Ananke | Celebrating Visionary Women

ANANKE SPECIAL EDITION

Vol I March 2016

Celebrating Visionary

Women

CONTENTS 22

20

17

4 8 10 14 17

My Word!

20

Interview: Brandstr: Enabling Influence

24

Article: Empowering the girl child through tech

27

Interview: Integrating Diversity into STEM

30 32

Interview: Disrupting the status quo

34

Interview: Mai Temraz Stirring all inclusive

37 41 43 45 47 51 53 56

Interview: Innovate to Empower: Athar Osama

Interview: LouLou Khazen Baz NABBESH Interview: WAKE Transforming Article: Pakistani Woman: Driving Economy

Article: Emancipating the Arab Woman Economically

Article: Women in Gaza: Promise & Roadblocks

Interview: Maria Umar WDL

6 8

Interview: Women Engineers Pakistan

Interview: Marion Nestle Interview: Fueling Innovation Interview: Smashing the glassceilinsgs Interview: Unlocking possiblities for women in STEM

Article: STEM needs WOMEN

10

130

74

106 60 Women in Space 64 Article: Education & women in Crisis 68 Interview: Education & Practise 71 Interview: Learnactive 73 Interview: HNI Training 76 Article: Women Engendering Peace The trade of gendered 79 Article: vulnerabilities 83 Article: Seeing poverty in the mirror Commodifying women through 87 Article: time 90 Article: Domestic Labour On accepting violence against 92 Article: women 96 Article: Enroute to public transit safety 99 Article: Beauty is no filler 103 Article: Glass Cliff Women unemployment in the 108 Report: Middle East 112 113

120

Interview: Illustrating Aspiration

116 Interview: Laura Voda 122 Interview: Aicha Chenna 125 Interview: ASEM 128 Interview: Desire Vlekken Women Engendering 132 Article: Media 134 Interview: TI22 Films Article: Women journalists 136 un-silent voices in the Middle East 138 Interview: 140 Interview: Purva Grover 144 Interview: Travel Ink 148 Sabin Muzaffar Executive Editor 149 CLAIRE DANGALAN Features Editor 150 Haytham Hassan Graphic Designer 151 Maha Tazi PR Manager

Article: In search of entrepreneurial diversity in Pakistan

152

Spellbound: making waves

Maram Moghannam El-bawwab

Ananke‘s Design Competition winner

ANANKE Executive Editor Sabin Muzaffar Features Editor Claire Dangalan Features Writer Maha Tazi Digital Director/UI/UX Specialist Consultant Mohammad Sajid Creative Design Lead Haytham Hassan Contributor Najamul Hassan Ata Nargis Khurram TREEHOUSE MEDIA SERVICES Al Rania Business Center Al Barsha, Dubai P.O Box 125344 For Advertising & Sponsor: media@anankemag.com For Information: contact@anankemag.com For Letters to the Editor: sabin@anankemag.com Web: www.anankemag.com

My Word!

It is an absolute pleasure to mark the International Day of Women on March 8th, 2016, with the launch of Ananke's Special Edition. It is a compilation of our year-long efforts to not only showcase visionary women as role models across the MENA and beyond, but to digitally record their incredible achievements, undocumented at this scale previously. We are on a mission to create a platform for meaningful dialogue on issues including gender inequality, inclusion and diversity as well as globally important subjects of STEM, health, education and climate change.

Here at Ananke, we staunchly believe in triggering impactful debates on topics critical to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and renew our pledge to forge ahead in the name of equality, peace and prosperity.

Sabin Muzaffar Ananke is a non-profit digital publication celebrating visionary women across the globe

Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity & Inclusion 8

Nabbing Opportunities Founder of NABBESH Chief Owl Loulou Khazen talks to ANANKE about starting a marketplace that addresses the region's job creation woes by introducing the concept of “virtual” and “freelance work.”

Two years ago, while performing my daily ritual, which is basically skimming through my Facebook newsfeed, I came across an advert. A cute little owl staring right back at me with a magnifying glass on his left eye and a message that read “freelancing opportunities.” This is how I came across Nabbesh. com – the Middle East's highly popular virtual skills marketplace established in 2012. At the helm of this ship is an awe-inspiring woman, Loulou Khazen, whose dynamism has led this platform to regionally become the go-to place for getting real jobs.

Quite eager to hear the trailblazer talk about her enterprise and the journey, I waited with bated breath to give Loulou a call on the stipulated time. Gracious as anticipated, I was greeted with a warm, friendly voice on the other end.

After the routine civilities, we went right down to business.

Talking about Nabbesh.com, Loulou began, “It's a marketplace where fast growing companies can find, hire, manage and pay screened and curated top talent from the region. Our vision is to power the local economies through work. We want to become the trusted partner for

local companies when it comes to any outsourcing needs.”

Having worked for a number of prestigious companies and boasting in-depth knowledge pertaining to financial services, marketing and start-ups, Loulou had decided early on to start a business which was socially conscious. “It was very important for me to give back to this region and help empower people one way or another,” she said.

One of the company's earlier achievements was winning the top slot at the entrepreneur competition show organized by DU. “It was obviously a very big milestone for Nabbesh.com because we were still at an early stage of business. This gave us a lot of media attention and people started exploring and using our services, etc. We have had many celebrations along the way,” said Loulou.

Fully comprehending the significant challenges of employment and job security, the founder realized the immense potential the virtual world promised.

“Regionally speaking, MENA has around 250 million people online representing a penetration rate of nearly 49%, and it's growing! And what better way to help the region's skilled talent than by offering them job opportunities? More importantly, Nabbesh.com is also a platform that empowers people, especially women, to become financially independent through the use of their skills,” she explained.

There are many challenges for entrepreneurs while starting afresh – from finding the perfect team to the nitty-gritty of business. “As far as the UAE is concerned, yes, money is a challenge especially when setting up an office because it is expensive.

But these are challenges one has to face anywhere in the world.

I think there is a very big drive to promote entrepreneurship in the UAE and across the Arab world. Specifically speaking, it is actually more advantageous for women entrepreneurs as the government vehemently encourages our active participation. There are many people who want women to take the lead and break the stereotype,” opined Loulou. Adding, she said: “Women can contribute massively to the economic activity of the country. Research shows

Achievements have been numerous for the freelance marketplace from currently possessing more than 83,000 Nabbeshers to facilitating over 11,000 jobs in a very short span of time.

how women can greatly impact the GDP. Even though women represent 50 percent of the population, the MENA region has one of the lowest women labor force participation in the world.

There is a huge untapped pool of talent currently not contributing to the economy.”

Connecting all the dots through the highly facilitating Nabbesh. com, the founder aims to help (women especially) get jobs.

“It's all about bringing the job to you versus taking you to the job.

And you can work around your schedule, your home, etc. I think women are slightly intimidated when it comes to finding a job or if they have to go on a hiatus for personal reasons. Nabbesh. com is a great platform that helps women reintegrate into the workforce by helping them out through smaller projects, and thereby earning an income. As a result, it also boosts their confidence tremendously,” she said.

Envisioning a very bright future ahead for Nabbesh.com, its founder desires the company to become the only go-to marketplace for companies and individuals alike to find expert talent from the region and beyond.

With unique and transparent payment services offered, similar to an escrow account that actually empowers freelancers by securing timely payments, the vision is most certainly not farfetched.

A socially conscious initiative powered by transparency, Nabbesh.com has, indeed, provided a great platform especially for women in the region who are looking for not only an alternative means of employment but a way to be more productive, use-

Winners of the design and essay competitions, organised

by Ananke, will be officially inducted inNabbesh's verified list of top freelancers.

ful and, therefore, happier.

“We have more than 35,000 women Nabbeshers – a platform perfect for everyone,” concluded

“

9 Diversity & Inclusion

NOTE: Staunchly believing in equal opportunity, Nabbesh.com encourages women to become freelancers through its platform – MENA region biggest marketplace for virtual/freelance work.

Nabbesh's chief owl.

“It is a matter of immense pride to hear women from countries like Palestine availing of opportunities through Nabbesh.com.”

Regionally speaking, MENA has around 250 million people online representing a penetration rate of nearly 49%, and it’s growing!

And what better way to help the region’s skilled talent than by offering them job opportunities?

More importantly, Nabbesh.com is also a platform that empowers people, especially women, to become financially independent through the use of their skills

”

Diversity & Inclusion 10 Launched in January 2015, WAKE is a groundbreaking US-based initiative which aims to ‘mobilize allies for social and economic empowerment' for the female gender globally.

Headed by Trish Tierney and Heather Ramsey, the entity primarily addresses issues such as women's access to education or proper training, gender-based violence, health and socio-political issues, etc.

Connecting Women Transforming Lives

“WAKE stands for Women's Alliance for Knowledge Exchange.

It is a non-profit organization which we founded in January 2015.It is actually an extension of what Heather Ramsey and I have been doing for the last 15 years. The two of us have worked together on a number of women in STEM programs that focus mainly on all elements of technology including training and mentorship,” reveals Trish Tierney.

While providing access to training and resources, especially focused on technology, to women globally, WAKEalso strives to create strong support networking groups, thereby empowering women within their own commu-

nities. “What we have come to believe through our work is that women in different communities already know what is needed in the environment they live in.

They really don't need people coming from outside telling them what they should do as they are already working actively for theircommunities.What they do lack is access to and familiarity with technology and mentors which, taken together, can reallyamplify their work. This is where WAKE comes in. We invest in organizations, linking them to mentors, technology, trainings and resources. This, in turn, helps women already involved in socio-economic activities become productive on a greater scale,” says Trish.

Acknowledging the critical role of technology in the 21st century, Trish strongly believes it makes lives easier, particularly for women. “The possibilities of technology helping women are endless. But first, women have to understand what it is essentially all about; because in today's world, if you don't know that, you will get stuck. It is equally important to recognize the positive impact of women in STEM on global women's rights by providing access to technology and equipping the female gender with tech skills that will help them improve their world, not just in terms of technology but also education, health, society and so on. Technology is knowledge. And if you get that, the possibilities are limitless.”

The initiative has had great response so far withWAKE instigating a stellar network of women belonging to different

11 Diversity & Inclusion careersto come together and do something for the good of society.

“Our partners include women belonging to different industries both in the US as well as in other countries. People are very excited to see what we can do,so it's a good start.Our primary focus is tech utilization for good. In this day and age, if you are not familiar with technology you become inefficient, so there is a lot of emphasis on helping women build that essential knowledge.

What is interesting to know is that there are lots of women especially in the STEM fields who are eager to help, but they are either too busy with their careers or do not know how to connect with such people to help. So we

want to make that connection,” she says.

Indeed, a sustainable society – built on social justice and productive communities – isonly possible by creating a globalconnection between women, and linking them with technology and the right resources.

Tracing her footsteps and looking back, Trish concludes,“Personally, I think my greatest achievement has been my contribution to connecting women leaders with females around the world and building a global network. Through these connections, you realize women's struggles on a day-to-day basis.

It is through networking that we can help each other.”

“

The possibilities of technology helping women are endless. But first, women have to understand what it is essentially all about

”

Diversity & Inclusion 12

13 Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity & Inclusion 14

Pakistani Women: Driving Economy ?

Sabin Muzaffar questions the role of women in Pakistan's economy & how ICTs can foster development.

The critical role of technology in the economic development of any country cannot be emphasized enough. Far-reaching in its scope and utility, the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) fosters education, entrepreneurship, social impact and, therefore, leads to long-term human development. ‬‬‬ Embracing technology especially in underdeveloped and developing nations like Pakistan can potentially lead to prosperity as it not only channels enterprise towards economic emancipation, it is a tool that has the potential to organically integrate gender inclusiveness in the economic mechanism of a country. ‬‬ Pakistan is reputably one of the

most notorious countries in the world when it comes to terrorism, inter-state ethno-religious conflicts and a flagging economy. That said, it is also one that has, in fact, produced some of the brightest minds – both men and women – into the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Irrespective of the state of chaos in Pakistan, there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Sustainable growth can become a reality if instigated from the grassroots level.

The 21st century is abuzz with notions of integrating women in the global economic mechanism. With the inclusion of a billion women into the workforce globally in the next decade, the

female gender is hard to ignore.

Bringing this perspective to the national front, the importance of including women into the conversation – especially in STEM fields – in not only critical, it can in fact be considered life-saving.

Analysts believe countries marginalizing women are those inundated with issues of terror and conflict. Pakistan is a country replete with years of conflict, making it difficult for foreign investment as well as entrepreneurship to take root. In order to move forward, the need of the hour is to diversify, educate and then mobilize human resources including women. Until women play a participatory role and engage in national as well as economic discussions, in decision-making positions, positive

15 Diversity & Inclusion change will be next to impossible.

Education across the board for both men and women is a fundamental pillar for creating knowledge-based societies – a notion conspicuously absent from patriarchal societies and derailed economies.

According to an article titled “Gender as a social determinant of health: evidence, policies, and innovation” written by Gita Sen, and according to Piroska Ostlin in her “The Women, Gender & Development Reader”, “Barriers to education of girls include negative perception about women that devalue their capabilities, strong beliefs about the division of labour that places inequitable burdens on females, gender-biased beliefs about the value of educating girls and the curricula that as seen as inappropriate for girls.”

Talking about the state of education in Pakistan, the late social activist Sabeen Mahmud told Ananke during what is perhaps one of her last interviews, “There are so many societal factors at play. It is already understood that more men will pursue careers in engineering and technology than women. Having said that, there is also more awareness today than there has ever been.

Yes, definitely, work needs to be done at the grassroots level for any issue to have advocacy and activism. I think it's important to fully understand the complexity of the issue. People will generally say our problem is education.

If we had education things could be a lot better. But fact is there are more issues at play: class issues, poverty etc., so you can't

really look at things in isolation.

I think understanding that this is a grave systemic issue that has all kinds of problems rising from it. And it all really boils down to who will take up the responsibility and work on it. There are people who can make a difference on individual level as well.

People just want solutions without trying to understand what the problems are.”

Adding she said, “We should also look at issues stemming from societal pressures. The ground reality is that women have great-

“

Embracing technology especially in underdeveloped and developing nations like Pakistan can potentially lead to prosperity as it not only channels enterprise towards economic emancipation, it is a tool that has the potential to organically integrate gender inclusiveness in the economic mechanism of a country.

”

er pressure to get married. There are very defined gender roles that women have to take care of such as the household and family. Even progressive families who agree to let women work, expect them to ensure that the household is running smoothly.

So there are tiers of expectations. So in order to see women grow professionally, it is crucial to have the family onboard.”

In a 2012 report by Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITES (P@SHA), it was revealed that “Women constitute

around 49 percent of the total population of Pakistan. However, their participation in the overall labour force of the country remains low. This is due, in part, to their marginalization within public, private and professional spheres based on factors such as age, marital status, number of children, level of education achieved, household economic status, patriarchal family structures, customs and traditions in the areas where they reside.

Due to this marginalization and resultant low levels of economic participation, women in Pakistan represent only 14percent of the total labor force according to the 1999-2000 Labor Force survey.

Compared to other countries in South Asia, such as Bangladesh (42 percent), Nepal (41 percent), India (32 percent), Bhutan (32 percent) and Sri Lanka (37 percent), the proportion of women in the workforce in Pakistan is the lowest. Further, according to the South Asia Research Program's report ‘Women and Paid Work in Pakistan' the proportion of women in white collar jobs in non-traditional areas such as engineering, banking and law remains significantly low.”

The hurdles in the way to prosperity in Pakistan are many. Patriarchal norms and traditions become major hindrances when it comes to women actually going out to work. More specifically, sectors which were traditionally male dominated have very low participation of women. This can be attributed to a number of reasons: from familial issues to the simple logistics of travelling and staying late in the office in a country overwhelmed with security issues.

“There are many other issues especially in the city of Kara-

Diversity & Inclusion 16 chi where people are scared to drive alone. So there are logistical issues which are hampering progress as far as Pakistani women in STEM are concerned,” Sabeen had remarked.

same time have a business and remain productive professionally. It is not necessary to go out of the house to work, now you can do it remotely in the comfort of your home.”

Adding, she said, “It is important to acknowledge the fact that the Internet has played a remarkable role in empowering people with 75 percent mobile penetration which how it has created such an impact. Given the tragic situation of Pakistani politics, people are actually fed up with all that and are now looking at way of making a difference on an individual level. This change has also seen a rise in homebased businesses. Women especially are beginning to think that they can do this: stay at home, take care of the family and at the

Agreeing with Sabeen, Yasmin Malik, ‪Visiting Lecturer at Institute of Business Administration Pakistan & Freelance Telecoms Analyst‬, opined, “I don't have a figure for it, but generally the percentage of women in STEM fields is low – although there are more women and girls in the area of Computer Science.

At IBA, for example, we have at least a 35 percent female intake for our BSc in Computer Science program. In the field of medicine, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has abolished the merit-based admission

policy for medical colleges and for admission in 2014-2015 has instead reserved 50 percent seats for boys and 50 percent for girls. The prevailing trend till 2014 for applications to medical colleges in Pakistan was over 70 percent women – hence, the new policy will forcibly cut back the women intake by 20 percent. The PMDC argues that its decision was based on, to quote ‘the growing trend among girls of acquiring medical education, coupled with their tendency to leave the profession after having done so or not joining it at all.' Hence cultural biases and norms mean that even though a reasonable number of girls acquire STEM-based education in Pakistan, many of them do not or are not able to practice after graduating.”‬‬‬‬ ‬ Economic emancipation can become a reality with Pakistani women potentially making headway in STEM fields only if, as Sabeen suggested, key questions and issues creating roadblocks are ascertained and people take responsibility for finding solutions. A general consensus for women participation has to be reached by all stakeholders – from the family to movers and shakers of the corporate world – for Pakistan to progress.

