what I mean?” she says, speaking over the phone from her home in Dubai. And when it comes to her all-female luxury car club, the Arabian Gazelles, you’d be hard-pressed to deny they’ve got some serious torque. During the past 12 months, as the UAE has become further embroiled in the conflicts in Yemen and held onto its political alliance with Saudi Arabia in the face of much controversy, the gregarious Sobati and the Gazelles have become something like poster children for the women’s movement in the region, both in the sense of progress for women, and in, well, movement.
Since the Algeria-born Sobati launched the club in 2016 with a few of her close friends, the Gazelles have garnered worldwide attention—and plenty of Instagram likes— for their ultra-glamorous exclusive girls group, one that isn’t just about like-minded wealthy women who shop and throw parties and try to outdress one another, but rather, women who find their bliss inside the steering wheel of a six-figure supercar. Think Real Housewives, only no catfighting, and on wheels. Very, very fast wheels.