The Dubai Women Establishment recently launched the Arab Women Leadership Network, a new initiative that aims to fortify the role of women in society and help them reach leadership positions. Mona Al Marri, Chairperson of the DWE Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of Media Services Group, announced the new programme at the two-day Arab Women Leadership, concluded on Wednesday.
"We are still finalising this initiative and will be announcing further details in the near future," she said.
Addressing around 500 women from the UAE and the Arab world, she said: "Leadership may be a dream for women but they must, first and foremost, have the courage to lead."
Najla Al Qasimi, Emirati ambassador to Sweden and the first woman to ever become an ambassador in the UAE, discussed her personal experience as a diplomat on the final day of the conference. "Striving to accomplish more things in a better way pushes you further towards leadership," she said.
"Leadership is about honesty, communication, confidence, mental and emotional stability, flexibility and charisma. Establishing trust in the team you work with gives you the support to move ahead," she added.
She told female graduates to employ the knowledge they have gained in their fields to
tackle subjects that arise in their careers.
National female students from universities across the UAE gathered to interact with the speakers and train on leadership skills and challenges.
Panel discussions
The conference attracted renowned speakers to Dubai. Dr May Al Dabbagh, Director of the Gender and Public Policy Programme and Research Fellow at the Dubai School of Government, the knowledge partner of the forum, said that despite the dominant discourse that shows the Arab world as oppressive to women, there were several 'fantastically positive strides' that should keep women optimistic and critical.
She told Gulf News that more research is needed because knowledge production results in new solutions and innovation enables research to be translated into effective policy.
Dr Rohini Pande, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said that the Arab countries rate low in the number of female parliamentarians as the figure reaches almost ten per cent, compared to a relatively similar low representation of women worldwide, consisting of 20 per cent.
She said that women leaders have had a significant effect on policy in some countries. She told Gulf News that their political participation is one way they can bring about change because their vote matters.
Asya Al Lamki, Oman's Cultural Attache in Washington D.C., said that the bulk of research on the Arab world highlights the marginal role of women. "The aim is to increase the number of women in leadership positions and develop a transformational strategy with new perceptions of religion, gender and work cultures," she said.
"There are very few institutions in the Arab region that focus on gender studies and those institutes rarely communicate. University courses should stress on those issues and a research agenda must be established to advance the role of women," she added.