True education and training are stepping stones towards growth, but constantly gnawing issues such as the real participation of women can only be solved by not only utilizing ICTs as empowering tools of development, but also engaging the opposite sex in decision-making and leadership roles for gender diversity is vital to innovation and, therefore, lasting prosperity.

17 Diversity & Inclusion

Emancipating the Arab

Woman Economically Sabin Muzaffar explore issues curtailing progress of the Arab women.

The importance of women participation in economic activities globally, regionally and nationally cannot be emphasized enough. Not only do women represent half of the population of the world, but their inclusion also signifies a balanced economic approach leading towards sustainability and growth.

women possessing jobs. While Syrian girls as young as twelve are getting married off in refugee camps, Reuters report stated Sudanese girls could marry from the tender age of ten. In addition to this, the same report showed that despite a 93 percent literacy rate, only 17 percent of Palestinian women are employed.

There is much to be desired when it comes to women in the Arab world. Key findings in a 2013 report by Reuters cast a dismal shadow over the MENA region, with 63 percent of Egyptian women being illiterate and a mere 14.5 percent of Iraqi

That said, positive change was already set in motion with the occurrence of the Arab Spring, which was not actually a gender-based revolution; but it became a turning point for the cause of women across the Middle East and Levant region. Al-

though experts believe old regimes used “gender stereotypes to delegitimize� the uprising, women's equality with men did become an issue to be fought over.

Many progressive nations such as the United Arab Emirates have made great strides when it comes to not only reforming policies to include a gender-sensitive perspective, but have also pledged allegiance to the recently launched UN Sustainable Millennium Goals to be attained by 2030.

According to an article pub-

Diversity & Inclusion 18 lished on the UAE Embassy website: “Significantly, Emirati women account for 71.6 percent of students in government tertiary-level institutions and for 50.1 percent of students in private higher education. The 2007 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) status report on Millennium Development Goals recognized the positive outcome of the UAE's target-oriented policies in a number of areas, including women's empowerment. It particularly noted that the state legislations in the UAE do not discriminate on the basis of gender with respect to education, employment or the quality of services provided.”

In a recent conference titled “Power Women of Arabia Debate” held in Dubai, UAE, President Dubai Business Women Council and Managing Director asa Saleh Al Gurg Group LLC (ESAG), Raja Easa Al Gurg remarked that the UAE has progressed significantly as far as education is concerned. There has also been a marked increase in women's participation in the skilled labor force especially in the SME sector where half of which employs women. Quoting the late President of the UAE, H.H Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan that nothing should hinder a woman's progress, she reaffirmed the country's stance in upholding one common goal of leveraging a platform that showcases women's voices.

Talking about the country's economic growth and setting the record straight as far as cultural barriers were concerned, Mrs. Raja Easa Al Gurg opined that women face no cultural barriers

when it comes to their participation in the economic activities of the country. She further said that this misconception about not being able to work because of how Arab or Muslim women dressed was only being propagated by certain members of the international media, and reiterated the UAE leadership's firm conviction about women empowerment's being critical for progress.

Agreeing with Mrs. Raja Easa, H.E Sheikha Al Zain Sabah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs in Kuwait,

“

Many progressive nations such as the United Arab Emirates have made great strides when it comes to not only reforming policies to include a geder-sensitive perspective, but have also pledged allegiance to the recently launched UN Sustainable Millennium Goals to be attained by 2030.

”

spoke about her country's standpoint on gender mainstreaming.

She says, “Gender is not an issue in Kuwait but is rather misconceived by the West. There are no cultural barriers, and we use gender to empower our society. Now, women are leaving micro-businesses and venturing out into knowledge-based sectors. In fact, women in the Arab world are more involved

in knowledge-based industries than perhaps in the US.” Adding, she comments, “I don't know a powerful man who didn't have a powerful woman behind him.”

According to a recently concluded AT Kearney survey report also titled “Power Women of Arabia” unveiled during the conference: “In the Middle East, there are clear opportunities to further drive gender equality through increased participation in the workforce and increasing women in leadership roles…

Over half of the women in the GCC consider to have the same career opportunities as men. 60 percent of GCC companies include gender diversity in their strategic agenda and the majority translate it into women empowerment programs. While 85 percent of women consider women to make as good leaders as men, 65 percent of men consider women to make as good leaders as men.” Unfortunately, though, less than 2 percent of board of director seats are held by women versus S&P500 companies in the GCC. The World Bank Gender report stated that by 2013, 66 percent of women in Bahrain, 52 percent in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 67 percent in Kuwait, 59 percent in Oman, 88 percent in Qatar and 76 percent in the UAE would be enrolled in tertiary education.

Furthermore, about 25 percent of GCC companies employ less than five percent women, while none employ more than 35 percent.

It is certainly not untrue to claim that the road to economic emancipation as well as empowering

19 Diversity & Inclusion women and, therefore, society as whole, begins with restructuring the education system, not only on a regional but on a global level. The current curricula especially in this part of the world, from Morocco to some countries in Southeast Asia, need to create a framework that encourages diversity and embrace failure as a part of learning and growth, opening up new possibilities.

Moreover, it is critical to re-align education with the trends of the modern world and, most importantly, globalization.

On a professional level, more incubators for women-led entities need to be encouraged as well as supported by all stakeholders from the public as well as the private sector.

Good news is that there are several entities that are, in fact, striving to create social impact through the business of Women's Economic Emancipation (WEE).

A WAMDA report showcased 12 entities with an aim to empower women in the Middle East and Asia including Qatar's Roudha Center, Pakistan's Women's Digital League, Saudi Arabia's Glowork, Beirut-based Women In Technology, Artistry Egypt, etc.

While it is critical to re-strategize the educational model so as not to put women and their creativity in small boxes, it is equally important (or even more so) to include men in the conversation about equality and gender mainstreaming. Without their participation, the patriarchal system and its negative offshoots will be

impossible to weed out. It is high time to raise awareness about the need to tap into the pent-up capacity of women among men as the former do make up 50 percent of the population even in the Arab world.

Yet another way to respond to issues of WEE and gender parity is to enact laws and policies intended to empower women and pave the way for a just, balanced and equitable society.

This is by no means an easy task but is certainly one that can be achieved through proactive and collaborative citizen engagement.

Indeed, there is so much more to be done.

Taking stock of the situation across the MENA region, it is obvious that there is a long way ahead. Positive changes in the plight of women as well as regional and national economics begins with identifying key areas that need redress starting from

realigning gender perceptions right from the home, introducing attitudinal education to curb and combat social inhibitors that disempower women and prevent female participation in decision-making on government, corporate, financial, socio-political and legislative levels.

It is also important to explore new opportunities where women need to be included as well as reintegrated into the skilled labor force through flexible and diversity-centric policies, thereby creating an invigorating, empowering environment.

Last but certainly not the least, gender stereotypes and traditional masculine concepts of leadership need to be dealt with effectively without simply making women leaders into their male counterparts, but also creating social change-makers. It is only by realizing these key areas of change can we attain a cohesive society and achieve the Sustainable Millennium Goals.

Diversity & Inclusion 20

Brandstr: Enabling Influence Creating history lessons for IT generations of tomorrow, Brandstr is an innovative company enabling businesses to create inimitable brands online. Company CEO Simon Hudson, and Business Development Director Helen Al Uzaizi talk tech and the role men can play in integrating women in technology.

Tell us about Brndstr - when was it launched and what was the idea behind it?

Helen: Brndstr was born to help brands turn their existing social networks into brand ambassadors. Rather than a brand market themselves, by allowing their audience to do it for them in return for a reward, they are able to spread the message to a wider audience in an easier way.

Comment on the Middle East’s social media landscape and, by extension, the UAE. Helen: Following on what Simon said, in general, the Middle East and the UAE in particular have been slower in holistically integrating social media into marketing strategies, more specifically when it comes to new tools available that would enhance brand engagement.

Simon: The Middle East and, in particular, the UAE has, in the past, been slow to adopt global trends. With such focus on a building smart cities and a digital way of life, Brndstr's job is to help educate brands to get the most out of social networks.

How, in your opinion, can women in the Middle East leverage technology to further their economic roles?

21 Diversity & Inclusion Helen: Traditionally, views have been that the technological industry is a man's world, but more and more women are taking on leadership roles both in the MENA region and globally.

There is value in the different perspectives and working styles that the industry can and does benefit from.

Simon: I believe women are well-positioned to help take technology to a new level. Women look at things differently than men, and are generally better at thinking logically and planning ahead. With social media being about having the right strategies and roadmaps in place to best execute a campaign, women's roles will continue to be valuable.

Do you think being a woman makes it easy (or hard) as far as doing business is concerned, or do you think businesses and enterprises are gender-neutral?

Helen: I have never felt that being a woman has been a hurdle (or advantage) throughout my career. I think that with the right level of professionalism and industry knowledge, it really doesn't matter what your gender is. I believe that when people stop using gender as an excuse, only then can they realize their true potential.

Do you think technology leads to empowerment?

How? Simon: I don't believe it leads to empowerment. Technology gives people a voice to be able to express themselves - from this, many things can happen.

How can STEM education or careers in the tech sector empower women in the Arab world?

Helen: I believe that continuing education, development and the learning process, no matter what the industry, is empowering. I don't believe that it is sector-specific, but as the tech industry grows and becomes more fundamental in everyday life, there is going to be a natural inclination towards the sector.

What role can men play in women’s integration in the (skilled/tech based) workforce, and how effective would that be?

“

I believe women are well-positioned to help take technology to a new level.

Women look at things differently than men, and are generally better at thinking logically and planning ahead. With social media being about having the right strategies and roadmaps in place to best execute a campaign, women’s roles will continue to be valuable.

”

Simon: In order for men to help women become part of the tech world, in my opinion, they need to understand their strengths and integrate them into the business.

In areas such as engineering and coding which, in the past, have been mainly dominated by men, learning sessions and helping women to understand will benefit everyone.

How can entities such as Brndstr empower women?

Helen: We work into the business week opportunities and team-building events to help bring the team together as one, and learn from other members.

As a service, Brndstr offers tools with no barriers to entry, and helps brands educate their audience to do similar things.

What has been your biggest achievement as far as the company is concerned?

Helen: Building a business, from the ground up, that now employs ten staff and services 30+ brands across five countries.

Women in STEM

Women in STEM 24

Empowering the girl

child through tech Today an estimated 122 million youth are illiterate globally, out of which 60.7 percent are young women according to a UNESCO report. More than 1.3 billion people live in abject poverty, and then there is also the currently devastating refugee situation the world over from Syria to Burma, among the numerous issues afflicting mankind. All have inextricable links to poor health, malnutrition and, of course, different forms of violence.

In September 2000, one of the largest gatherings of world leaders met and adopted the groundbreaking UN Millennium Declaration with a commitment to forge international partnerships to reduce extreme poverty and other set of targets known as the Millennium Goals, having a deadline in 2015.

The year 2012 saw the emer-

gence of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), replacing the Millennium Goals once those expired in 2015. These were formally discussed at the United Nations Conference held in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20).

According to the SDG's preamble: “The Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to

strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. We are re-

25 Women in STEM solved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps, which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.

As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.”

Sustainable development is only possible through the participation of each and every member of society – this includes not only adult men and women, but also children, and particularly the girl child. Women hold the key to a just and equitable society not only because their inclusion leads to sustainable development, but also because by being primary caregivers, they form the backbone of communities.

Former Sustainable Development Advisor of the Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) Candice Stevens writes in “Are women the key to sustainable development?” an insightful paper published by the Boston University, “Gender inequalities are extracting high economic costs and leading to social inequities and environmental degradation around the world.”

In a joint program titled, “Empowering Adolescent Girls and Young Women through Education” by UNESCO, UN Women, UNFPA and World Bank, it was stated that “Societies pay a high price when girls and women are deprived of their right to education: the persistence of chronic poverty, high child and maternal mortality, poor nutrition, early marriage, vulnerability to exploitation and lack of voice in public life. At the same time,

we know that girls' and women's education yields quantum development gains for all, including improved family health and education, decent jobs, higher incomes and greater civic participation– in short a life of dignity and more inclusive societies.”

Empowerment on an individual level, and on national and global scales will only be a fleeting “impulse” if stakeholders – policy makers, educators, technologists and most importantly parents – fail to become change-makers.

To reiterate, women are margin-

“

I have always dreamt of running my own set of ventures. But in order to do that one needs to go through the process of learning and attaining the right skill-set and knowhow

”

alized primarily due to poverty which is also the root cause of illiteracy and poor health. In order to break this vicious circle, an enabling environment is critical to equip and arm women through training and education, subsequently enabling them to combat systemic issues.

Educating girls means instigating a positive ripple effect from delay in marriage to childbearing, raised awareness about health issues and consequently increased earning power. This invariably leads to the economic empowerment of the individual, family and, therefore, the soci-

ety.

Aligning technology with education In this day and age of technological boom, the digital landscape can play a pivotal role in improving the plight of women and disrupting the dismal status quo. Technology, particularly civic applications, hold the power to liberate women – old and young.

Resident Director Aurat Foundation Pakistan, writer and activist, Mahnaz Rahman opines, “Since the last two decades, while talking about globalization, there has been an ongoing discussion on empowering citizens through technology. I strongly believe that scientific and technological progress will resolve women issues. Presently, women are prisoners of their own wombs and biology rules a women's destiny. Feminists have been struggling to change such notions. As they say birth control pills were a revolution for women, now DNA test helps girls/women get rapists behind bar. Technology helps us in every way.”

Founder of the Pakistan Innovation Foundation, Athar Osama, comments, “Technology and innovation can play an important role in supporting several Sustainable Development Goals relevant to girls and women, especially in a conservative society like ours. Girls are more likely to attend or continue attending school if the school was within their own village than if it is in the next village or beyond. Security and access to safe transport are key here. Not only could e-learning provide access to education in the safe environment of their village or even home, technology could also enhance

Women in STEM 26 safety while travelling. We have done several innovation challenges including the ilmApps Challenge and Women's Transport Challenge to find creative ways to address these issues.”

According to Chilean President and former Executive Director, UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, “Information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent a significant opportunity for advancing gender equality, women's empowerment and equitable development. ICTs and access to the Internet provide basic infrastructure for the 21st century and a set of tools that, when appropriately used, can offer benefits for women in all spheres of life. Given the convergence with traditional media, they also offer a mechanism for combatting pervasive gender stereotypes that continue to hold back progress for gender equality everywhere.”

Harnessing the power of mobility Mobile use has increased manifold over the past one decade all over the world. Populous continents such as Africa and Asia have begun reaping the benefits of being connected and using smartphone technology.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been the fastest growing region in terms of mobile penetration in terms of unique subscribers and connections. According to a GSMA report on Mobile Economy Africa 2014, “by June 2014, there were 329 million unique subscribers, equivalent to a penetration rate of 38 percent.”

Studies show mobile broadband subscriptions have increased making it the most dynamic ICT market as per an ITU report.

And with companies like Mozilla announcing plans to bring lowcost smart phones to developing countries, it opens doors to a wealth of opportunities of empowerment and emancipation.

An important tool for communication, the power of mobility as well as smart phone technology can be harnessed to educate the masses in under-developed as well as developing countries.

Although women are approximately 21 percent less likely to own a mobile phone than a man, this scenario is rapidly changing.

In an earlier discussion with Ananke, TechWoman Zimbabwe's President Rumbidzai Mlambo remarked, “Technology is critical to empowering society through women. Possessing a primary role as caregivers, women have firsthand knowledge of issues such as health and nutrition that her family suffers. So when you train a girl to code, she will invariably create a civic apps based on her own

experiences and that of her community.”

There is a dire need to re-align education, especially tech learning in order to make it more inclusive. The importance of an encouraging environment at home and school cannot be emphasized enough. Equally important is easy to access education and, specifically, the curricula being followed at schools. Introduce tech-based extracurricular activities and incentivize girls to join in – be it coursework credits, certificates and/or rewards.

Tech companies as well as incubators can also play a leading role in developing a talent pool of future technologists by launching stimulating virtual/remote, at-school summer programs.

Alleviating deeply entrenched issues on a global scale requires going back to the basics. Engage girls early on, share the tools of economic emancipation, that is, education and technology, and witness the makings of an equitable civic society!

27 Women in STEM

Integrating diversity into STEM President of the Society of Women Engineers, Silicon Valley USA, Claudia Galvan talks to ANANKE about empowering women through STEM Increasing women'sparticipation in the STEM fields has become a buzzword in recent times. With technology playing a key role in modern society, the inclusion of the female gender into the skilled workforce has gained more traction over the past several years.

The social media boom and developments in ICTs have clearly illustrated the pivotal role of diversity in the sustainable progress of any country. While Africa, which was once deemed a “hopeless continent” by various analysts,has seen its economies stimulated by foreign investment, the Arab world has witnessed a tremendous upsurge of women entrepreneurs, technologists and what-have-you – all thanks to the advancements made in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM fields), in addition to the penetration of smartphone technology and ICTs. Interestingly,women in the MENA region have a greater ratio of participation in the STEM sector compared to those living in America, Canada, UK and Australia.

