Sheikha Alyaziah bint Saif al Nahyan, wife of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs today concludes a two day trip to Rome to attend the second Non-Aligned Movement First Ladies Summit on the subject of food security and women's access to resources.
Sheikha Alyaziah was representing Sheikha Fatimah bint Mubarak, first lady of the UAE at the conference in which the UAE submitted a speech that urged the need for global action to combat hunger worldwide and ensure women's access to resources.
Sheikha Alyaziah's speech highlighted that the issue of food security is one that goes to the very heart of the challenges that face the world today. "It is intimately connected with a whole host of other issues - like climate change, the conservation of our natural environment, population growth, poverty and education. And, of course, it is also related to the allocation of global economic resources between North and South and how they are managed." The UAE submission also praised the continued support of UAE President Sheikh Khalifah bin Zayed al Nahyan in empowering women and ensuring their equal access to resources. A core part of the UAE's policy focuses on giving aid to countries around the world, in particular for building up infrastructure and contributing to irrigation and education projects.
The meeting, timed to take place on the sidelines of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization summit (FAO) will present its recommendations to the FAO World Food summit over the coming two days.
During the two-day summit, Sheikha Alyazia held bilateral meetings with a number of first ladies including Suzanne Mubarak of Egypt, Hero Talabani of Iraq and Leila Ben Ali of Tunisia in which discussions were held on a number of issues of mutual interest and co-operation.
The UAE delegation, headed by Sheikha Alyaziah included Noura al Suwaidi, Director-General of the General Women's Union, Ambassador Abdulaziz Al Shamsi, UAE ambassador to Italy, Lana Nusseibeh, Director of Research at the Ministry of State for the Federal National Council, Fatimah al Amri, Director of Public Relations at the General Women's Union, Rowda al Otaiba and Alya al Shehhi from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Rome,16 Nov, 2009 (WAM)
Showing posts with label first ladies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first ladies. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday, December 8, 2008
MENA: Fashion’s reforming role
When an Israeli official was asked recently about prospects for peace with Syria, he argued that Bashar al-Assad wanted to take his country in a new direction, although the how and where were still riddles.
Then he offered a curious clue: to understand the Syrian leader’s ambition, look at his wife and how she dresses.
Asma al-Assad is an elegant, glamorous former banker. She was recently picked by Elle magazine as one of the best-dressed first ladies, which puts her in the company of Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama.
So does this tell us that Mr Assad, who has already mended fences with France, is also about to cosy up to the US and drop his other friend, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad? Probably not, at least according to what Syrian officials have been saying. The strategic alliance, they maintain, is old and enduring and will remain so – peace or no peace with Israel.
Unsurprisingly, the Iranian president’s wife was not featured in Elle. I imagine she has little interest in designer outfits and prefers the same humble style as her husband, who is always clad in a modest beige windbreaker. In any case, who says a taste for fine clothes is incompatible with a militant, anti-western attitude?
Though the Israeli official’s theory regarding Mrs Assad is dubious, he takes his argument further, suggesting that the wives of Arab leaders are the projection of their husband’s messages.
Perhaps he is right in some cases. In Dubai, for example, the first lady is Princess Haya, wife of Sheikh Mohammad, the ruler, and daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She shares her husband’s love of horses and competitive sports, and plays a role in various international organisations, so she can be said to be projecting the image of a modern, outward-looking Arab woman.
The determination of the first lady of Qatar, Sheikha Moza, is also, in some ways, a reflection of Qatar’s ambitions. She is the driving force behind the importing of foreign educational techniques and, in true maverick tradition, she is seen as a power centre of her own.
But let us take the case of Jordan, where first ladies have been the epitome of glamour. Queen Rania’s promotion of better rights for women and her work on microfinance go hand in hand with her husband’s focus on economic development. But one of the most important aspects of their marriage is that she is of Palestinian origin. Yet, it would be dangerous to assume this suggests the Jordanian monarch wants to unite Jordan with Palestine. Indeed, he is desperate to see an independent Palestinian state established.
Compare Queen Rania’s profile with the invisibility of the first ladies of Saudi Arabia, which might suggest that their husbands have little interest in the place of women in society. But improving women’s lot has been a central plank of King Abdallah’s reforms – even if the process has been one step forward and two steps back.
