It is called climbing the corporate ladder which, to many, is more important than anything else.
An international company for whom I used to work had a policy against sending female employees on business trips to any Arab country. That policy included even transit through Arab airports. Since the company was based in Japan, it was considered just common sense. If it had been based in the U.S., Canada or Western Europe, we probably would have been hauled into court.
Anybody remember the first Gulf War and the transit passengers in Kuwait held hostage for a time by Saddam Insane? That's when my former employer put the policy into place.
We once sent a programmer in 2000 to Riyahd. He lived in the British compound and stayed out of trouble.
The Saudi bank decided that they would not sign off on the project completion and kept adding tasks - classic mission creep.
5 and a half months later, it took a call from a London (very) senior executive to get his passport back so he could leave.
He promptly collected his per diem and quit.
Considering this woman's ordeal happened in Dubai - wow. They are tolerant compared to the Saudis.