Striving to create a long-term impact on the local as well as the global community, the president of the Society of Women Engineers – Silicon Valley, Claudia Galvan, agrees,“As a part of the Tech Woman program, I have had the privilege of meetinga lot of African women entrepreneurs

and technologists. I was actually surprised to see so many women apply, and amazed to see how extremely qualified they were. I am not from this region but through this initiative, I have been able to see so much potential that exists in women in this region.”

Adding, she says, “It is very interesting to see the number of women in STEM from around the world. We would like to think that there are more women in STEM in countries like the US, UK, Canada and Australia because most of the development takes place in those countries.

But that is certainlynot the case.

Women are actually opting out very early on. Women in other countries like those in the Middle East and India, and the rest of Asia, in general, are actually choosing to opt for STEM fields, which is very encouraging. Of

“

It is vital to provide girls with a positive environment early on at home. They should have an opportunity to try out and explore how things work in a safe, healthy environment

”

course, there is room for more research to determine cultural and social conditionsthat provide an enabling environment, encouraging women to opt for STEM fields.”

Contrary to common belief, choosing a career in STEM poses many obstacles, arising not at the workplace but actually from home and, consequently,in school. From early childhood, girlsare conditioned to act, play and explore their surroundings in a certain “socially correct” fashion. From the glittering tiaras to the saccharine pink Barbie dolls, girls are subtly conditioned into predetermined, often archaic gender roles, influenced by “sexualized” media exposure and heavy peer pressure.

Talking about encouraging women to pursue the STEM fields, Claudia says, “We must certainly encourage more women to pursue the STEM fields. It is vital to provide girls with apositive environment early on at home.

They should have an opportunity to try out and explore how things work in a safe, healthy environment. It is also very important to encourage them to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings. In schools, teachers need to be more supportive of girls. There was a study conducted some time ago revealing that in a classroom situation,

Women in STEM 28 educators tend to unconsciously choose boys over girls to answer questions when both raise their hands. Once teachers realize what they are inadvertently promoting and consciously make a choice to encourage girls to speak up, we will begin to see a marked difference. It is important to build teams that allow girls to create things on their own and also to make them understand that it is okay to fail. On the professional front, it is important to have a proper support system for women at the workplace in order for them to grow. Being in STEMis both challenging and incredibly rewarding at the same time.”

Women make choices about how they will be investing their time. Organizations and all stakeholders need to exert effort to support women to promote diversity.

Moreover, it is critical for us women to help other women – somethingwe sometimes take for granted but one that must be done with intent as this process helps in ensuring that when there are opportunities, we are

able to share them with other women.

“

Contrary to common belief, choosing a career in STEM poses many obstacles, arising not at the workplace but actually from home and, consequently, in school

”

Retaining women in the STEM fields especially in mid to high level positions has been relatively difficult.Data shows the percentage of women getting a STEM education is greater when compared to the number of thoseemployed in STEM-related professions.

Acknowledging the low conversion rates of women studying STEM to women in various STEM professions, Claudia opines,“After five years, about 50 percent of women opt out of the field owing to personal and professional barriers. Indeed, having a career in STEM is very demanding but very rewardingat the same time. So it is important for women to realize that they do have a choice.”

That said, Claudia also recognizes the impact of women inclusion in the STEM fields as far as the issue of equality is concerned, “Equality and the gender divide have faced many a battle over the past years.There has been 30 years of research done on why women have a lesser ratio of participation in STEM compared to men,though it seems that it could have been written only yesterday.

29 Women in STEM

Realistically speaking, things have not changed. And the discussion on women's equality has been happening for many, many years. Although it is something we continue to strive for, I do believe now is the time to make this change. And if we can get traction in this area, it will definitely have an overall positive impact on achieving equality in general.”

The importance of diversity and gender mainstreaming in a knowledge-based society cannot be emphasized enough.Women are now, more than ever, being called agents of change.

“We are changing the status quo, and do understand the im-

portance of having a place at the table and in the decision-making process.By being heard, women fundamentally provide a different viewpoint which consequently results in more balanced decisions. At the moment, the majority of decisions are being made by men but when women have an opportunity to voice out their opinions, then decisions are different and we become proponents of change,” says the eminent technologist.

Taking a bird's eye view of the business and tech world, Claudia concludes, “The time has come to really embrace this opportunity to talk about the important place of women in society, which not only leads to diversi-

ty but a balanced civil society.

Women engagementshould be encouraged so that we don't have to wait another 30 years for something meaningful and impactful to happen. We have to embrace the moment now.”

Claudia Galvin's professional career includes holding senior engineering management positions at imminent Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft, Oracle and Adobe Systems.

President of the Society of Women Engineers, Silicon Valley, she is currently a third-year doctoral student at Drexel University in Sacramento, researching strategies on increasing the pipeline of women in engineering.

Women in STEM 30

Disrupting the Status Quo Rumbidzai Mlambo, President TechWoman Zimbabwe, talks about empowering the African woman through tech It is a well-known fact that economic emancipation in modern society, be it on an individual or mass level, relies heavily on innovation and technological advancement. Equally important is the inclusion and active participation of women in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields – both in education and vocation – in order to truly bring about change.

While statistics are surprisingly dismal for even developed countries like the US and UK, where the number of women in STEM fields have declined, things are headed in the right direction as far developing countries are concerned.

Bringing Africa into the equation, one of the biggest challenges in the 21st century is how to transform and develop a densely populated region with a low literacy rate, extreme poverty coupled with dysfunctional social systems and hierarchies.

Although the African continent is facing tough challenges stemming primarily from poverty, with most of Sub-Saharan Africa being in the World Bank's lowest income category with a less than $765 Gross National Income (GNI) per person per year, mobile technology can still prove to be its silver lining. Combining this with integrating women into a skilled workforce is probably the most viable solution for eco-

nomic development. That said, radical changes would, in fact, be less than possible until African women are able to develop skills and knowhow in STEM areas.

There are a number of organizations that are working to that effect. Techwomen Zimbabwe is one such entity striving to empower women and girls in the country by offering training programs such as the Technovation Challenge to develop tech skills among girls aged between 10 and 20 years.

Spearheaded by Rumbidzai Mlambo and Aretha Mare, the initiative strives to develop “An empowered, motivated and successful woman in STEM occupying at least 50 percent representation in all STEM professions.”

Talking about the initiative, Rumbidzai Mlambo says, “It is primarily an international mobile application development program for women and girls aged 10 to 20, which started last year in January. Through this program, girls had the opportunity to learn how to build and develop applications in a period of three to four months.”

She adds further, “The response from the girls has been amazing and very encouraging for us since it is a non-profit initiative.”

Acknowledging the critical role of such campaigns and programs, Mlambo opines that

changing Africa's status quo as far as economic development is concerned has more to do with communities than government policies. “I think there is an overemphasis on governments as far as educational policies (STEM or otherwise) are concerned. I think it is time for us, as a community, to take action. Governments come and go, resulting in shifts in policies. Yes, we do need government support – but in terms of policies and programs.

It should fall beyond the government's domain so that there is a consistency and continuity even if the government goes. Policies based on politics tend to shift and change, but community or business-based policies do not.”

Striving to increase women's participation in the STEM sectors by exposing young girls to innovative training programs, the organization is actively involved in stimulating events such as Women in STEM monthly networking events, Women in STEM Mentors Forum, mentors' workshops, etc.

“I truly believe more women in STEM are needed. Young girls look up to real role models who are a motivating factor for them.

For us, the only way to succeed is to tap the limitless potential of the female gender,” says Mlambo.

Talking about Techwomen Zimbabwe and the different initiatives under the flagship, she

31 Women in STEM opines, “If we really want to make a difference in the lives of ‘common' women and, consequently, the community, our organizations have to become ‘proof providers'. Training programs and initiatives should be activated in all seriousness.

One thing I have witnessed is that whenever such initiatives are started, we are not too serious about it. Many times, parents actually see that and rightly presume that it is just another program. It is our responsibility to make sure that there is some kind of reinforcement or motivation that will persuade parents to send their children. We need to make the parents see that their

children, particularly the girls, are getting something constructive out of it and are creating an impact on the community and, consequently, the economy. By being ‘proof providers', I think more parents will be willing to let their girls come.”

Looking into the future, Mlam-

“

bo is vocal about her vision, “Techwoman Zimbabwe is just a start. We want to build movers and shakers who can disrupt the current status quo. We want to show the world the potential of our girls. And the real transformation of millions of lives, and showcase women at the forefront.”

Techwomen Zimbabwe is one such entity striving to empower women and girls in the country by offering training programs such as the Technovation Challenge to develop tech skills among girls aged between 10 and 20 years.

”

Women in STEM 32

Women in Gaza: Promise & Roadblocks

By Sabin Muzaffar The Middle East has traditionally been a region engulfed in political unrest and discord. Surprisingly, though, it is also an area burgeoning with immense potential as far as women entrepreneurship is concerned.

With countries like the UAE – transforming from an economic frontier into an emerging market – and Palestine, with its remarkable number of women engaging in technical education and equally impressive ratio of female entrepreneurs, the issue of “gender divide” in the Arabian Peninsula is slowly yet steadily narrowing.

Going by statistics, Palestine seems to be the most promising especially when it comes to women tech entrepreneurship.

Riddled with politico-economic instability, the country has, nonetheless, shown much potential.

Gaza Starts is one initiative which has kick-started the country's SME sector. A campaign for Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG), Gaza Starts was launched by the US-based humanitarian agency Mercy Corps. The entity was born through crowdfunding and contributions from 50 different countries.

Gaza Starts strives to assist Gazan startups through enterprise and tech-based trainings, with a focus on women-centric

entrepreneurial activities. According to an NPR article, “After one month of the Indigogo campaign, the tech hub Gaza Sky Geeks passed its minimum goal of raising $70,000 to keep the shared workspace in a Gaza City high-rise open. The group extended the campaign for a month to try to raise $250,000

“

Although things look bright and positive, realistically speaking, there are still a number of roadblocks to overcome. Apart from the usual difficulties facing any Palestinian entrepreneur such as weak infrastructure and lack of funds, etc., women also have to conquer issues stemming from cultural bias, lack of proper training, unequal opportunities in terms of employment and enterprise.

”

— enough money to keep staff through next year and run an international hackathon. Gaza Sky Geeks Director Iliana Montauk began to plan the fundraising campaign during the war this summer, as the major grant that began the program ran out.

After three conflicts in Gaza over the past five years, she was unsure whether people would invest in Gaza again. Now, she

says donors seem impressed that people keep working on startups in difficult conditions — and the war cemented that impression.”

Praising the initiative and talking about the overall business vibe of the region, Nabbesh's founder Loulou Khazen Baz tells Ananke, “In my opinion, the environment across the Middle East is very encouraging, especially for women. I had earlier spoken to a group of women in Gaza who are actively involved in startup programs such as Gaza Starts – which not only inspires but also promotes women entrepreneurs.

So things are very positive in this regard. Such initiatives are actually empowering women in Gaza. I can also quote one example where we were looking for a translator and advertised on Nabbesh. One of the girls from the same program applied and got the job.” Adding, she remarks, “I think women, not only from Gaza but also from other parts of the world, need to have a platform designed to support and encourage them.

Women need an outlet to showcase their skills. You may have the right skill set but not a venue to showcase your talents, and this is where companies like Nabbesh come in.”

Although things look bright and positive, realistically speaking, there are still a number of roadblocks to overcome. Apart from

the usual difficulties facing any Palestinian entrepreneur such as weak infrastructure and lack of funds, etc., women also have to conquer issues stemming from cultural bias, lack of proper training, unequal opportunities in terms of employment and enterprise.

Indeed, there are organizations such as International Finance Corporation – a World Bank Group, Google and many more like them who are willing to invest. This is mainly because these entities realize the critical role of integrating women into the economy thereby growing the SME sector, alleviating poverty and creating a sustainable future.

But until obstacles such as inadequate access to finance, the need for public and private policy reforms, discrimination as well as unequal opportunities for women are addressed effectively, widespread and all-encompassing economic development will remain an illusion.

33 Women in STEM

Women in STEM 34

Stirring all-inclusive progress

through tech in Palestine Palestine is a land suffering due to conflict, a dismal economy and limited opportunities. It is also a country that has witnessed tremendous growth in its IT sector, with women technologists showing resilience amid social and political restrictions, shining bright in the digital stratosphere. Mai Temraz is one such woman! The first Palestinian female licensed amateur radio operator who, in 2014, was featured as one of the “TechWomen Emerging Leaders Honoree Cards� highlighting women leaders working in STEM in San Francisco.

Tell us about yourself I am a communication engineer, founder and CEO of Amateur Club Training Center Gaza. I strive toengage young minds in learning science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with modern methods. Our goal is to promote basic electronics and technology in order to occupy a bigger part of middle school curriculum. For this initiative, I was awarded best entry level STEM Executive 2015 at the Women in STEM conference held in Dubai earlier this year.

Also, I am a Regional Ambassador for Technovation in the Gaza Strip, a Global Tech Leader representing Palestine and Gaza Strip, and a member of the ArabWIC Mentorship Committee for the 2015 round.

Recently, I began leading the Mentorship & Women Inclusivity Program at Gaza Sky Geeks, Gaza's first startup accelerator.

I worked on designing, launching and running the next round of Intalqi (GSG women empowering program).I also manage international mentors visiting GSG, track their mentorship engagements and train teams on how to manage their mentorship relationships. I started opera-

tionalizing the mentorship process at GSG, and established a way to follow up with incubated startups.

Comment on Palestinian women’s participation in STEM I truly believe women in Palestine today feel confident in the STEM fields more than they do in the United States. More girls are considering being in the STEM fields for their careers though we have to yet to achieve equal roles in the workplaces.This can be attributed to a lot of reasons such as to the high rate of unemployment, and the traditional occupationsof and societal expectations from women.

Diversity and inclusivity are the buzzwords these days; what, in your opinion, makes them so critical?

The words diversity and inclusivity nowadays are all about women in workplaces. It is also one of the themes that helps any organization to succeed in the 21st century. Diversity inspires innovation, and an inclusive culture increase engagement and creativity.

To achieve this, we need to have

the ability to harness the diversity already within our community and build a culture of inclusion with it. To involve everyone, not just women, in order to produce the desired outcome is the essence of inclusion.

Also, the conversation about diversity and inclusion in a community, organization or a group needs to happen among all the members, and not just theoretically around a boardroom table.

What are some of the challenges facing women in tech generally, and especially across the MENA region with a special focus on Palestine?

The high rates of unemployment, siege, difficult economic and political situations, traditional occupations and societal expectations from women, unconscious bias, etc., these are some of the challenges faced by women in tech in Palestine.

On the other hand,visiting the USA and meeting women from different places showed me that women in America face the same problems we face in the MENA region! The challenges facing women in tech are essentially the same everywhere.

35 Women in STEM

“

I truly believe women in Palestine today feel confident in the STEM fields more than they do in the United States. More girls are considering being in the STEM fields for their careers though we have to yet to achieve equal roles in the workplaces

�

Women in STEM 36 I learned that we need to think of our challenges as opportunities and learn how to guide them.

Figuring out how to succeed as an entrepreneur in a very difficult place like Gaza will make it easier to succeed everywhere else.

If we share our collective stories of challenges, failures and successes, we can encourage and help each other move forward toward our shared vision of a thriving Gaza startup ecosystem full of new firms building value, growing teams, and creating economic prosperity for Gaza.

How important is inclusivity as far as Palestinian women in STEM are concerned?

It's very important.As much as we increase women inclusivity in our community it will create the potential for better, more informed decision-making in our society, and role models who can be an inspiration to millions of women and men worldwide.

We need to keep showing our communities the importance of gender equality and women's

participation, and how diversity and inclusivity can improve our work, society and life.

What can be done to empower women in STEM, especially those belonging to conflict areas?

Women in Palestine are more educated than ever beforebut still do not have equality in roles in the economic spheres of life.

Women in Palestine clearly need to put their hard-won skills into action, and start now.

To empower women we need to: • Increasewomen's self-confidenceandcreateacommunityofwomen that believe in each other • Providethemwith access to resources,networkingandmentoring which willempower them and allow them to start their professional lives, and to prove that they can succeed • Allowwomentofindaplacetolearn,work,innovateandengagein learning new technologies

• Introducethemto the concept of mentoringrelationships,and how they can support, guide, and encourage them to define their goals and plans, overcome obstacles and achieve personal and professional success.

What entails empowerment?

Empowering women helps them become more productive. Such outcomes will empower them to become a stronger leaders and to more effectively contribute financially to their families, communities and countries.

Your vision I want to live in a community that believes in women's participation and roles in all fields, especially STEM. We need to introduce our communities continuously to female role models and show them the change women can make.

I believe that it's us who will make the difference we want to see in our communities

37 Women in STEM

Innovate to Empower Founder and CEO Pakistan Innovation Foundation, Athar Osama sheds light on the pioneering efforts poised to bring about a positive change across Pakistan.

Education, awareness and innovation play a pivotal role in changing the patriarchal mindset of societies.

The Pakistan Innovation Foundation recently concluded a groundbreaking initiative that invited technologists, designers, and communicators to propose ideas and suggestions that could empower women to #TakeBackTheWheel.

Tell us about the initiative, and why now?