What about Egypt? Suzanne Mubarak is among the region’s best-known promoters of women’s rights and presides over the National Council for Women. Hosni Mubarak, however, has far less pronounced reformist instincts. It took him decades to accept the necessity of radical economic reform and he has yet to see the benefit of political change.
So we should not read too much into the role of first ladies in the region, beyond the fact that they do improve the image of their often autocratic husbands.
The fact that Arab first ladies are becoming increasingly active, however, is not to be dismissed as a detail. In recent years, they have taken up a hugely important cause – that of women. Whatever their fashion taste – and whether they choose to wear the veil – they are helping to advance the debate over women’s rights. Less a reflection of their husband’s intentions, the Arab first ladies are a manifestation of an important evolution for women in the region.
By Roula Khalaf, Financial Times
Then he offered a curious clue: to understand the Syrian leader’s ambition, look at his wife and how she dresses.
Asma al-Assad is an elegant, glamorous former banker. She was recently picked by Elle magazine as one of the best-dressed first ladies, which puts her in the company of Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama.
So does this tell us that Mr Assad, who has already mended fences with France, is also about to cosy up to the US and drop his other friend, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad? Probably not, at least according to what Syrian officials have been saying. The strategic alliance, they maintain, is old and enduring and will remain so – peace or no peace with Israel.
Unsurprisingly, the Iranian president’s wife was not featured in Elle. I imagine she has little interest in designer outfits and prefers the same humble style as her husband, who is always clad in a modest beige windbreaker. In any case, who says a taste for fine clothes is incompatible with a militant, anti-western attitude?
Though the Israeli official’s theory regarding Mrs Assad is dubious, he takes his argument further, suggesting that the wives of Arab leaders are the projection of their husband’s messages.
Perhaps he is right in some cases. In Dubai, for example, the first lady is Princess Haya, wife of Sheikh Mohammad, the ruler, and daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She shares her husband’s love of horses and competitive sports, and plays a role in various international organisations, so she can be said to be projecting the image of a modern, outward-looking Arab woman.
The determination of the first lady of Qatar, Sheikha Moza, is also, in some ways, a reflection of Qatar’s ambitions. She is the driving force behind the importing of foreign educational techniques and, in true maverick tradition, she is seen as a power centre of her own.
But let us take the case of Jordan, where first ladies have been the epitome of glamour. Queen Rania’s promotion of better rights for women and her work on microfinance go hand in hand with her husband’s focus on economic development. But one of the most important aspects of their marriage is that she is of Palestinian origin. Yet, it would be dangerous to assume this suggests the Jordanian monarch wants to unite Jordan with Palestine. Indeed, he is desperate to see an independent Palestinian state established.
Compare Queen Rania’s profile with the invisibility of the first ladies of Saudi Arabia, which might suggest that their husbands have little interest in the place of women in society. But improving women’s lot has been a central plank of King Abdallah’s reforms – even if the process has been one step forward and two steps back.
What about Egypt? Suzanne Mubarak is among the region’s best-known promoters of women’s rights and presides over the National Council for Women. Hosni Mubarak, however, has far less pronounced reformist instincts. It took him decades to accept the necessity of radical economic reform and he has yet to see the benefit of political change.
So we should not read too much into the role of first ladies in the region, beyond the fact that they do improve the image of their often autocratic husbands.
The fact that Arab first ladies are becoming increasingly active, however, is not to be dismissed as a detail. In recent years, they have taken up a hugely important cause – that of women. Whatever their fashion taste – and whether they choose to wear the veil – they are helping to advance the debate over women’s rights. Less a reflection of their husband’s intentions, the Arab first ladies are a manifestation of an important evolution for women in the region.
By Roula Khalaf, Financial Times
Monday, November 24, 2008
Middle East: Ensuring women get their say
The first ladies of several Arab countries recently called for greater empowerment of women in the Arab world, so that women could play a role in building their countries and communities. They also stressed the need for promoting dialogue, between Arab countries on the one hand and Arabs and the international community on the other, to boost cooperation in the service of humanity.
