UAE women make resounding success in all walks of life, says Fatima

The UAE women have made remarkable achievements in all walks of life thanks to the unstinted support of the country's leadership, Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chairperson of the UAE's General Women's Union, has said.

• WAM
• Published: 18:15 March 26, 2009
• 

Abu Dhabi: The UAE women have made remarkable achievements in all walks of life thanks to the unstinted support of the country's leadership, Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chairperson of the UAE's General Women's Union, has said.
"The sun of advancement of UAE women rose with the accession of the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan to the helm of power in Abu Dhabi in 1966," Shaikha Fatima said in an interview with Zahrat Al Khaleej, the weekly lifestyle family magazine.

Shaikha Fatima affirmed that the role of women in the UAE life was also further boosted and recognised under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"Shaikh Khalifa has issued crucial resolutions and legislations, introducing the woman to the three sovereign executive, legislative and judicial powers in addition to other decision-making roles," said Shaikha Fatima, who is also Supreme Chairperson of Family Development Foundation.

As President of Arab Woman Organisation (AWO), Shaikha Fatima affirmed: "I will continue to work in consultation with my sisters, the first ladies in the organisation, for creating a real qualitative shift in the mechanisms of work and the activities of the organisation, thus enabling it to implement the decisions and recommendations made earlier and in implementing the projects that will contribute positively in changing the present and the future of the Arab women.

Following is the full text of the interview:

Zahrat Al Khaleej Magazine is honoured by this interview with you as it coincides with the celebrations of its 30th birthday. Since the time of its first issue 30 years ago, the magazine is committed to support the cause of woman in the United Arab Emirates. What is the message Your Highness has for Zahrat Al Khaleej on this occasion?

I am happy to offer Zahrat Al Khaleej Family my sincere and heartfelt greetings on the occasion of the celebrations marking three decades of its publication, which also coincided with the early stages of the building of the women's movement in the UAE. It had great influence in the interaction with the march of the woman's renaissance, as well as in supporting many issues concerning her, especially our efforts at that time for concentrating on women's education and eradication of illiteracy among our ranks, as well as our endeavour to support women's rights in various fields.
The magazine serves as our media arm, tools and mirrors that enormously contributed to the efforts of shedding the light on the women's issues in the UAE at various phases of its march.
Zahrat Al Khaleej was one among the region's premier magazines concerned with the issues of woman and family, and it could carve a niche and powerful presence in the front row of the women's magazines in the Gulf and Arab regions due to its objective style and sincere commitment to the issues of Arab women and family. Thus, the magazine is a matter of pride for Emirati journalism.
When I express my renewed greetings to the Zahrat Al Khaleej family for the magnificent success it achieved across the last three decades, I wish the magazine more excellence in the coming years and continuity in supporting issues of the society, family and women.

The qualitative and quantitative development that are achieved in the field of mass media, communications and information is enormously connected with the call for revision in the role of information and with thinking about new roles, as its role is not the just conveying the reality, rather changing it. How do Your Highness evaluate the method of Arab media's interaction with the women's issues? Into what extend the media could be considered an active partner in the endeavor for social development, empowerment of woman and the betterment of her conditions?

Without doubt, the mass media in its role of mirroring various happenings, is also an effective instrument for playing a pivotal role in calling for a new vision as well as shoring up the society's energy in it through innovation and creativity by way of employing modern technology and making use of the information era to support social development, and thus promoting the work for the empowerment of women in various fields of national life.

Your Highness has a special concern for the media dossier. Your Highness patronized the media strategy for Arab Women since the time of the conception of the idea, and its presentation when Abu Dhabi hosted the Women and Media Forum early in 2002 until the programme was formally launched during the Second conference of Arab Woman Organisation (AWO) held in Abu Dhabi in 2008, thus travelling along with it from its preparation until its implementation. What are the objectives of the media strategy for Arab women? What are its fundamental principles?

My concern for the women's media dossier stem out from my keenness for activating its role and expanding its participation in the media work, as well as for empowering it to carry out its mission for changing the stereotype image about women, her role and status in the society. Based on this commitment, we initiated to host the Women Media Forum, which was held in 2002 in Abu Dhabi under the title 'woman and media, towards a promising media landscape'. This came in implementation of the recommendations made during the First Arab women summit held in Cairo in 2000.
I was exceptionally happy about the positive results the Forum had achieved, as well as its discussions, which culminated in the promulgation of the Abu Dhabi Declaration on Women and Media. This declaration gave a strong foundation for the launch of Women Media Strategy as well as the endorsement of the first media convention for Arab women.
The Women media strategy contained recommendations for implementing three programmes under the umbrella of Arab Woman Organisation, namely project
for a media agency for Arab women, Media monitoring project for Arab women and the media professions programme.

What are the frameworks of these programmes, what are the results expected through them and what is the time plan for each one of them?