Women's economic empowerment is a major challenge in our society, and access to safe, affordable and respectable transport is a serious bottleneck to empowerment itself. We all know the circumstances in which women who get out of their houses to go to school or work to earn a living have to use our public transport. Many women are harassed on a daily basis in a bus, taxi or rickshaw. Drivers often exploit them and charge exorbitant sums.

Monis Rahman, the Founder of Rozee.pk, Pakistan's largest job

site, quotes the following figures: “Men spend between 5-10 percent of their incomes on transport, while women spend as much as 50 percent.”

These numbers are mind-boggling. Imagine the barrier that transportation poses to women seeking to join the workforce.

This rings true in my personal experience as well.

Over the last couple of years, we've hired or made offers to several women who commute on a daily basis from Rawalpindi, and we know how challenging it gets for them, financially and psychologically, to navigate this exploitation by the transport mafia.

I've been thinking about doing this for a couple of years now but, this September, the time just seemed right and we decided to launch the first ever “Women's Transport Innovation Challenge” to help find creative ways to solve this important issue for women.

As far as this initiative is concerned, whom were you tar-

geting?

We were looking towards innovators and communicators, technologists and developers, product designers, behavioral scientists and change agents, social and women rights activists to join hands to come up with innovative ways to address this problem. I think this is a very complex problem with social, cultural, religious undertones.

Some solutions would probably be short term - kind of like Bandaid - and others would seek to address problems in the long run.

Technology, for instance, could be provided as an interim solution while behavioral changes may take a long time to happen. But sometimes progress in one aspect makes way for the other. For instance, as technology makes it possible for women to travel alone or carpool with other women traveling alone, this becomes more acceptable in the society and, hence, behavioral change becomes easier to achieve.

Women in STEM 38 How can tech empower the “regular” Pakistani woman?

Tech can be a very important short-term solution, if nothing else. The world over, mobile apps that connect users with a common cause or need are becoming more and more popular. Uber is a case in point, although there are challenges with that model particularly when it applies to women's transport.

In Pakistan, Savaree (http:// savaree.co) is another such venture, which recently launched a carpool app, and is growing slowly to substantial numbers.

She'Kab (http://shekab.com) is another such venture that was recently launched in the capital. So, I think there are various avenues of using technology, particularly mobile-based apps, to help address the challenge.

For these to be useful, however, there needs to be infrastructure on the ground. Technology must also address the issue of security properly and convincingly for it to address the challenge of women's transport.

What initial feedback did you receive as far as the initiative #TakeBackTheWheel is concerned?

We received more than 75 registrations/ideas to begin with.

We shortlisted about 30 to invite to an initial pitch, and twelve of these teams were invited to participate in a hackathon. The teams worked hard to propose innovative solutions to the problem and create prototypes.

In the end, we declared four winners, but even many of those that did not win were not bad at all. In fact, the hackathon is

just the beginning of the process.

Our experience suggests that the winning teams need a lot of mentoring and work even after the hackathon; clarifying ideas, refining the design, and preparing to take it to the next level.

We plan to organize an innovation accelerator to help the teams take their ideas forward.

We have already begun interviewing the teams, some winners but also other groups, in detail to discuss how to structure this.

Ultimately, an idea is only 1 per-

“

Solutions must come in the form of behavioral change.

However, I am not sure if there is one silver bullet or one single step that would make this change happen.

Behavioral change works in non-linear ways. There is no progress for a long time and then suddenly there is light.

In many ways, it’s like the four minute mile

”

cent of success, implementation constitutes the rest of the 99 percent.

That's where the mettle of the teams and their passion to make a difference really get tested.

In order to make this initiative a success, you need to engage a wider audience – how do you plan to do that?

The Women's Transport Innovation Challenge is just the start of an effort to find solutions for a very complex problem with

deeply entrenched social, economic, cultural and religious roots. What we have been able to do, over the last month or so, is to bring this issue under the spotlight.

We were very fortunate to have partners like Toyota Pakistan and UN Women that brought muscle and credibility to this exercise. UN Women, in particular, is very passionate about this issue, as they need to be, not just the quick-fix technological solutions but also the long-term behavioral solution. Their HeforShe global campaign is the step in the right direction.

We also did a pretty decent job in mobilizing public opinion and support through social media.

We have a great social media team, and partners like Aisha Sarwari and Huma Beg who are themselves activists and believers in the cause. We organized a Twitter chat that roped in many opinion-makers from around the world from Adil Najam to Bina Shah, and Shaista Aziz to Jamshed Kazi, among others. My most favorite moment was to be retweeted by Helen Clarke, the former Prime Minister of Netherlands and the current head of UNDP. We have been lucky with some other developments coinciding with and magnifying our own efforts. A girl from Lahore rides a motorcycle through the northern areas; a famous artist drives a pink rickshaw through the streets of Lahore; and a new contingent of women traffic wardens ride their bikes through Islamabad and suddenly you might find the tide shifting on this issue.

39 Women in STEM

Ultimately, its all about perception and what is acceptable and what is not in the society. And perceptions, we all know, can change rapidly.

I think we have created a wave whose ripples will felt for sometime.

What role can men play in this initiative and how important is diversity/inclusiveness to #TakeBackTheWheel?

We made no distinction in inviting men and women to the party. In fact, although we expected more women to attend, there

were probably a few more men in the room at the hackathon than women.

Jamshed Kazi, the head of UN Women Pakistan commented on that. That's actually not a bad thing since I think men need to stand up for equal rights for women, and men must be the focus of behavioral change.

Owais Zaidi, one of our judges remarked that “the problem won't be solved by putting women in a separate box of a transport, it would only be solved by changing the mindsets of men.�

He is right.

Solutions must come in the form of behavioral change. However, I am not sure if there is one silver bullet or one single step that would make this change happen. Behavioral change works in non-linear ways. There is no progress for a long time and then suddenly there is light. In many ways, it's like the four minute mile, I guess.

So until that radical shift happens, I think technology and product design can provide some interim relief to women on public transport systems whether

Women in STEM 40 these are in the form of women's carpooling arrangements or women only transport solutions.

What does PIF plan to achieve via this campaign?

The Pakistan Innovation Foundation is determined to bring about a change by enabling Pakistanis to use creativity and innovation to help solve the country's problems and challenges.

We believe that many problems

that have remained unsolved for years or decades require a fresh out-of-the-box approach. We are looking to find innovative ideas that can help address the challenge of women's transport.

We would like to take the more promising of these ideas forward and enable these innovators to find partners and sponsors to pilot test and hopefully scale some of these ideas.

I think PIF has achieved what it embarked upon to achieve.

Among the winners and oth-

ers, there are a number of very promising ideas - carpooling solutions, security apps, flexible partitions for public transports, and new innovative transport modes and services - that need some refinement, and entrepreneurial teams to take them forward.

We believe this is a good start, and some of these ideas will ultimately see the light of the day.

41 Women in STEM

Leveraging Tech for Women's

Economic Empowerment

Founder and President of the Women's Digital League, Maria Umar shares her views on the emancipating role of technology, and how the STEM fields can empower Pakistani women.

Registered in Pakistan as a non-government organization (NGO), and operational since 2010, the Women's Digital League (WDL) is an online platform that provides training and work opportunities for local women. Introducing computer-based work, the social enterprise is not only recognized by Google but is also certified by Thunderbird School's Project Artemis, and Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women Initiative.

Founded by the illustrious Maria Umar, a thought leader for Ashoka Changemakers, WDL strives to overcome unemployment by promoting digital education.

If there is, in fact, a low percentage of women in tech fields in Pakistan, what needs to be done to change this scenario?

This is a country where 86 percent of educated women (according to UNICEF stats) don't join the workforce. The low percentage is due to a lack of motivation and/or opportunities for work, so, first of all, we need to change that trend. To accomplish that, we have to keep in mind both cultural and social obstacles. Secondly, if women do enter the tech field, it's mostly to join as designers. So as far as hardcore code and programming are concerned, or app de-

velopment, women tend to shy away thinking both are more of a boy's domain. Early introduction to STEM education through programs such as Technovation is very important – something that makes tech fun and interesting rather than seeming to be a series of long intimidating formulas.

Do you think tech education and careers can empower Pakistani women? How? I believe any form of education and career can empower Pakistani women. With tech, you have the added advantage of

“

We need to create female-friendly workspaces.

Arguments and discussions over changing society’s perspective and getting the older generation to see things differently is great but it’s futile. What we need is to set some examples so people can look up to those role models

”

working from home and still make good money. Platforms like Elance and oDesk are filled with jobs for coders and programmers.

The conversion rate of tech-educated Pakistani women into career women is very low, how can this be changed?

Again, they need to be given opportunities that work around the obstacles to their forging a career. The one thing that makes most sense is online work. Build a platform where these women can find digital work they can do from home. The norm for Pakistani women is to get married in their 20s and raise families.

By the time they are in their mid30s and they have some time to themselves, they have either been replaced in the job market by new talent or they have lost the confidence to apply. For instance, in the KPK Digital Livelihood training program I conducted in partnership with the World Bank, my chief trainer was a computer science graduate and had an MCSE certificate.

She taught computer science at a school for a few years before having her kids. Once the kids were old enough to go to school and she had extra time at hand, she didn't have the confidence to seek a job even as a schoolteacher. After much goading, I

Women in STEM 42 persuaded her to come work for the Women's Digital League, and it's been so encouraging to see her regain her confidence and realize she still has it. So for these women who want to work but have families as well, it's important to have freelance work-from-home opportunities available.

Going back to question No. 1, what societal elements hinder women from entering the tech field?

They are usually discouraged from working outside their homes as reinforced by age-old sayings like “Log kia kahein ge” or “What would people say”.

Men are seen as the breadwinners and being more patriarchal than usual, Pakistani society, in most cases, sees the wife's working as a sign of weakness on the man's part in being able to provide for the family.

Then there are very few careers that are seen as “respectable” job opportunities. Women either become doctors or they become teachers. We need to create female-friendly workspaces. Arguments and discussions over changing society's perspective and getting the older generation to see things differently is great

but it's futile. What we need is to set some examples so people can look up to those role models and say, “Hey, look, xyz's daughter/wife/sister is working at such and such place so it must be a decent one”. It's what happened in my case where I became the first girl in my family to get a master's degree and to work. Now that I have set that example, it's easier for others to follow suit.

Pakistani society is patriarchal, just like many countries (or almost all) in the Middle East, but both men and women have already begun a liberating conversation about empowerment. What do you think is the difference, for instance, between a country like Palestine and Pakistan?

The former is seeing a rise in not only women entrepreneurship but also their emergence in the tech and STEM fields.

The problem does not lie in patriarchy only. In many instances, you will see it's the women stopping one another from working or getting higher education. It's the mothers who are against their daughters' pursuing higher

degrees or having careers because they want their children to “fit in”. It's a matter of pride for them to have their daughter get married in a good home at an early age. Since men are considered the bread-earners, hence, they don't want society to think their daughter is not being taken care of. I agree that in some urban areas this is an alien concept, but Pakistan has only three cities that can be called “urban” in the true sense of the word.

Others are, at best, urban-rural hybrids where the same old mindset prevails. Unless this mindset is changed, we can't expect to see much progress.

Maria is the founder and president of the Women's Digital League (WDL). She has been working in the online digital outsourcing sphere for more than 5 years.

Project Artemis/Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative was the turning point in her career when she was coached and mentored by top business professors and talent from the Silicon Valley. Getting to the finale of GIST's (www.gist.crdfglobal. org) “I Dare” business plan competition was another huge encouragement. Google Pakistan profiled WDL in its online campaign showcasing innovation in the use of technology.

Maria was nominated a “Thought Leader” by Ashoka Changemakers. WDL also won the Early Stage Award in Changemakers' “Women Powering Work” competition. Maria is also actively working to encourage girls to opt for STEM at an early age through the Technovation Challenge.

43 Women in STEM

Women Engineers Pakistan: Advancing STEM on the home front

An interview with the visionary Ramla Qureshi, founder Women Engineers Pakistan (WEP).

What is the participation ratio or percentage of Pakistani women in STEM fields?

As per the Pakistan Council for Science & Technology, there are roughly 18 percent of women in the science and technology fields in comparison with men, whereas a little over 10 percent of women are into engineering.

If there is, in fact, a low percentage of women in STEM fields in Pakistan, what needs to be done to change this scenario?

We at the WEP believe that education plays a vital role. The present curriculum needs to be remolded to make math and physics more interactive and less formidable for every student, whether male or female. There is worldwide bias towards the male gender for mathematical education, which sometimes leads to discouragement for girls. Presently, the Women Engineers Pakistan is working on various outreach projects, where we go to high schools for girls and familiarize them with the vast field of engineering, shedding light on all the relatable role models.

This often serves as an inspiration, a little push for the already very talented girls of Pakistan.

Do you think STEM education and careers can empower

Pakistani women? How? Yes, STEM education is crucial to empowerment. And personally, I think it works both ways.

Not only does the inclusion of women in the STEM fields enable them to grow and progress while keeping pace with the rest of the world, but the ingredient of added diversity works wonders for the growth of STEM fields too!

Fresh minds and new ideas are imperative. As far as Pakistani women are concerned, the prevalent gender gap calls for immediate action. Technically capable women can voice out their ideas and opinions in sync with our constantly changing world.

They can address their issues in a more impactful manner. They can take up high-paying careers to work for the progress of the country while keeping pace with their peers from the other gender.

What is the scope of STEM education for women in Pakistan?

Women in Pakistan make up around half of the population.

With STEM education, they can become a major force in propelling the country forward.

They can take up jobs that are more respectable, more socially acceptable, more flexible and give them the power to decide.

They can get into research and discover vaccines, they can devise computer programs that can help eradicate corruption, they can engineer social entrepreneurship to a whole new level, as they make up half the number of stakeholders. Statistically speaking, the scope is high and so are the expected returns.

What role is your organization playing in encouraging women participation in STEM fields?

The Women Engineers Pakistan (WEP) is a non-profit organization working to promote science and technology, along with its many applications within the female population of the country.

We have Campus Ambassadors in major engineering universities of the country, who facilitate our interaction with currently enrolled engineering students through conferences and seminars, where we hold talks about the practical world and prepare our girls to counter issues such as the glass-roof or workplace harassment. We also screen

Women in STEM 44 CVs. Through social media, we post various opportunities for jobs and scholarships. In the coming week, we shall be holding a webinar for guidance on study-abroad applications and scholarships.

As a form of outreach, our Campus Ambassadors go to many schools and talk to girls about dismissing their fear of math and physics at secondary school lev-

“

Women in Pakistan make up around half of the population.

With STEM education, they can become a major force in propelling the country forward.

”

el. We also provide career counseling for high school students.

Apart from these, we recently launched our STEM Mentoring Program whereby mentors from North America and Pakistan help to steer our students towards the STEM fields. This program is currently undergoing strategic structuring and modulation, which will be followed by our very first “trial-run” in the coming month. Details can be

found here.

Is there anything else you wish to add?

With the humungous amount of talent that I have personally witnessed, I am highly optimistic that the future of Pakistani women is bright. All they need right now is a little guidance, and that is what we are trying to provide through WEP.

45 Women in STEM

Marion Nestle: food

scientist extraordinaire Photo credit: Bill Hayes

Claire Dangalan Hers is a name that resonates with anyone and everyone seriously involved in the food industry and all its trappings – Marion Nestle – whose Twitter account has been ranked by Time Magazine as among the Top 10 in health and science, and who has been ranked by New York Times bestselling non-fiction writer

Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore's Dilemma”, as the second most powerful foodie in America (next to Michelle Obama).

Food and nutrition enthusiasts, and those involved in the study of food science would have definitely come across any one (or

all) of her books: “Food Politics,” “Safe Food,” “What to Eat,” “Feed Your Pet Right,” “Soda Politics,” “Eat, Drink, Vote,” “Pet Food Politics,” “Nutrition in Clinical Practice,” and “Why Calories Count.”

Ananke had the privilege of getting to know Mariona little better – the lady who has made it her

Women in STEM 46 mission to educate people on how to make the best food decisions, and to show the world how food is serious business and, like it or not, a matter of politics and economics.

In which part of America are you from? What was your childhood like?

I was born in New York City but my family moved to Los Angeles when I was twelve years old. Before that move, I was a city child. I went to school in the neighborhood, took subways everywhere, and rode my bicycle in the parks. During summers, I went to a camp in Southern Vermont that used to be a working farm. That's where I learned about food. The people who ran the camp had lived in China for many years and learned to use woks to cook vegetables. The camp had a large vegetable garden that supplied food for our dinners. This was the first time I ate beans off the vine and understood what they were supposed to taste like. Berries grew wild on the property and we were sent out to pick them for breakfast pancakes. In the spring, the owners collected sap from maple trees and boiled it into maple syrup. Once I understood what fresh foods tasted like, nothing else would do.

What was typically served during your family meals back then? Do you have any special food-related memories? How different is the typical American dinner table now from what you grew up with?

My family didn't fuss much about food, and I really don't remember much about it except that my mother occasionally made

apple pies that were incredibly delicious. We ate in restaurants once in a while, but except for special ones in Chinatown, I don't remember much about them. This, of course, was long before fast food or even take-out food. I never tasted pizza until after we moved to the West Coast.

How attached/interested are you in food and everything food-related?