Urging the empowerment of women is crucial to our region. We need to work harder to create a consensus in the Arab world to support women in leadership positions. The more we see women in power, the more people will get used to the fact that women are capable leaders. However, recruiting women to run for a local office is still a real challenge for our region. In the United States, there are many organizations that give women the support they need to reach decision-making positions. Emily’s List, Emerge, The White House Project and The League of Women Voters are among the national organizations that pursue this goal. Emily’s List is a group that helps young women to become successful candidates for political office. It trains women so they improve eligibility and qualification for public office. There is a lot that we can learn from these organizations, and there are a lot of strategies that we can adopt in order to succeed in empowering women to run for public office.
The early concept of Emily’s List was to raise money to gain political clout. They have come a long way from the 1960s when they witnessed the women’s social movement and in the 1970s when they supported the women’s political movement. The idea began with the intention to form an organization for women by collecting checks of $100 from intending members. Indeed, Emily is an acronym for “Early Money Is Like Yeast,” which implies that chances for success improve with proper initial funding. Contributors were provided with the names of leading women, and they would decide on whom to give the check. Eventually, the group became prestigious, and it was a sign of support for other women.
Members then were asked to send a letter to other women they know across the country and ask them to join. It was an outreach to all women. The founders traveled across the country to identify potential women leaders and invited them to join and learn more about the concept. This is how the network began to identify candidates.
In 1986, Emily supported the only two women running for the US Senate. People began to take notice and the victory of one was a ground-breaking achievement. Obviously money was not enough, so Emily began to create campaign managers and media training when sufficient money was raised to hire staff. The plan was to help women at the local level, so when opportunities arose at the state level they would be ready. Over the years, the organization became more popular, and it is now a prestigious political action committee. The Emerge Foundation too works on empowering women and getting them elected to office. The role of the foundation is to create a diverse constituency of women who are under-represented in the country. It studies the demographic and geographic situation of citizens. The foundation’s strategy is to recruit young women to run for office at the local level, for city councils and for judicial positions.
The foundation identifies women who have potential and asks them if they would like to take up positions. It reaches out to teachers interested in playing a greater role in shaping public education in the state. Potential candidates would pay a $250 fee to train and qualify. In the first class, women are asked to choose a position they would like to hold. They are then asked to research the positions they seek. They also are taught how to develop a campaign, how to raise the money, how to deal with the media and how to shape a message. The participants attend classes and discuss relevant issues. The course ends with a graduation in the Senate chambers with an assignment on how to move a bill and how to deal with lobbying. They then debate the bill and are guided by members of the state legislatures. Family members are invited to attend the Senate training, and they also are given lessons on how to deal with the pleasures and difficulties of being family members of senators and government officials. This year, a woman suffering from hearing loss plans to run for office to address the needs of the disabled.
Another equally effective organization is The League of Women Voters. The role of the league is to educate women on issues that affect their lives and to provide training on how to lobby for legislation. The league’s goal is to create an informed and active voting public to increase the understanding of policy issues. The league formulates positions on the election process, state and local government level and social policy issues, such as health care, education, family, the environment and fiscal matters. It also can adopt positions on foreign policy, such as arms control or military advocacy. In this way it plays a role in shaping the agendas and in providing information to help women voters make intelligent decisions.
The White House Project is another initiative that can provide Arab women’s organizations with many tips on ways to train women to run for office. The project focuses on researching and identifying women with potential as well as building a network of support to allow women reach decision-making positions. The project is a means to bring women into full participation in policymaking, from serving as chief executives to legislators, judges and leaders of NGOs. It also prepares them for active roles in development enterprises and social movements. There is a lot that we can learn from the experience of such organizations. Arab women need to reach out to international organizations and work together to build a better future for their children. Studies have shown that women tend to identify more with the social needs of the community, and they bond together for the common good. Even women who do not plan to run for office are inspired to support the ones who run. The concerns of health care, education and the economy are some of modern-day issues that affect all women, and they need to have a say on the way government addresses these concerns. Speaking at the Second Arab Women’s conference, under the theme: “Women and Human Security: An Arab and International Perspective,” Queen Rania of Jordon said: “Though the future is bright in the Arab world as women’s presence has increased in Parliaments over the last eight years, we need 20 more years to bring this to 30 percent and another 20 years to reach the percentage recommended by the Beijing conference. The road is long but we are moving toward realizing our goals.”
I wonder if this statement describing the future of Arab women includes Saudi women, or are we to remain bystanders in the progress of our region?
