With the aim of cultivating Arab women leaders, the Dubai Women's Establishment (DWE) last week announced the first Arab Women's Leadership Forum 2009. The conference will take place in Dubai from January 13 to 14.
Forum officials
The event will be held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Shaikha Manal Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Ladies Club, President of the DWE and wife of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will lead the forum.
The event will bring together an elite group of female leaders in the Arab world, and will offer a blueprint for the future role of women in the region.
Mona Al Merri, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the DWE, Chairperson of the Dubai Press Club and General Secretary of the International Press Club said: "The forum's programme looks into relevant local and international best practices from which women can benefit and use as a bridge for accomplishing further milestones."
The event is themed 'Women and Leadership: Global Trends and Local Innovations' and aims to motivate younger women by spotlighting the achievements of select Arab women.
The event
Dr May Al Dabbagh, Research Fellow at the Dubai School of Government, will moderate the opening session on 'Women and Leadership Research: The State of the Art'.
The second session, 'Leadership Development: Universal Models and Culturally Specific Applications', will be moderated by Stavros Yiannouka, vice dean of executive education and development at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
Najla A Awadhi, deputy CEO of Dubai Media Incorporated and Member of the Federal National Council, will moderate the third session on 'Leadership and Organisational Change: Fostering Women's Leadership in Organisations'.
The final session will examine 'Approaches to Closing the Leadership Gender Gap'. Dr Iris Bohnet, faculty chair of the women and public policy programme and professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, will moderate the session.
Maitha Mohammad Hamdan Al Shamsi, Managing Director of DWE, will highlight DWE's goals and long-term ambitions on the first day.
The second day of the forum will include a series of workshops and breakout sessions. Led by Mona Al Merri and Shaikha Najla Mohammad Salem Al Qasimi, UAE Ambassador to Sweden, the segments will serve to motivate and highlight the DWE's strategies to an audience comprising Emirati students, professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Organisers said Shaikha Manal has instructed the forum's organising committee to allow young talents of Dubai to interact with key speakers and participants. A set of specialised workshops will involve students with an aim of developing their leadership skills; another workshop will help working women develop their leadership skills as executives.
Parallel to these activities, a focus group will join the DWE team and key women leaders and guests to discuss DWE's five-year multi-pronged strategy and its planned projects in the near future.
DWE aims
Last year the DWE announced its strategy to work towards enhancing women's participation not only in the country's economic, social and political advancement but also in the political decision-making process.
The DWE strategy works through five main aims. These are:
- laying down policies and developing women-related legislations;
- nurturing future women leaders;
- helping women maintain a balance between their professional and family lives;
- providing life-long opportunities for trainees as well as employed women;
- cultivating role models and celebrating the image of UAE women.
The DWE strategy is an outcome of nearly 18 months of research and analysis of data and statistics to determine the actual requirements for enhancing the capabilities of UAE women. The study led to the development of a well-prepared plan, setting the objectives, strategies and tools through which the establishment aims achieve its targets.
In its aim to play a pioneering role in promoting women's empowerment across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), DWE aims to launch a regional report that measures and evaluates the progress of women in the region. It also hopes to expand its activities to cover the Gulf region so as to become a vital resource of information related to the standing of women in the GCC.