I consider food a full-employment act. It's my profession as well as my pleasure. I love to

“

Food and nutrition enthusiasts, and those involved in the study of food science would have definitely come across any one (or all) of her books: “Food Politics,” “Safe Food,” “What to Eat,” “Feed Your Pet Right,” “Soda Politics,” “Eat, Drink, Vote,” “Pet Food Politics,” “Nutrition in Clinical Practice,” and “Why Calories Count.

”

eat, and the idea that you can learn about culture, society, economics, and politics through food is enormously stimulating intellectually. I am fascinated by the ways people relate to food, and even more so by the ways food companies use that kind of information to sell their products.

Did you always plan on becoming a food scientist?

What were your career plans during your teenage years?

I didn't have career plans dur-

ing my teenage years. I grew up before there were opportunities for women in society, and I got married and had children while I was still quite young. But the doors were beginning to open.I was curious about science, and soon after the birth of my second child, I was able to enter a doctoral program in molecular biology.My children were five and seven years old when I finished my doctorate.

Describe the path your career has taken from your first job after university studies. Is it one that you are truly passionate about? What makes it interesting, and why does it matter?

I started my teaching career in a biology department with courses in cell and molecular biology.

Nothing could be more abstract.

Students were demanding courses that seemed more relevant and, a few years later, I was given a nutrition course to teach.

It was like falling in love, and I've never looked back. It was so much easier and more fun to talk to students about what they were eating and the role that food plays in society.

What motivated you to write “Food Politics”? How has it impacted the food industry and relevant stakeholders?

I spoke at a conference in the early 1990s about the behavioral causes of cancer – cigarettesand diet. I knew that cigarettes caused cancer but I had never heard talks about the marketing of cigarettes before that meeting.

Speaker after speaker showed slides (this was pre-PowerPoint) of cigarette marketing all over the world, especially to children.

47 Women in STEM On one level, I knew what they were talking about but I had never paid close attention to cigarette marketing. I left that meeting thinking that we nutritionists ought to be paying the same kind of attention to Coca-Cola marketing as those speakers were paying to cigarette marketing. I started writing articles about food marketing and eventually pulled them together to create Food Politics. This was the first book to focus on the role of food industry marketing in creating conditions that predispose to obesity, and it seemed shocking at the time. Now, health advocates recognize the importance of the food environment, including marketing, in inducing people to eat more than they should of the wrong kinds of foods.

In your view, what can be considered our (humans)

greatest achievement terms of food? Why?

in

The ability to produce more than enough food to feed everyone on earth is an extraordinary human achievement. Unfortunately, we have not been able to solve the problem of distributing it equitably.

How do the politics and economics of food affect global food distribution and supply?

What is women’s role in this?

It is widely understood that to solve problems of widespread hunger and malnutrition, the first line of defense is to educate and empower women. Much research supports doing so. The prevalence of malnutrition is enormously reduced in populations where women are educated and empowered.

In terms of the global food industry and some recent

developments (e.g. organic movement, industrial farms and animal welfare advocacy, GMO identification/labeling, marketing “physically unappealing� produce, food waste, etc.), which issues do you think require the most urgent attention? Why? The most urgent problems related to food and the ones that affect the largest numbers of people: hunger and malnutrition on the one hand, and obesity and its consequent non-communicable diseases on the other. These are social problems that have to do with food system failures rather than inadequacies in production.

Aside from being a James Beard Leadership Award recipient (2013), and a Paulette Goddard Professor and former Chair in Nutrition, Food Studies and Pub-

Women in STEM 48

“

The ability to produce more than enough food to feed everyone on earth is an extraordinary human achievement.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to solve the problem of distributing it equitably

lic Health at the New York University (NYU), Marion is also a Professor of Sociology in NYU, and a Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell.

Marion's curriculum vitae is more than twenty pages long, and her list of achievements is quite impressive, spanning decades of her career both in the US public and private sectors, as a professor, researcher, scientist, and author, among other things.

”

She had once served as a nutrition policy advisor for the US Department of Health and Human Services in the late 1980s, and has been an advisor and/ or sponsor in a number health, food and scientific endeavors.

Currently, Marion is a member of the Publications Board – American Public Health Association, the World Obesity Policy & Prevention – Scientific and Technical Advisory, and the University of California Berkeley – New

York Metro Committee.

Wanting to emphasize how basic and essential it is for us to know the intimate details about how food becomes available from the source to our table, and how urgent food-related issues are, Marion says, “I encourage everyone to pay attention to food issues and to engage in the politics of food. Only through advocacy will we be able to solve the social problems created by dysfunctional food systems.”

49 Women in STEM

Fueling Innovation Founder-CEO KalsoomLakhani of Invest2Innovate, an organization that supports early state enterprises and developing a productive entrepreneurship ecosystem especially in Pakistan, chats with ANANKE about creating an enabling environment, fostering growth to craft social impact in the country. to support the broader ecosystem - from supporting the launch of Science & Technology Parks in the country to customizing and licensing our accelerator curriculum to strengthen other support players.

Tell us about Invest2Innovate. What do you consider your most significant achievement?

Invest2Innovate, or i2i, supports young entrepreneurs and the broader enabling environment for entrepreneurs in growth markets. We believe that startup communities are emerging all over the world, but in countries where the environment doesn't enable this growth, entrepreneurs have a hard time growing their businesses.

We began working in Pakistan in 2011, where we run an annual startup accelerator program, are building an angel investor community, and work on projects

We have a number of new products in the works that aims to strengthen access to capital and support entrepreneurs on a much larger scale globally, but particularly for riskier markets.

Our biggest achievement so far is, without a doubt, the awesome community we've built in Pakistan.

By January 2016, we will have graduated 21 companies from the i2i Accelerator, but those entrepreneurs have gone on to be judges, mentors, and ambassadors for i2i after they've graduated. We have an incredible network of partners, mentor, and investors who are all engaged members of this community - we are all working together towards a big picture vision

- to see success stories come out of Pakistan's ecosystem. I'm really proud of that collaborative spirit.

Comment on Pakistan’s business landscape as far as starting a new venture is concerned?

Pakistan's business landscape isn't easy – there are a lot of issues that are obstacles for entrepreneurs rather than enablers – fromtax policies, a weak intellectual property regime, a general lack of access to early-stage capital. Online payments (or a lack thereof) continue to be an enormous problem for technology-enabled companies. At the same time, there's so much potential in the country – wehave such a young population that is hungry and passionate, and so many problems to fix! Maybe it's the optimist in me, but I believe Pakistan is a very entrepreneurial nation with a lot of room for growth.

In your opinion, what are the most significant challenges Pakistani startups are facing and how can these be overcome?

For tech companies – online payments, mainly the lack thereof is a challenge. We still haven't fixed this issue though I know a

Women in STEM 50 lot of smart people in the country are working on solutions. Access to markets is another issue – entrepreneurs creating cool products in the country need to be able to access international markets more easily.

Of course, access to capital for early-stage startups continues to be a problem, though I've seen it shifting. I do think players in the support space like i2i are working to address a lot of these issues. I don't think these problems are hard to solve, but for policy-level ones, we lack the political will to really challenge or change the status quo in the country.

Provincially, I've seen strides in provinces like Punjab and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa, but a lot more needs to be done at the national level because these problems are not expensive to fix, nor do they really even require legislation.

What challenges do women in Pakistan face as far as entrepreneurship is concerned, and how can they be overcome?

There are obvious cultural barriers with working women in Pakistan, but our past two batches of the i2i Accelerator have been majority female founded or co-founded startups, and they are incredible.

Our female entrepreneurs are the highest performers in our program, and are deeply passionate and committed to their work. They come from a range of backgrounds but they prove what global statistics show con-

stantly – thatfemale entrepreneurs consistently perform better than their male counterparts.

As a female founder myself, I'm always passionate about showcasing that.

Diversity is key to sustainable progress of any country; what needs to be done to make this a reality in Pakistan?

By not leaving any group out of the conversation! If you want to change the equation in Pakistan,

“

If you want to change the equation in Pakistan, we can’t have dialogue in silos – all players need to come to the table. With regard to women entrepreneurs, don’t keep them on separate panels about “women entrepreneurship,” include them in panels with their male counterparts.

Change the equation.

”

we can't have dialogue in silos – all players need to come to the table. With regard to women entrepreneurs, don't keep them on separate panels about “women entrepreneurship,” include them in panels with their male counterparts. Change the equation.

What role does i2i play in promoting inclusion and di-

versity?

We're open to entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, from across the country. Because our program isn't contained to any one city, we get applications from startups from across Pakistan. While this has mostly been focused on major cities in the country, I'm excited that we have our first Peshawar-based startup in this year's accelerator, and that our past two batches have been majority female-founded or co-founded companies. I also love watching the classes interact and learn from one another; we're promoting a culture of collaboration at i2i, not competition, and I've seen that with the incredible relationships that have been developed among our entrepreneurs in the i2i Accelerator.

Pakistan has yet to tap into the capabilities of its female population, how can this be achieved?

By taking a more nuanced gendered approach to supporting women.

Do you think women play a role in creating an equitable society, if so, how can entities such as i2i empower the Pakistani woman?

Of course! We do that by making sure we get as many women applying to the program as possible.

How important is an encouraging environment for success?

It is vital.

51 Women in STEM

Smashing glass ceilings Meet the dynamic duo, co-founders Eileen Carey (CEO) and Lauren Mosenthal (CTO), trying to smash the “glass ceiling� that prevents women from moving up the corporate ladder.

The equal participation of both men and women in the economic activity of a country is critical not only for sustainable development but also for a balanced and equitable society.

issues stemming from gendered roles at the workplace such as insecurity, lack of guidance or inspiration or low self-worth hinder women's growth in the corporate world.

Although this a fact already acknowledged universally, there still exists a disparity between awareness and reality. A number of companies have begun to realize that empowering women at the workplace is actually good for the business. That said, there still exists (among other things) a gender pay gap and a low percentage of women in top or decision-making positions in tech, financial and other traditionally male-dominated sectors.

Resolving these issues is only possible through peer mentorship and proactive knowledge exchange, in short, women helping other women.

Indeed there are numerous obstacles blocking female executives from reaching the top.

While the tendency of men hiring fellow men is globally rampant,

Glassbreakers is one such organization that aims to create a vibrant community of mentors and mentee, empowering aspiring women through inspiration, guidance and identifying career goals.

Tell us about Glassbreakers, and the inspiration behind its launch.

Glassbreakers is an enterprise software company focused on

diversity. We have a free product for women in the workforce of several industry verticals that connects peer mentors across companies and offers inspiring user-generated content at glassbreakers.co. Our first enterprise solution is a scalable peer mentorship platform for large organizations that connects women internally and highlights women remodels at the company. We're currently building data analytics tools as well as a full digital transformation for employee resource groups (i.e. we're expanding to other diverse groups like LGBT, people with disabilities, etc.) to strengthen diversity departments across the Fortune 1000.

The inspiration behind launching Glassbreakers as a company was our shared passion for solving the workplace challenge of retaining and promoting women and minorities in leadership.

Women in STEM 52 You can't be what you can't see, and so we want to innovate diversity as a core business function to help make the global c-suite 50/50 and eliminate workforce gender inequality.

What challenges did you face as entrepreneurs – does being a woman makes it more challenging raising funds?

Pattern recognition is a big part of the investment landscape. Investing in startups is a big bet, and most people want to place a bet on what they know or in a team that might be similar to one they've seen succeed before.

As a company with a woman CEO and woman CTO, there aren't many other co-founding teams like us that have come before. Fundraising is hard for any startup, we had some challenges in the beginning trying to fundraise like our male peers, so instead we took a different approach, focus on revenue first before fundraising on just a vision. Once we locked in our first paying customers, we were able to target investors we wanted to work with, and pitch the opportunity based on the financial return not just the vision.

Funding partners are companies mostly headed by men. Does that factor in, especially for women entrepreneurs, and that too in the male-dominated tech (STEM) sector? If so, how can this be addressed?

Sixty percent of our investors are women so there are plenty of amazing women investing in startups. Prominent and successful venture capital firms typ-

ically have at least one woman as a partner so firms without any women on the team are kind of a red flag. The same goes for engineering teams without any women on the team – we don't recommend any women join a startup with more than ten employees that hasn't yet hired a woman. Our team includes two men out of seven total employees for context.

Why put yourself in a situation where you are the only woman

in the room when choosing a funding partner when you can work with better teams that aren't as archaic and probably better due to their diverse leadership?

You can't fix the landscape, but you can choose who you want to work with, and it's your opportunity to share with investors, not the other way around.

How does Glassbreakers work and what are its main goals?

Glassbreakers works as a soft-

53 Women in STEM ware as a service (SaaS) for enterprises wanting to improve their diversity initiatives through data, the power of the cloud and scalable peer mentorship for employee resource groups.

We've built machine learning algorithms that connect women (and other affinity groups coming soon), based on personal and professional interests and commonalities. Our main goal is to support diversity as a core business function to help our customers generate higher revenue through increased retention, innovation and promotions of diverse talent.

Women helping other women is important to women empowerment – at the workplace and otherwise, but an inclusive discussion is critical in order to attain sustainable results. In your opinion, how can this be achieved?

Including other members of the workforce who have been historically discriminated against is a huge part of what we do.

Our community events are also always 80 percent women and 20 percent men. We spend time with our male allies, and it's incredibly important to keep them a part of this conversation. Toxic masculinity in the workforce hurts everyone, so sustainable inclusion means empowering men to also push aside gender norms and fight for their peers against discrimination whenever they see it.

How can women (individuals) as well as companies outside the US benefit from Glassbreakers?

There are women in 99 countries currently using our free product at glassbreakers.co. Some of our customers include multinational companies, so we're making this a global movement.

What, in your opinion, entails leadership, and how can we empower women to create leaders?

Leadership is the freedom to make yourself heard and command others to listen. Women all over the world must overcome a culture of violence against women who speak up in public. In Kenya, for example, the government is trying to ensure that 33 percent of government leaders are women, but the women who run for office are targeted for violent attacks. To truly empower women to step into leadership, we need to work harder to protect them from physical threats, online harassment and media

scrutiny for their womanhood.

In the United States, the second leading cause of death for women under 50 is domestic violence (after car accidents). Our society needs to evolve to a point in which violence against women isn't the norm so we can empower women to be leaders without the very real fear for their safety.

What feedback has Glassbreakers received since its launch?

All super positive – our users are the best. We've scaled pretty rapidly since launching thanks in part to the product feedback from our users and the customer feedback for our enterprise product. We're doing something meaningful, with a truly great team, so the support we've received has been tremendous.

What is Glassbreakers’ role in creating an all-inclusive digital/tech landscape, especially in the Silicon Valley?

We're a technology company with a product that helps women in tech connect to each other for mentorship, support and empowerment, but our customers and users come from every industry. Having a woman-led enterprise software company and women-led engineering team has hopefully opened the doors for other entrepreneurs to see it can be done and the obstacles aren't gender-specific these days. Yes, Silicon Valley has some catching up to do, but it's changing and evolving, thanks in part to the incredible people involved in the Glassbreakers community.

Women in STEM 54

Unlocking Possibilities for Women in STEM MeeraKaul, founder of the US-based organization MeeraKaul Foundation, talks about the critical role of women in STEM fields.

It is a well-known fact that half of the world's workforce comprises of women. Unfortunately though, only a fraction of them reaches the top. Various studies conclude that only three percent of CEOs across the world are women.

Innovation has been key in driving the technology-based world of today, enabling diversity and evolving business dynamics. It is sad but true that gender parity still exists. Fortunately though, enlightenment in terms of empowerment is slowly gaining momentum. In this regard, one entity – the MeeraKaul Foundation – strives to break boundaries by unlocking a world of potential for women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics(STEM). Established in 2011, the organization founded

by MeeraKaulis one non-profit entity that strives to address this very issue especially in the Middle East.

Talking about the STEM sectors and gender equality, MeeraKaul remarks,“Empowering women has gained global prominence.

As far as women's participation in global as well as national economic activities is concerned, it makes complete sense to involve this segment of society that makes up half of the world population. The need of the hour is

to not only provide them with equal opportunities but also to enhance their skills through learning programs and guidance.”

Offering a range of women-centric programs, the foundation strives to unravel women's immense potential especially in male-dominated industries such as STEM. The MeeraKaul Foundation provides a strong support system through a dynamic team of women leaders belonging to the STEM sectors across the Middle East and the rest of the world.

The foundation organized a one-of-a-kind pioneering conference “100 Women in STEM” in Dubai at the Emirates Towers Hotel.

Lasting from January 14 to 15, 2014, the conference recognized leading women entrepreneurs and executives in various fields.

The conference together with an award ceremony also highlighted issues such as the lack female role models equipped with the ability to lead their respective communities and, more importantly, their industry.

“We want to showcase stories and journeys of women who have worked hard to create a niche for themselves in STEM. By doing so, we are also setting the stage for future generations of women

55 Women in STEM

torchbearers, especially in these specific sectors, to be motivated enough to take the lead.”

Breaking stereotypes and empowering women to acquire the necessary skills to rise through the ranks of their peers especially in traditionally male-dominated fields is a challenge the USbased MeeraKaul Foundation willingly embraces. “The world has evolved through the passage of time. Work segregation was mainly due to the physical nature of a vocation or occupation.