— Samar Fatany is a Saudi radio journalist.
Urging the empowerment of women is crucial to our region. We need to work harder to create a consensus in the Arab world to support women in leadership positions. The more we see women in power, the more people will get used to the fact that women are capable leaders. However, recruiting women to run for a local office is still a real challenge for our region. In the United States, there are many organizations that give women the support they need to reach decision-making positions. Emily’s List, Emerge, The White House Project and The League of Women Voters are among the national organizations that pursue this goal. Emily’s List is a group that helps young women to become successful candidates for political office. It trains women so they improve eligibility and qualification for public office. There is a lot that we can learn from these organizations, and there are a lot of strategies that we can adopt in order to succeed in empowering women to run for public office.
The early concept of Emily’s List was to raise money to gain political clout. They have come a long way from the 1960s when they witnessed the women’s social movement and in the 1970s when they supported the women’s political movement. The idea began with the intention to form an organization for women by collecting checks of $100 from intending members. Indeed, Emily is an acronym for “Early Money Is Like Yeast,” which implies that chances for success improve with proper initial funding. Contributors were provided with the names of leading women, and they would decide on whom to give the check. Eventually, the group became prestigious, and it was a sign of support for other women.
Members then were asked to send a letter to other women they know across the country and ask them to join. It was an outreach to all women. The founders traveled across the country to identify potential women leaders and invited them to join and learn more about the concept. This is how the network began to identify candidates.
In 1986, Emily supported the only two women running for the US Senate. People began to take notice and the victory of one was a ground-breaking achievement. Obviously money was not enough, so Emily began to create campaign managers and media training when sufficient money was raised to hire staff. The plan was to help women at the local level, so when opportunities arose at the state level they would be ready. Over the years, the organization became more popular, and it is now a prestigious political action committee. The Emerge Foundation too works on empowering women and getting them elected to office. The role of the foundation is to create a diverse constituency of women who are under-represented in the country. It studies the demographic and geographic situation of citizens. The foundation’s strategy is to recruit young women to run for office at the local level, for city councils and for judicial positions.
The foundation identifies women who have potential and asks them if they would like to take up positions. It reaches out to teachers interested in playing a greater role in shaping public education in the state. Potential candidates would pay a $250 fee to train and qualify. In the first class, women are asked to choose a position they would like to hold. They are then asked to research the positions they seek. They also are taught how to develop a campaign, how to raise the money, how to deal with the media and how to shape a message. The participants attend classes and discuss relevant issues. The course ends with a graduation in the Senate chambers with an assignment on how to move a bill and how to deal with lobbying. They then debate the bill and are guided by members of the state legislatures. Family members are invited to attend the Senate training, and they also are given lessons on how to deal with the pleasures and difficulties of being family members of senators and government officials. This year, a woman suffering from hearing loss plans to run for office to address the needs of the disabled.
Another equally effective organization is The League of Women Voters. The role of the league is to educate women on issues that affect their lives and to provide training on how to lobby for legislation. The league’s goal is to create an informed and active voting public to increase the understanding of policy issues. The league formulates positions on the election process, state and local government level and social policy issues, such as health care, education, family, the environment and fiscal matters. It also can adopt positions on foreign policy, such as arms control or military advocacy. In this way it plays a role in shaping the agendas and in providing information to help women voters make intelligent decisions.
The White House Project is another initiative that can provide Arab women’s organizations with many tips on ways to train women to run for office. The project focuses on researching and identifying women with potential as well as building a network of support to allow women reach decision-making positions. The project is a means to bring women into full participation in policymaking, from serving as chief executives to legislators, judges and leaders of NGOs. It also prepares them for active roles in development enterprises and social movements. There is a lot that we can learn from the experience of such organizations. Arab women need to reach out to international organizations and work together to build a better future for their children. Studies have shown that women tend to identify more with the social needs of the community, and they bond together for the common good. Even women who do not plan to run for office are inspired to support the ones who run. The concerns of health care, education and the economy are some of modern-day issues that affect all women, and they need to have a say on the way government addresses these concerns. Speaking at the Second Arab Women’s conference, under the theme: “Women and Human Security: An Arab and International Perspective,” Queen Rania of Jordon said: “Though the future is bright in the Arab world as women’s presence has increased in Parliaments over the last eight years, we need 20 more years to bring this to 30 percent and another 20 years to reach the percentage recommended by the Beijing conference. The road is long but we are moving toward realizing our goals.”
