Cerberus is correct, trot, females can get themselves a visa to work here if they can find a company willing to sponsor them. It's also true that many unmarried Westerners cohabit here. The local authorities treat the situation very much the way the military used to treat homosexuals - "if you don't tell us, we won’t ask.” But don’t kid yourself that they won’t know.
However, as a new joiner with EK, it's important that you understand that as far as EK will be concerned, if you ain’t churched, with legally notated documentation to prove it, your partner and her/your children simply will not exist. (And neither will any child you have that exceeds number three, but that’s another story.) Even if your girlfriend can find a sponsor, (usually an employer), to get a residence visa, she and the kids may be able to live with you, (the apartments are usually pretty roomy), but EK won’t cover them for education, medical or annual leave tickets home or subload travel. Without coverage in those three areas, expect to live a VERY frugal life even if coming as a DEC. On an FO’s salary, I’d say forget it, unless your girlfriend’s package is at least as good as yours. But if that’s the case, she’ll be working full time, and for most expats here, full time is just that – usually many hours of overtime (almost always unpaid), and a killing work schedule even without the overtime. I think I could safely say that the hours and the work load demanded by most companies here of managerial grade staff make what we EK pilots complain about pale into insignificance.
Some have already mentioned the traffic. It’s got to the point now where you have to make allowance for travelling time between points even quite close to each other. Maybe those of us who’ve been here a long time have forgotten how horrible the traffic is in major cities in the West. Dubai strives to outdo the West in most things, and in some ways has succeeded. Certainly over the last year or so, it has caught up with the worst examples of traffic gridlock you’re likely to see anywhere in the world, with the added ‘extra’ of young locals roaring past said gridlocks at near sonic speeds on the hard shoulder to cut in at the head of the queue, and depending on how many (or more accurately, how few) digits they have on their number plates, remaining virtually untouchable in doing so.
Back to the married/unmarried question: some others might correct me, but from friends I’ve known here, I think I could safely say that quite a few long term unmarried couples have trotted off to the registry office or the local parson immediately before coming here because they’ve seen that it was the only option.
I’d agree with the suggestion that a quick visit here, maybe a few days ahead of your interview, will answer many such questions far more clearly than any number of questions posted here or elsewhere on the Net. Don’t let the negative comments sway you, but if you have kids, be prepared to be living pretty close to the line, if not biting into your savings, for the first year or two – or three, until you get your command.