Remm Mohammad Assad looks to engage more Saudi women in sport

Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s Reem Mohammad Assad, one of the region’s most influential figures for social change, is confident she can be a part of a changing world for women in the Middle East.

“Quietly, but surely more and more girls, especially in Saudi Arabia are engaging in various sport. The media is not too enthusiastic about these changes taking place, but that does not mean that these changes will not happen,” Assad told Gulf News from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

“My focus at the forum will be to show how we, especially in Saudi Arabia, lag behind in engaging our youth in proper and diversified sports and allied activities during those key formative years,” Assad added.

Currently the Western Region Manager, Investment Advisory and Sales at Saudi Fransi Capital, Assad shot into the limelight when her “Lingerie Campaign” gained international recognition, stirring many underlying issues about the lack of female employment in Saudi Arabia. By July 2012, her campaign paid off when the Labour Ministry banned men from working in lingerie shops, thus creating an estimated 44,000 jobs for women.

By her own words, Assad insists that her key objective is “to promote and raise financial awareness in Saudi Arabia and promote social and economic well-being to its people”.

“My focus in Dubai will pretty much be the same,” Assad insisted.

“I will be there next week to ensure that women have a voice and my first goal will be to connect sport and unemployment in the region. No doubt, unemployment is a universal issue but I will be there to convey the idea how the human capital sector needs a variety of investment while reaching our objectives towards society at large,” Assad said.

The Saudi thinker believes that the will of governments is necessary “to further engage our youth in sport so that unemployment can be better tackled at the grassroots level itself”.

“Sports is a huge income generator and the two worlds of unemployment and sports are inter-dependent. Team spirit is a vital aspect in sports and this can be enhanced into the world of economics and society as a whole,” she added.

Assad will be involved on both days of the Peace and Sport Forum. She will be part of the panel discussion on “Stakeholders” role in coherence and communication between all partners involved on the first day while on the second day, she will join Mohammad Ouzzine, Morocco’s Minister of Youth, Dr. Hamad Shaikh Ahmad Al Shaibani, President, Mohammad Bin Rashid Award for International Peace and Morocco’s Olympic champion Hesham Al Guerrouj in a panel discussion on “Everyone on the Field”.

“There are several sides to this forum. There is the social side, the spiritual side and the economic side. But my focus will most definitely be the aspect of unemployment and how we can use sports as a common factor in working towards societal growth.”