I wonder if this statement describing the future of Arab women includes Saudi women, or are we to remain bystanders in the progress of our region?
— Samar Fatany is a Saudi radio journalist.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Middle East: Laura Bush's Bully Pulpit
WASHINGTON -- Women, not men, will save the world.
First lady Laura Bush didn't say those precise words, but her remarks Monday to a small gathering of biographers, historians and journalists implied as much.
If she's right, America's first lady will have played a significant role in that evolution. Women's gains around the world, in places like Kabul and Riyadh, are occurring in no small part because of Laura Bush's quietly feminist maneuvering as wife of the U.S. president.
The purpose of Monday's meeting, which included lunch and a curator-led tour of the second-floor residence, was to allow the first lady's potential chroniclers access to her thoughts and future plans.
Sitting in the Yellow Oval Room that leads to the Truman Balcony, Mrs. Bush said she intends to continue helping women and children through her education and health initiatives. She also hopes to include women's leadership training as part of her husband's planned Freedom Institute at Southern Methodist University.
Fittingly, The Washington Post's front page Monday featured a story about Rwandan women running the show where once they were victims of systematic rape during that country's 1994 genocide. Last month, the Rwandan parliament became the first in the world with a female majority (56 percent), and women hold a third of all Cabinet positions, including Supreme Court chief and police commissioner general.
Inside the paper, Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt wrote about Burma, where Mrs. Bush has played a leading role in pushing for release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 years under house arrest. Hiatt criticized a new International Crisis Group report that urges the West's cooperation with the human rights-abusing Burmese government. The same report also denounces Laura Bush's "megaphone diplomacy."
About that megaphone. Could we possibly get the lady an amplifier?
As one who traveled last October with Mrs. Bush to the Middle East to advance the State Department's breast cancer initiative, I've been privileged to watch her in action, as well as to appreciate the life-saving results of her efforts. Largely because of her, and the breast-cancer-crusading Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, women in that harshly patriarchal part of the world have been given an empowering voice.
More importantly, women are surviving.
Before Mrs. Bush began meeting with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, 80 percent of Middle Eastern breast cancer victims died. Already, those figures are expected to drop as women relieved of shame seek earlier diagnosis and treatment.
As Mrs. Bush noted Monday, health is a freedom issue. To be free, one must first be alive. Then, one must be educated.
The U.N. reports that 774 million people worldwide cannot read or write. Of those, two-thirds are women. Seventy-five million children don't attend school.
The first lady, who is an honorary ambassador for the U.N. Literacy Decade, spoke earlier this month at the U.N. about the importance of closing the gender gap in literacy. "If women are educated, everything across the board improves for their families," she said.
Indeed, it is widely understood among international humanitarian groups that the most effective way to reduce poverty and disease is to educate women.
In Afghanistan, where Laura Bush has traveled three times, impressive strides are being made in education and equality. Today, one-third of the more than 6 million Afghan children in school are girls.
Many readers may be learning these things for the first time and wonder why. In part, it may be because Mrs. Bush's demure librarian-teacher persona has minimized her appeal to the media. But Bush's Texas manners should not be confused with passivity. She is a serious player whose White House tenure provides lessons for the next first lady.
Among them is one Mrs. Bush wishes she had learned sooner -- that the first lady has a bully pulpit and should use it. Although she gave the first-ever radio address by a first lady in 2001, urging support for Afghan women, Bush didn't hit her stride until her husband's second term.
Did she ever. Her mission has been anything but modest: to save women, educate girls, end poverty, reduce disease, expand democracy and promote freedom.
Women may not save the world -- at least not without the help of enlightened men -- but history will judge that one Laura Bush did her part.
Brava.
-- Kathleen Parker, Washington Post
First lady Laura Bush didn't say those precise words, but her remarks Monday to a small gathering of biographers, historians and journalists implied as much.
If she's right, America's first lady will have played a significant role in that evolution. Women's gains around the world, in places like Kabul and Riyadh, are occurring in no small part because of Laura Bush's quietly feminist maneuvering as wife of the U.S. president.