Gone are the days when men hunted and women took care of

“

The need of the hour is to not only provide women with equal opportunities but also to enhance their skills through learning programs and guidance

”

homes. That is most certainly not the case anymore. Job performance is now based on a number of elements – frombusiness acumen to work-related skills, experience and so forth. So women can most certainly dojust as well or even more than men, and vice versa,” MissKaul says.

100 Women in Stem is an allday event with highly stimulating activities from conferences, women hackathon and will conclude with an award ceremony.

The 2016 event will take place in February.

Women in STEM 56

STEM needs WOMEN Meera Kaul comments on the critical need to include women need in STEM workforce.

On the surface, it's encouraging that over the past three decades the overall percentage of women receiving degrees in Science, Technology Engineering or Maths (STEM) disciplines has increased. However, it's very dispiriting that this has not translated into actual STEM careers for women. The main reason for this is that even though women reached parity in the percentages of degrees received in STEM disciplines, the focus has been on life sciences. Numbers remain low in subjects like Geo-sciences, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, and in Engineering and Computer Sciences, which have emerged as the fastest growing STEM fields with the highest workforce demand and pay, the percentage of women has either dropped or remained stable.

Focusing on the UAE, there is a reverse gender gap at school and university level, with girls outnumbering boys in STEM subjects. However within the first two years of working, women drop out in large numbers from STEM careers, creating a pool of untapped female talent.

So why should anyone care about this inequality and what are the drivers and reasons behind attracting and securing women in the STEM workforce?

It's a topic that has pre-occupied me for many years and was the primary motivation behind the establishment of The Meera Kaul Foundation which seeks

to empower women and help them grow in their careers. Established in 2011, the Foundation works with individuals and corporations to address issues of gender bias and eradicate inequality by running gender sensitization initiatives and campaigns to raise awareness.

More specifically, WiSTEM, the Women in STEM program of The Meera Kaul Foundation is committed to growing the in-

“

Combatting barriers and social stigmas is indisputably required as there is a clear and direct link between female labour participation and economic benefits and so it is in the interest of governments to create policies that encourage women to join the productive workforce.

�

volvement of women and girls in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by increasing the engagement of girls with STEM subjects in formal and informal environments, encouraging mentoring to support women during their academic and professional experiences, and strengthening efforts to retain women in the STEM workforce.

Evaluating the current STEM landscape, it's concerning to learn that product development and problem solving is most-

ly spearheaded by male engineers, yet 50% of users of those products are women. And it makes sense to include women in these processes – their point of view and perspectives should be encouraged from the earliest stages of the design and creation process.

There is a pressing need to provide women, that comprise 50% of the population, access to science & technology education and careers, to leadership positions, to positions of influence like academia and governments, to decision-making roles.

Attracting women into STEM workforce can directly enhance innovation, prospects of discovery and impact competitiveness.

Women can bring in a fresh perspective into these industries that have largely been male arenas.

And finally, looking at the pure economics of it, STEM careers pay much better than any other jobs, and for true empowerment women need to have access to these higher-paying jobs.

Yet, despite the strong business and economic case in favor of women joining STEM fields, there is still a drought of female participation in the workforce.

And there are many reasons for it, both social and personal.

The biggest barriers to women staying a productive part of the STEM workforce include the uncompromising balance of family and work-life, the lack of infrastructure and a lack of pro-family public policies of support services. In addition, the social expectations that women will not work continue to pervade and quash any potential will or endeavor.

Combatting these barriers and social stigmas is indisputably re-

57 Women in STEM quired as there is a clear and direct link between female labour participation and economic benefits and so it is in the interest of governments to create policies that encourage women to join the productive workforce.

The pitching of STEM as potential careers to women should be taken up by educators and policy makers, and the perception of the labour market as a male dominated environment needs to be changed. Encouraging closer collaboration between education and businesses would also help eradicate the demand-supply imbalance.

Bringing about a crucial and long lasting change is something that women can do by taking control of their career path and taking firm corrective action to ensure a positive and progressive trajectory. Incubating and supporting female entrepreneurship in positive environments should be actively encouraged, as should the stimulation and cementing of connections between groups, families and students.

Through efficient communication women will be able to compete on an equal par with their male peers, not being afraid to “ask for more�, whether that be monetary reward through a bonus or salary increase, or a promotion to the Executive Board.

-endsFOOTNOTE If you found the above topic of interest, please follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/meerakaulonlin, visit the website on www.womeninstem.com or get involved by contacting us on shikha@meerakaul.com About WiSTEM

WiSTEM is one of the core Programs of the Meera Kaul Foundation that runs several initiatives focused on women in STEM. WiSTEM provides an engaging platform for Academia, Governments, Corporates and Women Executives, Entrepreneurs and Leaders to interact, educate, mentor, guide as well as share knowledge and experiences for inspiring a global shift in the attitude towards Women in STEM. WiSTEM also organizes the

WiSTEM Conference & Awards, an annual initiative brought forward by The Meera Kaul Foundation to offer guests across the MENA region an unrivalled opportunity to debate the key issues affecting the progression of women in traditionally male dominated industries. The third edition of the WiSTEM Conference is scheduled for October 2016. For further information, to register or get involved, visit the website on www.womeninstem. com or contact us on shikha@ meerakaul.com.

About The Meera Kaul Foundation The Meera Kaul Foundation works with corporations and individuals all over the world to empower women, eradicate their economic marginalization in workplaces, create entrepreneurial opportunities for women and address issues of gender bias and inequality through education, programs, seminars and conferences. The Foundation brings forth the acumen of Silicon Valley to help other organizations for women to work together and support each other.

Essay Competition Winner

Essay Competition 60

Women in Space Ananke's Essay Competition winner MariyamToor, a student of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Pakistan, talks about the female gender reclaiming earthly and celestial spaces.

The universe knows no boundaries, and neither do women.

The universe fosters life, growth, sustenance and beauty without ever collapsing under the weight of its fair share of storms, explosions and rocky meteor showers – just like a woman who bears heavy burdens upon herself without ever ceasing to be a soul of warmth, love and miraculous resilience. Man will never understand the mysteries of the entire universe nor will he ever fully appreciate its beauty just as he will never be able to comprehend the complexities of a woman, which allows her to bear the burdens of life and society with strength and grace. So, if there is anything that space needs, it is women – for physically, they hold the capacity to endure remarkable changes and mentally, their intuitions are never off mark.

But let us, for a moment, put aside the Space which we call the universe, and shift our attention to women and public space, right here on earth. The relationship between women and public spaces is a complex one as varying cultural norms; patriarchal [belief] systems and other oppressive forces have breached their rights to freely move about in public spaces. There was, for instance, a point in time when women were not allowed to

vote and consequently, this limited their entry into the political public space. But we all know the famous stories of the Suffragettes Movement, spearheaded

by Emmeline Pankhurst, which ensured that women were given the right to vote. Hunger strikes, imprisonment and force-feeding were just some of the hardships the suffragettes had to endure in order to reclaim a space, which was rightfully theirs. It was a long, difficult process, but did the suffragettes not succeed in making the political public space open for women? Was it not the women who took on the roles of men in the work place during the World Wars while the latter fought in the army and did they not play a crucial role in upholding the wartime economy? They reclaimed their spaces and excelled at it.

Or how about women and space when it comes to public transport? Pakistani women, for instance, are no strangers to verbal and physical sexual harassment in public buses and rickshaws. They are unsafe and unshielded from the gaping men and their obscene remarks. But is it not true that day after day, women continue to wait for long hours at bus stops on the unkind roads, hoping to get to school, to work or even to somebody's house to be their servant? Do

they not envelope themselves in drapes and cloaks to protect themselves from unwelcomed stares despite not being allowed to even take a step outside their house? But they are there, everyday, without fail, attempting to reclaim their space. If women can reclaim their spaces on earth and excel within them, then the universe is just another space as well which women can do wonders within.

Let us now take a look at those women who entered the largest space out there and that too at a time when women on earth were still in the process of obtaining their most basic rights of reproduction and education. “Will the flight affect your reproductive organs?” or “Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?” are just some of the questions faced by Sally Ride before she embarked on her flight into space in 1983, becoming the first American woman to leave the atmospheric limits of the earth and succeeding in her mission.Thirty-three years later, in 2015, Samantha Cristoforreti returned from the International Space Station and went on to hold the record for the longest single space flight by a woman – nearly seven months.

While she was flying high, fascinating the world by becoming the first person to brew espres-

61 Essay Competition

so coffee in space, Nobel Prize Winner, Tim Hunt, said, “Three things happen when they (women) are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry.”It is most certain that Valentino Tereshkova, the first woman ever in space, did not weep when faced with the challenges of space. Rather, her photographs of the Earths horizon led to the identification of aerosol layers in the atmosphere. Thus, she did succeed.

“

The relationship between women and public spaces is a complex one as varying cultural norms; patriarchal [belief] systems and other oppressive forces have breached their rights to freely move about in public spaces.

”

And so, these women took a few bold steps on earth and then leaped into the skies to fly above and beyond the boundaries set by the world around them and put their mark across the biggest Space to exist. If every girl could follow in their footsteps and jump beyond the socially defined boundary lines, the world would be a remarkably different place. These women of space are special, for societycould not hold them down and neither could gravity.

Education

Education 64

Education and women in crisis Sabin Muzaffar sheds light on the impact of education on internally displaced and refugee women.

The debilitating economies of underdeveloped countries, crippling third world debt crises, terrorism and the ravages of war define the world we live in.

A staggering51.2 million people worldwide have become casualties of conflict and persecution,and are currently living under the worst conditions imaginable.Of this huge number of people, almost 80 percent comprise women, children and adolescents, with about 26 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Disturbingly, the “weaker” female gender living in crisis situations stand at a highly disadvantaged position due to their susceptibility to sexual or

gender-based violenceas well aslimited access to assistance in terms of livelihood, healthcare and education.

However, there has been growing recognition forandattention toimproving the quality of lives of refugeesas well as internallydisplaced women, thereby quickening the pace of sustainable peace-buildingand development processes. That said, muchstill needs to be done.

A woman's reality in conflict-affected areas clearly illustrates – as Valentine M. Moghadam puts it in her article “Peace-building and reconstruction with women:

reflection on Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine”– the “hegemonic masculinity of political actors” result in extreme forms of repression, poverty, harassment, all of which stem from illiteracy and barring women's access to schooling.

According to a concept paper presented at the Security Council Open Debate on “Women, Peace and Security – Displaced Women and Girls: Leaders and Survivors” in October 2014, “There is now a broad consensus that a peace process that does not include women is a faulty process; there is widespread outrage about the heinous crimes committed against wom-

65 Education en and girls in conflict-affected settings and strong determination to eliminate sexual violence and secure justice for all human rights violations experienced by women and girls. There is also growing recognition that women's economic, cultural, political and social autonomy is a linchpin for a life free of violence, and that women's empowerment is a key ingredient for democracy, stability and lasting peace.

Yet, there are many miles to go to affect real and sustained change with regard to outcomes and results on the ground. The past year has been marked by increased violence, mass displacement flows and related humanitarian catastrophes.

Women and children, particularly girls, have been affected by newly emerging violence. All of these developments have had a detrimental impact on progress and results achieved on peace, security, reconciliation and stability overall.”

Besides focusing on the fundamentals of life such as protection from violence, healthcare, food and nutrition, etc., the possibility of the sustainable economic emancipation of women in crisis areas rests on understanding the implications of education and, consequently, their inclusion in positive development activities.

According to Dr. Feras Hamza, Associate Professor and Program Director of International Studies at the University of Wollongong Dubai UAE, “I think generally, one should bear in mind two things; first, the constraints that organizations such as UNHCR might face regionally, in terms of countries adopting certain mandates and hence,recognizing

individuals as ‘refugees' with all that this would entail in terms of legal protection that would normally be due to them (MENA is not the EU!); second, the issue of women in general. There is a double challenge here in this region: the recognition of ‘women', and then the recognition of ‘the refugee'.”

Agreeing with Dr. Hamza and talking about education and how it can be encouraged among refugees and internally displaced women, Dr. Laura Voda, Adjunct Professor at the University of Wollongong, Dubai,UAE, says, “The most stringent problem that refugee populations are facing nowadays is status determination. Whereas the 1951 Geneva Convention and 1967 Additional Protocol define the legal concept of ‘refugee', status determination is highly dependent on the domestic procedures in the host state.

As such and in order to offer a broader view on the complexity of the problem, we should include displaced populations as well as stateless individuals.

De facto, they face the same types of problems. In regard to MENA, the distribution of powers, legislative systems, security of political systems and of the social apparatus in general is heterogeneous in the region. In addition, most of these countries have not ratified the multilateral treaties on human rights or similar legal instruments, which makes determination, as well as its related legal protection, more difficult to achieve and more costly. Some areas, for instance, are so remote that the whole societal structure needs to be built from scratch (e.g. South

Sudan).”

Adding, she remarks, “The approach in this case should be structural in the MENA region as some areas in here face real humanitarian crises. A more ‘muscular' form of action on the part of the international community (at the intergovernmental level, UN) in order to grant and secure humanitarian access, would be beneficial. In addition, the network of donors should be well-established in order to facilitate the assessment, training and staffing needed. In general, refugee camps have one instructor for around 70 individuals, which is not enough.

From a legal/policy perspective, the humanitarian path remains the most appropriate, I believe.

On the other hand, applying a set of lessons learned from relevant precedents, establishing local focal points for gender issues and education, establishing community services in order to facilitate the contact and,eventually, the integration of refugees into local schools would be beneficial. Last but not least, establishing partnerships with the local governments in areas such as immigration, grant of asylum, compliance with the non-refoulement standards, access to school, access to facilities – financialand logistical– preand post the educational process… It is to be reemphasized that only concerted action in the international community (with a higher level of support on the part of the developed states) would lead to palpable results.”

Heshima Kenya: Educate to Empower

Education 66 A first of its kind and devoted to protecting unaccompanied and separated refugee children and youth, Heshima Kenya is a non-profit organization that also focuses on supporting women and girls between the ages of 13 to 23 from Somalia, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, and Burundi.

The entity operates from Nairobi, Kenya and “provides shelter, education, vocational training, case management support, and advocacy to participants and their children who have experienced the detrimental effects of war, the loss of their families, and, in many cases, kidnapping, rape, trafficking, unlawful detainment, and torture.”

Heshima Kenya aims at creating an empowering social network for girls as well as young women in order to help them achieve economic self-sufficiency and become leading voices within their communities. The organization was co-founded by two visionaries, Anne Sweeney and Talyn Good, in 2008 to establish a safe community especially for refugee adolescent girls who suffer the highest rates of abuse and exploitation.

The organization offers a number of programs including the Girls Empowerment Project (GEP)that “allows young refugee women and girls to access education and livelihood opportunities, learn about their human rights and to cultivate leadership skills.” Also providing onsite daycare facilities for young and new mothers, the program is planned in way to assist participants possessing various levels of learning, culture, languages

and traumas in a unique classroom environment.

With a persistently desperate need to provide girls at the Heshima Kenya effective tools protecting them from rape, forced marriage, prostitution, discrimination, at-risk pregnancies, slav-

“

Besides focusing on the fundamentals of life such as protection from violence, healthcare, food and nutrition, etc., the possibility of the sustainable economic emancipation of women in crisis areas rests on understanding the implications of education and, consequently, their inclusion in positive development activities.

”

ery and HIV/AIDS, the organization wholeheartedly welcomes donations via Global Giving.

Through such acts of kindness and beneficiaries' participation, refugee women of Heshima Kenya are given hope to shift their course of lives for the better.

Indeed, development, peace and security all go hand in hand. Integrating refugee women and, most importantly, those internally displaced into society can only be possible if their needs are recognized in their entirety, and a process is initiated to meet those needs.

Analysts believethat internally displaced women also face uniquely harrowing challenges and require special attention as their own group. According to The Brookings Institute report entitled“Improving the Protection of Internally Displaced Women: Assessment of Progress and Challenges,”“Unlike refugee women who may register with UNHCR and receive assistance from a range of humanitarian actors, internally displaced women remain within the borders of their own country and, thus, their national government is responsible for protecting and assisting them. Women face discrimination on many fronts, including housing, land and property, livelihood, documentation and education.”

Impact of education on women in crisis In an environment of affliction, education can have a highly positive affect on women, Dr. Voda opines, “One of the main purposes of education is empowerment. As such, some of the very negative situations that women refugees are facing could be curbed: human trafficking, sexual abuse, health and hygiene, reproductive health problems, low levels of literacy and, very important, facilitation of the reintegration process (being it in the home country or in a third

67 Education country), along with income generation and psychological support. On the other hand, there's a generalized stereotype in the international arena according to which refugees (and persons in similar situations) are negatively impacting the local communities in the host country. Education thus represents a method by which such situations could be solved and the reintegration processes may be facilitated in a concerted manner. Moreover, it facilitates participation and, ideally, it should dismantle the perception that women have by birth a different, inferior status in comparison to men.�

There is a silver lining as far as the current education situation is concerned, Dr. Voda concludes, “Obviously, initiatives exist. Both gender issues (in general the sit-

uation of women) and education are two core areas of the Millennium Development Goals, as well as part of an array of hard law and soft law documents, both at the UN level and within the ECOSOC specialized agencies. The most important issue to be highlighted in the particular case of MENA is the humanitarian crisis and the convergence of the humanitarian response to the specific problem of education.

