Do they still have the foreigner ghettos?
The compounds? Personally I never lived in one there - just on a residential street. People I knew who lived in compounds were certainly not restricted to staying in them. If your brother had such an issue it sounds like something from his employer.
especially in relation to booze
Some of them have normal pubs in, with beer pumps etc, some have a choice of restaurants. Some even have a visible weed dealer. Most are small and don't have any of that.
For either men or women, it's one of the safest countries to be in, one with a very low crime rate and a generally very polite if somewhat dull and conservative population. A foreigner there is more likely to be at risk from other foreigners than from a local.