The purpose of Monday's meeting, which included lunch and a curator-led tour of the second-floor residence, was to allow the first lady's potential chroniclers access to her thoughts and future plans.
Sitting in the Yellow Oval Room that leads to the Truman Balcony, Mrs. Bush said she intends to continue helping women and children through her education and health initiatives. She also hopes to include women's leadership training as part of her husband's planned Freedom Institute at Southern Methodist University.
Fittingly, The Washington Post's front page Monday featured a story about Rwandan women running the show where once they were victims of systematic rape during that country's 1994 genocide. Last month, the Rwandan parliament became the first in the world with a female majority (56 percent), and women hold a third of all Cabinet positions, including Supreme Court chief and police commissioner general.
Inside the paper, Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt wrote about Burma, where Mrs. Bush has played a leading role in pushing for release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 years under house arrest. Hiatt criticized a new International Crisis Group report that urges the West's cooperation with the human rights-abusing Burmese government. The same report also denounces Laura Bush's "megaphone diplomacy."
About that megaphone. Could we possibly get the lady an amplifier?
As one who traveled last October with Mrs. Bush to the Middle East to advance the State Department's breast cancer initiative, I've been privileged to watch her in action, as well as to appreciate the life-saving results of her efforts. Largely because of her, and the breast-cancer-crusading Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, women in that harshly patriarchal part of the world have been given an empowering voice.
More importantly, women are surviving.
Before Mrs. Bush began meeting with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, 80 percent of Middle Eastern breast cancer victims died. Already, those figures are expected to drop as women relieved of shame seek earlier diagnosis and treatment.
As Mrs. Bush noted Monday, health is a freedom issue. To be free, one must first be alive. Then, one must be educated.
The U.N. reports that 774 million people worldwide cannot read or write. Of those, two-thirds are women. Seventy-five million children don't attend school.
The first lady, who is an honorary ambassador for the U.N. Literacy Decade, spoke earlier this month at the U.N. about the importance of closing the gender gap in literacy. "If women are educated, everything across the board improves for their families," she said.
Indeed, it is widely understood among international humanitarian groups that the most effective way to reduce poverty and disease is to educate women.
In Afghanistan, where Laura Bush has traveled three times, impressive strides are being made in education and equality. Today, one-third of the more than 6 million Afghan children in school are girls.
Many readers may be learning these things for the first time and wonder why. In part, it may be because Mrs. Bush's demure librarian-teacher persona has minimized her appeal to the media. But Bush's Texas manners should not be confused with passivity. She is a serious player whose White House tenure provides lessons for the next first lady.
Among them is one Mrs. Bush wishes she had learned sooner -- that the first lady has a bully pulpit and should use it. Although she gave the first-ever radio address by a first lady in 2001, urging support for Afghan women, Bush didn't hit her stride until her husband's second term.
Did she ever. Her mission has been anything but modest: to save women, educate girls, end poverty, reduce disease, expand democracy and promote freedom.
Women may not save the world -- at least not without the help of enlightened men -- but history will judge that one Laura Bush did her part.
Brava.
-- Kathleen Parker, Washington Post
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Gulf States: Greater role for Gulf first ladies
DOHA: The first lady of this conservative Muslim sheikhdom walked up to the podium in a luxury hotel banquet room and sized up the crowd of mostly wealthy businessmen. "Do not be afraid to take risks and to try," she told them. "Think out of the box." Sheika Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned may have been wearing a traditional black headscarf and robe, but she took on a very untraditional role in rallying the men to support a $100 million initiative to tackle unemployment.
Like her counterpart in Dubai, Oxford-educated Princess Haya, Mozah is taking up the Western "first lady" model - activist, globe-trotting and involved in public affairs. It's a major change in a region where a ruler's wife is rarely seen and even her name is little known. She might be one of several; many emirs and kings in the Gulf have multiple wives - up to the four permitted by Islam, though sometimes the actual number is not well known. In some cases, the ruler will pick one to be the public "first lady".
The emergence of high-ranking wives on the public stage is part of the booming Gulf states' efforts to appear more in synch with the West as they seek investment, political clout and even big-name sporting events like the Olympics. It's also clearly a competition with other high-profile Middle East women, such as Jordan's Queen Rania. In recent years, Qatar - like the other small Arab countries lining the Arabian Gulf - has transformed its desert landscape into a financial and media hub.