The success of any endeavor is highly dependent on the level of commitment in the international community, as well as on strong partnerships with NGOs, public entities and even with corporate environments worldwide.�

Through time immemorial, women have been systemically denied equality, autonomy and power. The reconstruction of

society and communities is only possible with the integration of women to not only further the process of peace-building but also gender equality.

Understanding and addressing the specific needs of women refugees or those internally displaced can become a widespread reality. This can be achieved by not only including women in decision-making at all levels, introducingwomen-centric programs, andthrough the committed endeavor of all stakeholders including governments, host countries, NGOs and the private sector; but most importantly, by also bringing those affectedintothe conversation.

Listening to them, understanding their situation and incorporating their views are crucial to make ideal conditions tangible, and to ensure long-term success.

Education 68

Women into STEM

education and practice Heriot-Watt's Postgraduate Director of Studies and Lecturer in Computer Science, School of Mathematical & Computer Sciences, Dr. Hind Zantout talks about integrating female student population in STEM education and fields.

MENA's full productive potential.Although there has been a limited representation of women in STEM education globally, the scenario is quite positive as far as the ArabianPeninsula is concerned.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has witnessed positive growth over the past one decade,essentiallyfuelled by the government's willingness to migrate from energy-based economies to knowledge-based ones. It is indeed not untrue to

claim thatlong-term sustainability as well as societal welfare can only be possible by incorporatingwomen's participation in regional economic activity, especially in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM),to harness the

Talking about thefemale student population especially in the STEM fields, Heriot-Watt's Postgraduate Director of Studies and Lecturer in Computer Science, School of Mathematical & Computer Sciences, Dr. Hind Zantout, comments, “It is very interesting to note that more and more girls belonging to many Arab countries, as well as from Indonesia and Malaysia, are studying engineering, science or technology compared to those in Switzerland or Germany, for example. This is an extremely positive sign.�

69 Education Dr. Hind cites a number of reasons for this upward trend in women's education. “I believe it is imperative to have the right set of programmes. If you have one based only on theoretical knowledge, people start losing interest. I can quote a student of mine who had once told a visiting computer science teacher that she chose the subject because she liked doing things practically. I think the crux of the matter is to develop a course that essentially stimulates students into action. So the kind of course you are putting together is very important. It is all about creating the right sequence of practice and theory.”

Women enrolment in STEMbased education in countries such as the US and UK has experienced a decline over the last few years, while it has comparatively increased in the Arab region.

A report published by the ICEF Monitor, a dedicated market intelligence resource for the international education industryhad earlier stated: “The Middle East continues to see dramatic growth in education capacity, driven especially by booming population growth and burgeoning demand for tertiary education by women.

Aside from simply keeping up with demand, it seems clear that these significant new investments are being made with a larger purpose. Scientific research and innovation in the region, and increasingly education – applied sciences, research, and technology in particular – are seen as an important driver of social and economic development.”

Acknowledging the greater demand for higher and specialized

education among women in the Middle East, and particularly in the UAE, Dr. Hind remarks, “In our field of computing, the percentage of women students is higher compared to that in other campuses. About 30percent of students enrolled in Heriot-Watt University Dubai Campus are women as opposed to merely 11 percent in the Edinburgh campus. Girls here are more outspoken and have a go-getter attitude. This may have a lot to do with UAE's diverse population –expatriates and Emiratis – that has opened up a world for them.

guides them to be proactive and wanting to do what they are doing. An encouraging environment and open-mindedness are key instigators for progress, and you have these elements working for you here in Dubai!”

Coupled with the very high penetration of mobile phones in the UAE, it really does make sense that girls would want to try their hand at this field.”

While women have made headway in STEM education, they still lag behind men as far as pursuing careers or retaining high-ranking positions are concerned. According to a report Accelerating growth: Women in science and technology in the Arab Middle East by the Economist Intelligence Unit: “In Palestine, 56 percent of undergraduate enrolments in 2010 were women, compared to 47 percent a decade earlier. This is especially pronounced in science: in Saudi Arabia, 65 percent of all enrolments in science degrees in 2010 were women, versus 40 percent a decade earlier.But the rising number of Arab women graduating in science is not translating into more women scientists in the workplace. Women account for just 1 percent of researchers in Saudi Arabia, 19 percent in Palestine and 22 percent in Libya, markedly lower than the world average of 30 percent. And despite their high proportions in undergraduate places, many do not pursue postgraduate research. Women make up just 34 percent of participants in science masters courses in Saudi Arabia, and 29 percent in PhD programmes.”

She further adds,“It is a very interesting topic to study Dubai in the context of gender issues.

In my experience, the most engaged students are girls. I also think it's the environment that

Lamenting the issue, Dr. Hind opines, “Indeed, the conversion rate for girl students to becoming professionals or pursuing careers is comparatively low especially in traditional commu-

“

Women enrolment in STEM-based education in countries such as the US and UK has experienced a decline over the last few years, while it has comparatively increased in the Arab region

”

Education 70 nities. But this can be addressed by businesses becoming more flexible. For instance, if you are a computer science graduate and a mom, you can easily work two to three days from home. I think the business world needs to accommodate women better in the workplace.”

Overall, stakeholders – business leaders, communities and governments – will not only have to

rethink their policies to motivate women in STEM to participate in the workforce, they will also have to find the means to reconnect professionally educated women with the job market.

“The current situation has to change. Money literally goes down the drain if women are unable to pursue careers due to familial and societal issueseither after they graduate or go on a

hiatus.On the other hand, there is a widening gap of relevant human resources. In the long run, it is not sustainable to get people from outside when equally talented women are present. The key here is to invest in training women out of touch due to parental leaves, etc., in order to reintroduce them into the world of business,” concludes Dr. Hind.

71 Education

Empowering women to succeed through Learnactive Founding partners of Learnactive Maha Khatib and Layla Halabi unanimously agree that success in business is not based on gender.

A culture-sensitive company that strives to capture the uniqueness of individuals and organizations through skill development, Learnactive was established by founding partners Maha Khatib and Layla Halabi. The organization offers a diverse range of training solutions that have success-

fully enabled the maximum transfer of knowledge ensuring every client's return on investment.

Keen on encouraging women

participation in the world of business and the workplace, the dynamic duo reveals, “We make it a point to encourage our female employees, partners and entrepreneurs to join businesswomen forums and events.”

The importance of learning and training cannot be emphasized enough. Women are gearing to take over the business world, with a report by Booz and Co on “Women in the Workplace” noting that nearly 1

billion women around the world are poised to enter the global economy in the coming decade.

Sufficient attention from the pri-

vate sector as well as the governmentare both imperative to boost women's participation, and the need of the hour is to make real investments. “In our opinion, both the private andpublic sectors play an important role in empowering women by

Education 72

promoting them into leadership positions, encouraging their education and sponsoring women entrepreneurs. On the other hand, we strongly believe that women, especially professionals and entrepreneurs, should focus on their expertise by investing in education and learning,” opines Maha.

Talking specifically about women in the Middle East and, by extension, the UAE, Layla is of the same opinion, “The potential is immense, taking into account

“

that women have now started attaining bigger roles in leading businesses, be it in the government or private sector.”

If you have an idea and are passionate about it, you will surely succeed

”

Learnactive offers special rates to members of women entrepreneur organizations in the UAE. The company will also be unveiling plans that include rolling out professional development programs that will help empower women in countries including those in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

73 Education

Learning to Achieve Filled with an unquenchable drive to achieve, Hanan Nagi is the visionary founder of the HNI Training and Coaching center. Based in Dubai, the institute is an innovative entity with a mission to develop leaders through human capital development.

“HNI was established in 2010 at the height of the recession.

It all began while I was working in a government organization overseeing HR. It was there that I saw a gap in the market. I waited for the right opportunity and decided to launch my business when the time was right,” reveals Hanan Nagi.

Regardless of how empowering one might feel owning a business, there is always immense pressure and fear that comes with its establishment. “It is actually debilitating when you are just starting up and that, too, at the height of the downturn.

That is actually the biggest challenge, especially if you already have a good job. But what has helped me through is determining the pros and cons as well as taking calculated risks. I did test the water before taking the leap,” she says.

Making the leap is not the only challenge an entrepreneur faces when kick-starting a business. Facing stiff competition is one significant test which every entrepreneur or businessperson has to face.

“Deciding on your unique selling point and what makes you different from the rest is crucial when facing competition, especially if you are trying to penetrate an industry or sector where companies have been around for 15 to 20 years.

It is important to one who is just starting up, otherwise, you get swallowed up by the big fish,” says Nagi. She further adds, “The challenge is how to be perceived as a professional service provider.”

Women entrepreneurship in the Middle East has seen a rise in recent times, and credit goes to the forward-thinking nations supporting women participation in the corporate world. “Things are changing. I come from a country where being a woman is a challenge in itself, but here in

the UAE, it is different. In fact, it's very advantageous being a woman entrepreneur in a country where women are given a lot of support and encouragement,” says the HNI founder.

Nagi believes that at the end of the day, doing business has little to do with gender, and a lot to do with one's drive to succeed. “There is a huge potential for women entrepreneurship in the Middle Eastern region, and particularly the UAE. The country lends unequivocal support to entrepreneurs regardless of their gender, and this is how it should be. I think many countries in the Arabian Peninsula are moving in this direction, some faster than the others. There is a shift in how women are being perceived, and they are no longer rated as second class citizens,” she concludes.

Hanan Nagi is the proud owner of a company that, according to her, “… doesn't differentiate between men and women. Irrespective of their gender, both have the flexibility to work from home as well as office.”

An edifice of human resource empowerment, HNI is truly an enabler of sound HR personnel behavior that encourages the flow of thought processes, work management and decision-making in an autonomous way.

Gender Mainstreaming

Gender Mainstreaming 76

Women Engendering Peace Gender diversity for peacekeeping & sustainable nation-building It's a fact that we live in a world stricken with hunger, conflict and disease.

While more than three billion of the world population lives in poverty, earning less than $1.25 a day, 90 percent of the victims of modern warfare are civilians.

Even though ascertaining specific numbers of civilian casualties of war, both fatal and/or traumatized, is difficult, the magnitude of the total repercussive impact of conflict can neither be denied nor ignored. n addition, a global review of available data suggests that 35 percent of women worldwide

have experienced some form of partner or non-partner violence, and the picture is even bleaker when it comes to children. In such a scenario, the role of gender diversity for peace-building and human security cannot be emphasized enough.

Gender diversity and inclusivity are pivotal for not only crisis management, but also for sustainable peacekeeping. It is not untrue to claim that women play a catalyzing role when it comes to mobilizing societal relations.

Involving women in any peace process is critical to deal with vulnerable groups of marginal-

ized women and children – the primary victims of war, violence, poverty and disease.

According to the Peace-building Initiative organization: “Men tend to dominate the formal roles in a peace-building process; there are mainly male peacekeepers, male peace negotiators, male politicians, and male formal leaders. Power is unequally distributed between men and women and the majority of women do not have a voice in local and national decision-making processes. However, women do play an important, if largely unrecognized role, in

77 Gender Mainstreaming peace-building. The underlying assumption is that women involved in these processes will help design a lasting peace that will be advantageous to the empowerment, inclusion and protection of women. Stemming from this theme is the commonly accepted approach of including women in decision-making processes and empowering women as decision makers and actors in all areas of peace building, as well as activities to sensitize male actors in peacekeeping – through gender-focused curricula and trainings, codes of conduct, and disciplinary measures for military and peacekeeping actors.”

In an article titled: “Peace-building and reconstruction with women: reflections on Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine”, writer Valentine M. Moghadam comments: “It was not until the 1990s that violence and the problem of wartime rape acquired global prominence and action. Armed conflicts in Yugoslavia and Rwanda showed that women, like men, are victims of military onslaughts and terrorists actions; they lose life and limb, and join the ranks of refugees and internally displaced persons. Unlike men, however, they also are the special victims of violence, especially rape.”

Indeed, people need to acknowledge the stigma attached to rape victims – a consequence of the crime committed against them – who either lead a life of social alienation or voluntarily succumb to eventual death.

In retrospect, one can easily surmise the damaging effects of

suppressing sexualized violence in the early 20th and 21st century – from its noticeable absence in the Nuremberg Trials to the rape camps of Vietnam, Bangladesh and Rwanda. Rape has been considered as a weapon of war since time immemorial, though recognized more recently. It was actually Judge Navanethem Pillay – former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who first legally defined rape as a war crime, and de-

“

Gender diversity and inclusivity are pivotal for not only crisis management, but also for sustainable peacekeeping. It is not untrue to claim that women play a catalyzing role when it comes to mobilizing societal relations.

”

clared: “Rape has always been regarded as one of the spoils of war. Now it is a war crime, no longer a trophy.”

It is, therefore, critical to ascertain a paradigm for a more gender-sensitive approach to managing issues of war, conflict as well as violence; to apply diversity as an effective tool for not only negotiating peace, conflict resolution; but also for effective reconciliation and rehabilitation processes.

In this regard, the UN Security Council unanimously passed the 1325 resolution “specifically addressing women's roles in conflicts and peace processes, as well as the impacts of war on women. The resolution advocates for the protection of women and children after conflict, urging parties to take special precautions to prevent gender-based violence; it also calls on states to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and girls. But it also encourages states to consider women's inclusion in post-conflict reforms such as disarmament, security, and judicial, constitutional and electoral processes.” The 1325 resolution is a cornerstone for any peace-building work aimed at the protection of women and integrating them in the peace process.

Here, the challenge lies not only in the recognition of women's critical role in peace-building, but rather the enormous undertaking of translating rhetoric into reality.

Writer Zahbia Yousuf points this out in “Women Building Peace”: “A report by UN WOMEN in 2012 (Women's participation in peace negotiations: Connections between presence and influence) assessing the impact of Resolution 1325, found that ‘a limited but reasonably representative sample of 31 major peace processes between 1992 and 2011 reveals that only 4 percent of signatories, 2.4 percent of chief

Gender Mainstreaming 78 mediators, 3.7 percent of witnesses and 9 percent of negotiators are women'. The report also refers to another survey which found that only 92 (16 percent) of 585 peace agreements since 1990 contained at least one reference to women or gender.”

In order to create a landscape where the meaningful participation of women in peace-building process can take place, entities such as the United Nations as well as all countries must recognize women as equal stakeholders and, therefore, enhance the quality of women representation

especially on the negotiating table.

“

Involving women in any peace process is critical to deal with vulnerable groups of marginalized women and children – the primary victims of war, violence, poverty and disease.

”

Not only is it fundamental to build capacities and train women for mediation, negotiation, monitoring of human rights as well as accountability, it is important to involve women in early warning and crisis management as the female gender is socially equipped to deal with, and has the capacity to sensitively understand the socio-ethnic and religious vulnerabilities of affected individuals, groups and communities.

79 Gender Mainstreaming

The trade of gendered vulnerabilities Claire Dangalan There's a reason why Liam Neeson's movie “Taken” has captured our attention as its terrifying premise of losing one's daughter to a powerful international human trafficking syndicate hits a raw nerve in every parent's mind.

reality.

And while we would like to think that the government is doing its job to protect its citizens, news of children and youth disappearing and then turning up dead elsewhere with their organs missing, or of young girls and women being kidnapped, never to be found again, haunt us in our subconscious minds. Why? Because human trafficking is a

• Actions: the recruitment, transportation, or receipt of persons; • Means: threat or use of force, coercion or deception; and • Purpose: exploitation (e.g. sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, or removal of organs) A $32 billion-generating international criminal activity, human trafficking is ranked the third most profitable global illegal

According to the Human Trafficking Protocol in the 2000 UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, the definition of trafficking has three components:

industry, falling just after drugs and counterfeiting which rank first and second respectively.

Global statistics show that children, in general, make up about 50 percent of human trafficking victims while women and girls make up 80 percent– a significant majority in the statistics of an internationally underreported crime, with women and girls, again, making up98 percent of the total reported victims of sexual exploitation, which, in turn, is the most common form of human trafficking. “Girls are affected disproportionately, and are trafficked in particular for commercial sexual exploitation and child

Gender Mainstreaming 80 domestic labour,” states SANTAC, a South Africa-based organization established primarily to combat human trafficking (http://www.santac.org/eng/ Human-Trafficking/The-role-ofGender).

Gender discrimination links to women's victimization Only a few can directly make a connection between gender discrimination, and the fact that there are more female human trafficking victims.

If we go back to the basics of structural discrimination against women, we know that women in societies where gender disparity persists at the expense of women, only a minority of women (if any) have access toeducation, healthcare and other social services. This type of situation puts them at a high risk of illiteracy, teenage pregnancy and/or marriage, domestic violence, and socio-economic exploitation – all factors that contribute to and perpetuate the poverty lifecycle.

But what makes girls and women particularly vulnerable to human trafficking?

“Research links the disproportionate demand for female trafficking victims to the growth of certain ‘feminized' economic sectors (commercial sex, the ‘bride trade,' domestic service) and other sectors characterized by low wages, hazardous conditions, and an absence of collective bargaining mechanisms.

Exploitative employers prefer to use trafficked women—traditionally seen as submissive, cheap, and pliable—for simple

and repetitive tasks in agriculture, food processing, labor-intensive manufacturing, and domestic servitude.” (http://www. state.gov/documents/organization/126792.pdf)

wages. They live in fear of their “master,” and long for yet also dread the world outside, fearing the reprisal of an angry master who would successfully hunt them down after their escape.