The Arab Woman Media Strategy, to which I give my attention and support, came as one of the prime achievements of the second summit of the Arab Woman Organisation we hosted early in November in Abu Dhabi. It was also the crowning of my efforts through the convening of the Woman Media Forum early in 2002. The strategy aims, across its implementation period of six years beginning from 2010, at creating a positive media culture towards woman and the enhancement of her role and status in the society.
The strategy, across this period, also will strive for achieving a number of important media projects, among which are the Arab Women media agency, Media monitoring project and the media professions project.
Within this framework, the strategy calls for a comprehensive revision of the media, encompassing its field, role, institution, and content, and the promotion of the professional standard as a basic step with an aim of pushing the media forth towards more effective performance and integrity in handling women's issues.
I can say these projects in their totality, aims at ensuring the evolvement of more developed media mechanism for serving the cause of the women's issues and enhancing her role in the society. It also aims at building interactive mass media that takes women to information and enables her to use it for expressing herself.
It also aims at the establishment of partnership networks and coordinative relations among various media institutions, as well as guaranteeing of added presence of women in the Arab media institutions. Among its aims are also the establishment of a more developed database and specialized research about the role of women in the media.

Away from the media issue, Your Highness chaired the Arab Woman Organisation (AWO) in its second round, which witnessed the active take-off towards achieving the goals of the AWO, after the completion of its organizational structuring, formulation of its general policy and creation of the executive mechanisms. What is your vision about the role of the AWO, its performance in the field of enhancing the capabilities of Arab women and her renaissance?

I feel great responsibility and honour at the same time in carrying the burden of the leadership of the AWO in the present tenure, and in confronting the challenges to the Organisation after it completed the period of institution, structuring and development of executive mechanisms.
I will continue to work in consultation with my sisters, the first ladies in the Organisation, for creating a real qualitative shift in the mechanisms of work and the activities of the organization, thus enabling it to implement the decisions and recommendations made earlier and in implementing the projects that will contribute positively in changing the present and the future of the Arab women. This is with the aim of making her capable of entering actively in the process of social and economic development, through her presence in the roles of decision making. It will also promote her status and position in the Arab societies as well as her role in the service of the society.
I will also be committed to the enhancement of the position of Arab women on the regional and international levels, with the knowledge that we are an integral part of the world; we will be affected by the developments around us, we will interact with what goes on, will contribute to them with what we own from the wealth, culture and civilization. In that arena, we will work to project the real image of the Arab woman.

In the inaugural address Your Highness made at the second meeting of the Supreme Council of the Arab Woman Organisation, which was hosted by Abu Dhabi during last November: 'If the decision of war is made by men, the woman can, and should, become maker of peace' . Your Highness has also written a magnificent record, which contains numerous humanitarian initiatives aimed at supporting woman and helping her in times of war and hardships. Among them are, for example, the initiative of Your Highness in setting up a Fund for Women Refugees and your support to the world woman's movement for peace. Among them is also declaration issued by the Supreme Council of the AWO condemning the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip.
How do Your Highness look at the issues of human security in general, and the issue of Arab Women's security in particular?

The Issues of human security, as I asserted in the inaugural speech made at the second summit of the Arab Woman Organisation, is basically a universal issue in which every human being participate where ever he/she is. Thus to confront this issue needs cooperation and coordination on a global level, through openness and positive dialogue among civilizations. The Arab woman has contributed to this through a pioneering initiative that came in the form of the Women For Peace Conference, which was held in 2002 in Sharm Al Shaikh with the participation of hundred personalities from various women organisations from Arab and non-Arab countries and UN. This was with the aim of setting up a global movement of woman shoring up her capabilities and efforts for creating world peace.
Across this conference I expressed my support to the world movement for peace, and asserted the need for women to contribute to it playing an active role in spreading the culture of peace.
We also made an initiative even before this conference, by setting up a Fund for Women refugees, in cooperation and coordination with the UNHCR, and earmarked $2 million to improve the conditions of women refugees in the war zones.
The issue of the Arab woman security was discussed with great importance across the sessions of the second summit of AWO, and I am convinced that the recommendations of the conference represent positive participation for activating international laws concerning the protection of women and contribute to alleviating the physical and psychological hardships the families pass through in times of armed conflicts.
As far as the Israeli aggression on Gaza is concerned, we were shocked by the inhuman slaughter perpetrated by the Israeli war machine through killing of women, children and old people, and terrifying every one heartlessly, and without any consideration for moral values or international laws. During this time we urged regional and international woman organizations as well as all women in the world to express solidarity with Palestinian people and to condemn these inhuman practices. We also called on the international civil societies to bear the responsibility of this brutal genocide and bring the perpetrators before law.


The first AWO conference which was held in Bahrain in 2006 witnessed a donation from Your Highness to set up a network of Arab Women in exile. Your Highness also launched this network in the second AWO conference held in Abu Dhabi in 2008 after it was floated through the organization earlier in 2007 on the occasion of the Arab Woman Day.
What are the basic objectives of this network? What is the nature of the services it will offer? When is it expected to begin functioning?