High-rises and construction cranes now swarm the once-barren skyline of Doha, home to Al-Jazeera, the groundbreaking Arabic-language satellite TV station. Mozah, who is believed to be in her 40s, has taken a starring role in the transformation. She is one of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's wives - it is not publicly known how many he has - and the only one who makes public appearances. Her most prominent role is as chairwoman of the Qatar Foundation, which launched Education City, a 1,012-hectare campus outside Doha and home to branches of prominent American universities like Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown.
Mozah is increasingly rivaling Queen Rania's globe-trotting, giving speeches at institutions in the US and Europe. Last year, she claimed one of the spots on Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women. At home, she wears traditional long robes. In the West she wears stylish business suits. "No Gulf royalty stands out as Mozah does," said Rima Sabban, a Dubai-based sociologist. "She broke all cultural barriers and shaped an image of a woman that is fully modern, fully confident and fearless of a backlash from the society... Mozah's strategy is part of her husband's goal to put Qatar on the world map.
In the even glitzier city of Dubai, Princess Haya is also breaking the rules - giving speeches on public welfare, working on public projects, appearing in magazines, keeping up personal websites and traveling the world. Dubai gained significant political influence in the region through the 2004 marriage of its powerful ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, with the 34-year-old Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan.
They have one daughter, though the Dubai ruler has 18 other children, most with Sheika Hind bin Maktoum Al-Maktoum, the first of his wives to become publicly known. Like Mozah, Haya has taken on public roles, including chairing the Dubai International Humanitarian City, a cluster of Western and Islamic charities.
But Haya pushes the traditional boundaries even further. She is rarely seen wearing a headscarf and is a sports enthusiast, a rarity in the male-dominated region. She represented Jordan in equestrian show jumping in the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, is president of the International Equestrian Federation and even has a truck-driving license, obtained in Jordan to help transport her horses.
Other wives of Gulf rulers are active in campaigning for women's rights, charity and humanitarian issues, particularly in Bahrain and Kuwait, but they have not sought foreign attention or assumed highly public roles. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates both have women Cabinet ministers, and the Emirates recently appointed its first female judge. The Emirates' minister of foreign trade is a woman, as is the founder of Amwal, a top investment company in Qatar.
Women make up 22.4 percent of the Emirates' work force and 32 percent in Qatar, according to government statistics, though it's difficult to know how many are foreigners. Seventy-seven percent of university students in UAE are women, according to the Ministry of Education and Labor. Three-quarters of students who graduated from Qatar University this year were women. Kuwait recently gave women the right to vote and run for office, and it has several female Cabinet ministers, though no woman has been elected to parliament.
It's a domino effect. Success in one country has spilled over into other countries in the region. When a ruler in one country appoints a woman to a high-level post, others follow. It's a healthy competition because everyone wants to show that they are democratizing," said Rola Dashti, a Kuwaiti economist who has run for parliament. Not every country in the region is eager to change. Saudi Arabia, a bastion of conservatism, still keeps its royal wives under wraps and remains the only country in the Middle East to bar women from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years.
No women sit in the kingdom's Cabinet, and women can't drive or travel without permission from a male guardian. A prominent Saudi princess, Lolwah Al-Faisal, made headlines two years ago at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland when she spoke out against the driving ban. Another princess, Adelah, gave a rare interview to an Arab women's magazine in 2006, and on occasion speaks at events.
The views of one 20-year-old Qatari university student in journalism, Fawzia, reflect both the change for women in the Gulf and the restrictions that still hold them back. Fawzia did not want her last name used because she said her family and university would regard it as immodest for a young woman to speak out on such matters. Yet she also said the ruling women are opening doors that were closed to her mother's generation. Mozah "has challenged tradition that wanted women to be restricted to the domestic field," Fawzia said. She added that Mozah has made it possible for women to have "a role in the society while also being a wife and a mother." - AP
Like her counterpart in Dubai, Oxford-educated Princess Haya, Mozah is taking up the Western "first lady" model - activist, globe-trotting and involved in public affairs. It's a major change in a region where a ruler's wife is rarely seen and even her name is little known. She might be one of several; many emirs and kings in the Gulf have multiple wives - up to the four permitted by Islam, though sometimes the actual number is not well known. In some cases, the ruler will pick one to be the public "first lady".