We launched the Network for Arab Women in Diaspora (NAWD) during the first AWO conference in Bahrain in 2006 out of our desire to help Arab women abroad keep in touch with each others, therefore relieving them from the psychological pressure they face away from their homes. The NAWD also facilitates those women to exchange expertise and views and allows, at the same time, the generations born out of the Arab World to build bridge of communication with their Arab and Islamic culture.
Today, I'm extremely happy for the success of this civilisational initiative as the first phase was launched in February 2007. The second phase, which got underway between March to October 2008, saw the collection of data of more than 1000 Arab distinguished academic women in various countries of the world. The third phase was inaugurated at the second AWO conference on 11 November 2008 in Abu Dhabi. This phase will run up to November 2010 and will see direct electronic and telephonic communication with Arab migrant women. The fourth and final phase will feature the direct online dialogue by 2011.
The NAWD focuses its mandate in the three key goals:
*Build data base on Arab migrant professional women with the aim of telling young Arab generations inside the Arab World about their achievements.
*Inform researchers and decision-makers in mother lands about fields of specialisations and achievements and take them as channels of cultural contact with the communities they migrate to.
*Provide information services to the Arab women abroad.
The boom of the women movement and progress began when the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan assumed power in Abu Dhabi in 1966. He declared then that women constitute half of society and that it would not be possible for any society to realize its legitimate aspirations for progress and development when half of it is disabled and does not contribute to the process of building the country.
The achievements of UAE women surpassed those of women of many countries, thanks to Shaikh Zayed's support and sponsorship. Alongside men, and through taking active participation in the process of development and contribution to the various economic, social, cultural and political changes, UAE women shouldered their full responsibilities, based on equal rights and duties.
They also made many gains by virtue of becoming equal with men in many areas, namely the right to work, social security, ownership, running businesses and properties, education, health and social care as well as equal wages. The UAE became a co-signatory to all international conventions on protection of the rights of women and the promotion of their causes.
The role and status of UAE women was strengthened by the continued support of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan who issued many legislations and decisions which promote the rights of women, namely their participation in the executive, legislative and judicial authorities as well as in the decision making process.

The beginning of the third millennium was marked with 9 female parliamentarians, 4 female ministers, two female ambassadors, a female judge and one female marriage officer. This poses the question: what else? As part of your commitment to empower UAE women and to spare no effort to further advance their present and future status, what are the other additional successes that UAE women could add to their credit?

I would like first to express my gladness and satisfaction at seeing UAE women, in the new millennium, live their golden era, even ahead of women in developed countries. That is they received their full constitutional and political rights, thanks to the rapid response form the political leadership to our continuous efforts to further promote women's role on all areas after the launch in 2002 of the national strategy for the advancement of women.
The giant steps which UAE women made are true demonstration of the far-sightedness of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan who launched a programme to politically empower women. The said programme provided big opportunities for women to become decision makers and assume the highest positions in all areas.
UAE women proved that they are capable of giving and working at the positions they occupy. This allows them to make more gains and achievements on the local, Arab and global levels.

There are around 20 women's social, cultural and religious organizations led by the General Women's Union and the Family Development Organization.
How do you view the role of these organizations in general and that of the General Women's Union in particular, in supporting women? What are the most important items on their agendas?

The General Women's Union (GWU), which was established in August 27th 1975, will next August complete 34 year of diligent and continuous work in service to the causes of women, to realize their aspirations.
The GWU, which was supported by the Late Shaikh Zayed and Their Highnesses Members of the Supreme Federal Council and Rulers of the Emirates, have paved the way to the process of advancing the status of women and changing their situation, improving their lives and future.
Due to the limited space of the interview, I cannot give a full account of all the achievements of GWU. They are many and are recognized locally, regionally and globally and have won UAE women appreciation and honors from most Arab, regional and international relevant organizations.
The large number of existing women organizations today is one of the achievements of GWU and reflects the extent of expansion, participation and turnout at these organization which all work under the umbrella of the federation. In so doing, these organizations provide a boost to the message of GWU and its role in serving the causes of women.

What message would you like to get across to those who are in charge of the media concerning the way they deal with women's causes?

First, I would like to thank the male and female individuals who are in charge of the media. I would also like to express my personal appreciation for their continued efforts, giving and innovation in all areas of the media. I wish them all the best in their assignments.
As for tackling women's causes, I look forward to more interest, on the part of the media, namely televisions, in the vital issues that boosts the true image and role of women who are active and productive members of society, activate their contribution to all areas of national action as well as bolster their endeavors to enjoy their rights and emphasize their social status and highlight their presence and role in regional and international arenas.
I also look forward to media that would reflect our national identity, embody our values, authenticity and civilization as well as Arab and Muslim values of our society, avoid focusing on stereotypes of women but rather safeguard their dignity, focus on efforts to make their achievements on all levels more visible, removing obstacles that hamper the expansion of UAE women's participation and work in the media.

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