The emergence of high-ranking wives on the public stage is part of the booming Gulf states' efforts to appear more in synch with the West as they seek investment, political clout and even big-name sporting events like the Olympics. It's also clearly a competition with other high-profile Middle East women, such as Jordan's Queen Rania. In recent years, Qatar - like the other small Arab countries lining the Arabian Gulf - has transformed its desert landscape into a financial and media hub.
High-rises and construction cranes now swarm the once-barren skyline of Doha, home to Al-Jazeera, the groundbreaking Arabic-language satellite TV station. Mozah, who is believed to be in her 40s, has taken a starring role in the transformation. She is one of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's wives - it is not publicly known how many he has - and the only one who makes public appearances. Her most prominent role is as chairwoman of the Qatar Foundation, which launched Education City, a 1,012-hectare campus outside Doha and home to branches of prominent American universities like Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown.
Mozah is increasingly rivaling Queen Rania's globe-trotting, giving speeches at institutions in the US and Europe. Last year, she claimed one of the spots on Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women. At home, she wears traditional long robes. In the West she wears stylish business suits. "No Gulf royalty stands out as Mozah does," said Rima Sabban, a Dubai-based sociologist. "She broke all cultural barriers and shaped an image of a woman that is fully modern, fully confident and fearless of a backlash from the society... Mozah's strategy is part of her husband's goal to put Qatar on the world map.
In the even glitzier city of Dubai, Princess Haya is also breaking the rules - giving speeches on public welfare, working on public projects, appearing in magazines, keeping up personal websites and traveling the world. Dubai gained significant political influence in the region through the 2004 marriage of its powerful ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, with the 34-year-old Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan.
They have one daughter, though the Dubai ruler has 18 other children, most with Sheika Hind bin Maktoum Al-Maktoum, the first of his wives to become publicly known. Like Mozah, Haya has taken on public roles, including chairing the Dubai International Humanitarian City, a cluster of Western and Islamic charities.
But Haya pushes the traditional boundaries even further. She is rarely seen wearing a headscarf and is a sports enthusiast, a rarity in the male-dominated region. She represented Jordan in equestrian show jumping in the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, is president of the International Equestrian Federation and even has a truck-driving license, obtained in Jordan to help transport her horses.
Other wives of Gulf rulers are active in campaigning for women's rights, charity and humanitarian issues, particularly in Bahrain and Kuwait, but they have not sought foreign attention or assumed highly public roles. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates both have women Cabinet ministers, and the Emirates recently appointed its first female judge. The Emirates' minister of foreign trade is a woman, as is the founder of Amwal, a top investment company in Qatar.
Women make up 22.4 percent of the Emirates' work force and 32 percent in Qatar, according to government statistics, though it's difficult to know how many are foreigners. Seventy-seven percent of university students in UAE are women, according to the Ministry of Education and Labor. Three-quarters of students who graduated from Qatar University this year were women. Kuwait recently gave women the right to vote and run for office, and it has several female Cabinet ministers, though no woman has been elected to parliament.
It's a domino effect. Success in one country has spilled over into other countries in the region. When a ruler in one country appoints a woman to a high-level post, others follow. It's a healthy competition because everyone wants to show that they are democratizing," said Rola Dashti, a Kuwaiti economist who has run for parliament. Not every country in the region is eager to change. Saudi Arabia, a bastion of conservatism, still keeps its royal wives under wraps and remains the only country in the Middle East to bar women from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years.
No women sit in the kingdom's Cabinet, and women can't drive or travel without permission from a male guardian. A prominent Saudi princess, Lolwah Al-Faisal, made headlines two years ago at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland when she spoke out against the driving ban. Another princess, Adelah, gave a rare interview to an Arab women's magazine in 2006, and on occasion speaks at events.
The views of one 20-year-old Qatari university student in journalism, Fawzia, reflect both the change for women in the Gulf and the restrictions that still hold them back. Fawzia did not want her last name used because she said her family and university would regard it as immodest for a young woman to speak out on such matters. Yet she also said the ruling women are opening doors that were closed to her mother's generation. Mozah "has challenged tradition that wanted women to be restricted to the domestic field," Fawzia said. She added that Mozah has made it possible for women to have "a role in the society while also being a wife and a mother." - AP
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