In societies where women, in essence, have no rights and privileges, and where their survival is dictated by the whims of a male dominated society, and where the rights of succession and inheritance run their course along the male bloodline, a girl's fate is already decided at birth, by her father, brothers, uncles and

Women, especially those born into oppression and exploitation, are easier to frighten and blackmail, especially if their master threatens other family members in the process. Some victims find it hard to leave their exploiter even when they find opportunities to escape when they have a child or children or another family member being held in the same household or by the same master.

“

A $32 billion-generating international criminal activity, human trafficking is ranked the third most profitable global illegal industry, falling just after drugs and counterfeiting which rank first and second respectively.

”

male cousins. Men will dictate when she marries, whom she marries, what happens to her children, and what happens to her if she were to be divorced by her husband, or becomes a widow.

Girls and women are also sometimes used to pay off family debts and end up becoming indentured servants, or worse, sexual slaves. They have to earn their keep and never gain their freedom since their room and board is barely covered by their

According to RadhikaCoomaraswamy, former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, in the “INTEGRATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMENAND THE GENDER PERSPECTIVE: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causesand consequences:” “The root causes of migration and trafficking greatly overlap.

The lack of rights afforded to women serves as the primary causative factor at the root of both women's migrations and trafficking in women. While such rights inevitably find expression in constitutions, laws and policies, women nonetheless continue to be denied full citizenship because Governments fail to protect and promote the rights of women. In the home, in the community and in State structures, women are discriminated against on numerous, intersect-

81 Gender Mainstreaming

“

Women, especially those born into oppression and exploitation, are easier to frighten and blackmail, especially if their master threatens other family members in the process. Some victims find it hard to leave their exploiter even when they find opportunities to escape when they have a child or children or another family member being held in the same household or by the same master.

ing levels. The most extreme and overt expression of such discrimination is physical and psychological violence against women.

Violence is a tool through which discriminatory structures are strengthened and the more insidious and subtle forms of discrimination experienced by women daily are reinforced. By failing to protect and promote women's civil, political, economic and social rights, Governments create situations in which trafficking flourishes.”

Women trafficked across regional and international borders usually find themselves trapped under the threat of being jailed and then deported, with all their identification papers, including their passports, taken away from them on the outset.

Women as human traffickers

It must be noted that while girls and women greatlyoutnumber men when it comes to the incidence of human trafficking, the role of women traffickers also figures prominently in human trafficking operations. In some cases, like in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, “females account for more than 60 percent of convictions for trafficking in persons.”

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that “Victims of trafficking can be any age, and any gender. However, a disproportionate number of women are involved in human trafficking both as victims and as culprits. Female offenders have a prominent role in human trafficking, particularly where former victims become perpetrators as a means of escaping their

”

own victimization. Most trafficking is carried out by people whose nationality is the same as that of their victim.”

While it may seem difficult to understand at first, female traffickers tend to be former victims themselves who experience some form of misguided “bonded emancipation” or revenge-seeking by becoming part of the initiators and taking on the role of the exploiters. By using their knowledge of the feminine psyche, and with their feminine guile, they are able to victimize both males and females as well as children.Some female traffickers who are forced to traffic other people do so under some form of threat from their own trafficker, or a promise of emancipation. The consensus about female traffickers, however, is

Gender Mainstreaming 82 that they are just as vicious, if not more so, as their male counterparts.

victimizing girls and women who will end up in forced labor and the commercial sex slave trade.

Tackling the issue at the grassroots level

Better economic situations also, quite logically, lead to better educational opportunities and employment prospects so women no longer need to depend on males and the rest of society to dictate whether or not they (and their offspring) will survive and, more importantly, their life chances.

The cliché about improving the circumstances of women is alive and well. Clichés become clichés for a reason, and it is because they hold some grains of truth.

In countries where gender disparities no longer flourish and gender discrimination is less prevalent, and where women's socioeconomic status has vastly improved, the incidence of and demand for commercial sex are significantly lower. This translates into fewer possibilities of

The role of governments and the society as a whole is underscored in the call of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) regarding the importance of research and information sharing in combatting

domestic, intra-regional and international human trafficking.

Ending human trafficking and the subsequent forms of exploitation that follow requires the commitment and participation of structural forces – governments, the legislature, local crime fighting units, the Interpol, other social institutions,and society in general.

To eradicate widespread ignorance on what human trafficking is, where and how it happens, and who its victims are, and to stop it in its tracks requires serious, concerted and vigilant efforts from both structures and agents.

83 Gender Mainstreaming

Seeing poverty

in the mirror Claire Dangalan By most accounts, I would be a statistic in studies linking gender with poverty. After all, female heads of households like me, supporting their children on their own, are a fixture in studies and researches on the feminization of poverty. In fact, “lone mother households” or “single-mother families” are considered to be at the highest risk of poverty mainly due to inadequate (or lack of) income and very limited resources.

Single mothers are the poorest women in their society, and their children acquire all the possible disadvantages there are in their community relative to their peers. If the mother is illiterate, unemployed and unhealthy, her children face the greatest of risks in terms of something as basic as human survival. Satisfying basic needs such as food, shelter and water would be next to impossible, with the hope of education invisible even in the distant horizon.

A stark picture, indeed, but it is true. The global face of poverty is overwhelmingly female.

Female fetuses and infants at risk In societies where female offspring are viewed more as economic liabilitiesthan assets (“money-losing merchandise”), especially in places where each daughter to be married off is re-

quired to bring a dowry to her in-laws' household – thereby leading to diminishing economic resources in the bride's own household, the abortion of female fetuses and female infanticide are known to have been practised.

Even China's “one child policy” indirectly encouraged similar practices as couples traditionally had an overwhelming preference for having a son over a daughter so that the law had to be changed in 1984 to allow couples to have a second child if their firstborn is female.

As for female infants who make it into adolescence, those born into poverty-stricken households helplessly carry on the vicious cycle of the feminization of poverty as they themselves are deprived of proper education, and are, instead, expected to become full-time caregivers and contributors to the household income at a very young age.

Some unfortunate consequences of female illiteracy or insufficient education are teenage at-risk pregnancies, early marriage, separation/divorce, prostitution, sexual exploitation, STDs, etc.

In most poor male-headed families, primary decision-making is in the hands of the husband or male head of household. Women in such family setups tend to

eat less, and “are the ones least likely to access healthcare, and routinely trapped in time-consuming, unpaid domestic tasks” (Beijing 20).

And while a few do survive and even manage to overcome such overwhelming odds, this number is a drop in the ocean of poverty; it is never the rule.

Labor and workplace discrimination Traditional societies have, in general, downplayed the importance of women's contributions to economic development as reflected in the devaluation of household work. Female-associated gender roles such as caregiving, housework, animal husbandry and cooking were not considered work per se, unlike farming, housebuilding, driving, etc.

And while women are said to perform 66% of the world's work, as a consequence of this type of discrimination and devaluation of women's labor (i.e. the “unemployable uterus”), the Beijing20, one of the UN's online women's empowerment platforms, states that “more than 1.3 billion women don't have an account at a formal financial institution” – a fact which, again, contributes to the replication of the menacing cycle of female-related poverty.

Women who manage to become gainfully employed earn less than their male counterparts. In America, Maria Shriver's 2014 report states that “the average woman is paid 77 cents for

Gender Mainstreaming 84

“

In most poor male-headed families, primary decision making is in the hands of the husband or male head of household. Women in such family setups tend to eat less, and “are the ones least likely to access healthcare, and routinely trapped in time consuming, unpaid domestic tasks (Beijing 20)

�

85 Gender Mainstreaming every dollar a man makes, and that figure is much lower for black and Latina women; African American women earn only 64 cents and Hispanic women only 55 cents for every dollar made by a white man.”

Men lead the pack in terms of career advancement as women (especially the married ones) would, at one time at least, be taking a maternity leave and/ or leaves of absence to care for their sick loved one/s since “women's place, first and foremost, is in the home.” And while male bosses and men with successful careers are considered exactly the successes they are, ambitious women who thrive in the corporate world are sometimes described in misogynistic terms as ballbusters, go-getters and workplace b*****s.

Economic insecurity in old age A little-known truth to all is that poverty continues to haunt women well into old age and the retirement years. There really is no respite from poverty if one is, in fact, poor or has become poor as a consequence of being female.

In an article written by Melanie Hicken for CNN money, it states that “women are almost twice as likely as men to live below the poverty line during retirement, with single and minority women

struggling the most.”

Smaller earning means lesser savings, if any – next to non-existent for female heads of households. And since a lot of women are “employed” in the informal economy (unregistered, unregulated enterprises)and in parttime work, they do not get to enjoy the retirement benefits associated with having been employed in the formal economy (regulated by the state). Majority of poor elderly women tend to be those who were or continue to be heads of households, followed by those who have never married or remained single all their lives.

Advancing the cause of women By this time, with all the facts, figures and analyses on hand, people and their governments would have realized that advancing the cause of women is,

in fact, advancing the welfare of the world.

Achieving true gender equality is not a matter of pitting one sex against the other, it is a matter of social justice, good economics and politics. Countries who desire progress in the truest sense of the word need to work on the grassroots level. They need to address women's issues and remove any obstacles that hinder women's empowerment. They need to educate everyone, including women, and provide access to decent housing, employment, healthcare and sources of good nutrition.

Fighting poverty means eradicating elements that impede the achievement of a female-oriented agenda. It may sound discriminatory, but it is not. It may seem like a pipe dream, but it is not.

Taking care of the women of the world means taking care of the children, and our future.

Gender Mainstreaming 86

Some quick facts from the UN •Of the 775 million illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women •If a girl is educated for six years or more, as an adult her prenatal care, postnatal care and childbirth survival rates, will dramatically and consistently improve •Educated mothers immunize their children 50 percent more often than mothers who are not educated •AIDS spreads twice as quickly among uneducated girls than among girls that have even some schooling •The children of a woman with five years of primary school education have a survival rate 40 percent higher than children of women with no education

87 Gender Mainstreaming

Commodifying Women Through Time

By Sabin Muzaffar Gender inequality is an issue deeply entrenched in modern society stemming from various factors including poverty, lack of and inadequate access to education, or illiteracy; history bears witness to its existence since time immemorial.

A brief look into Greco-Roman myths and Eurasian history will show how the female sex was perceived in the pre-Socratic, post-Aristotelian eras, and even now in this modern day and age.

Although mass media has played a pivotal role in the objectification of women, world literature teems with instances of

women commodification, with the “weaker sex” treated as objects and taken like possessions as spoils of war.

Historical perspective According to a paper titled, “Women, Gender, and Religion,” edited by Susan Calef and Ronald A. Simkins, and written by Christina A. Clark, Creighton University: “Greek medical writers differ in their ideas about male and female bodies. The Hippocratic school presented men and women as separate species (what we might call a “two sex” model), whereas Aristotle considered women imperfect or defective men in what has been termed a ‘one

sex' model. While men's bodies were hot, dry and compact, women's bodies were cool, moist and spongy. Further, women's bodies, being more porous than men's, were thought to be more open to outside influences. Thus, women lacked the firm control of bodily boundaries that men had.

Women changed shape during pregnancy, and they leaked: blood, tears, and emotion.

‘Since woman does not bound herself, she must be bounded.'

This is achieved by organization of her space, prescription of her gestures, ordering of her rituals, imposition of headgear, attendants, and other trappings.”

With such a widely-held mindset, women's bodies were thought to

Gender Mainstreaming 88 be mere vessels for reproduction and fertility. This not only gave rise to sexual segregation, it also showed how society had specific gendered roles for men and women.

The latter played a role, albeit a passive one, in maintaining the health of the family, focusing mainly on reproduction. Transforming into capital for production, women's bodies became “sites of containment, control and oppression,” writes Clare Craighead in her article titled “(Monstrous) Beauty (Myths): The commodification of wom-

en's bodies and the potential for tattooed subversions, Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity.”

As expected, there was (and still is) little change in women's status in society although more defined with the passage of time: one form being the ideal “domesticated housewife” and the other – a “demonic whore figure.”

Consumerism and sex symbols As economies grew and thrived, man's manifold demands further increased, giving rise to insatia-

“

Although mass media has played a pivotal role in the objectification of women, world literature teems with instances of women commodification, with the “weaker sex” treated as objects and taken like possessions as spoils of war.

”

ble consumerism in every aspect of society.

According to feminist writer Andrea Dworkin: “Female knowledge of objectification usually stops at a necessary but superficial understanding: beauty is rewarded and lack of beauty is punished. The punishments are understood as personal misfortune; they are not seen as systematic, institutional, or historical.

Women do not understand that they are also punished through sexual use for being beautiful; and women do not understand the lengths to which men go to

89 Gender Mainstreaming protect themselves and their society from contamination by ugly women who do not induce a lustful desire to punish, violate, or destroy, though men manage to punish, violate, or destroy these women anyway.”

Traditional media, and now, the social media boom, have all but fueled man's capacity to exploit and objectify women. With sexually suggestive images of specific body parts – the bloated lips, lustful eyes, enticing cleavage plastered everywhere from magazines, newspapers to the digital landscape subliminally put both men and women in hyper-drive.

In his media coverage analysis titled “Objectification of women in media,” Jon Barber writes: “Sexual messages in the mass media can have both immediate and long-term effects. Viewing a television program may change a person's immediate state by inducing arousal, leading to inhibition of impulses, or activating thoughts or associations. It may also contribute to enduring learned patterns of behavior, cognitive scripts and schemas about sexual interactions, attitudes, and beliefs about the real world. The recurring message the media is sending is sticking over time lending to the negative effects on society. They have created stereotypes amongst society: that we as a society focus on permissive sexual attitudes, that men are primarily sex-driven, that women are objects of men's desires.”

Another research article by Jennifer Stevens Aubery suggests: “Perhaps the most insidious way that the media emphasize physical attractiveness is by ob-

jectifying bodies (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Sexual objectification has been conceptualized as the separating of a person's body, body parts, or sexual functions from his or her person, reducing them to the status of mere instruments, or regarding them as if they were capable of representing him or her. Content analyses have operationally defined sexual objectification as instances in which the focus is on isolated body parts, such as a bare stomach, buttocks, cleavage, or a bare chest, in the absence of a focus on the rest of the person. A general conclusion from this content-analytic work is that the media often focus on bodies and appearance as the most important components of sexual desirability. However, there are gender differences in how the media use sexual objectification. Some research has suggested that the difference

“

We are a species born in diversity, influenced by factors such as our genealogy, culture, biology, and geographical influences. Despite knowing these facts, mankind still remains enslaved to unyielding ideals of a patriarchal mindset which actually does nothing but oppress the society as a whole.

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in how the bodies of men and women are portrayed is by the face-to-body proportions. For men, a ‘face-ism' bias exists, whereby men's heads and faces are shown in greater detail than they are for women. The corresponding bias for women is ‘body-ism'; the focus is usually on women's bodies or body parts, sometimes eliminating their heads altogether.”

Statistics reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS, 2009) show that there had been a 36 percent increase in breast augmentation surgery, 84 percent in abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), 4,184 percent in lower body lifts,4,191 percent in arm lifts,132 percent in buttock lifts, and 65 percent increase in breast lifts. And these are somewhat dated numbers.

We are a species born in diversity, influenced by factors such as our genealogy, culture, biology, and geographical influences. Despite knowing these facts, mankind still remains enslaved to unyielding ideals of a patriarchal mindset which actually does nothing but oppress the society as a whole.

From Zeus' creation of the first woman, Pandora, to be used as a weapon in the mythical tale of his contest against Prometheus, the epic Trojan battle that “burnt the topless towers of Ilium” in the name of Helen, the desecration of the empowered Hypatia on the streets of Alexandria to the dysmorphic sexualization of the modern “educated” woman; there exists a long protracted tale of power, domination and commodification of “woman” to be valued for “its” use.

Gender Mainstreaming 90

The costs of devalued domestic labor Claire Dangalan delves deep into the issues of domestic labour and informal economy.

The sexual division of labor as we know it is related to the traditional differentiation of tasks associated with the male and female genders. Women, referred to as the “softer sex”, have been

relegated to the role of homemaker or head of the domestic sphere in the traditional family setup. Hence, chores like cleaning, laundry work, cooking and childcare have been part and

parcel of women's roles through history, whether one were to be a revolutionary leader like Tawakul Karman of Yemen, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, the late Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, Phoolan Devi of India, Janet Jagan of Guyana, Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman of the USA, Mary Wollstonecraft of Great Britain, and Joan of Arc of France, a working mom or a full-time housewife, there is always an unspoken assumption and general consensus that, indeed, a woman's place is in the home.

Women in less developed countries, for example, in Asia, Africa and Latin America, are still expected to prioritize housework and caregiving even as they “directly” contribute to the household income by engaging

91 Gender Mainstreaming in “legitimate” paid labor like agriculture, animal husbandry, basketry, etc. They walk several kilometers to fetch water, all the while ensuring that the children and the elderly are looked after.

Young girls carry their younger siblings around as they perform their household chores, and sometimes end up missing classes, not finishing their educationand severely limiting their future work opportunities thereby leading to a whole host of other problems. An overly simplistic observation, which, nonetheless, applies to a lot of young girls and women in similar situations.

So-called “career women” fare no better. Married women professionals perform what is referred to as a “balancing act” whereby they double their efforts to do well at work and even better at home, and become subservient to their less gainfully employed spouse to compensate for his loss of “monetary power” and contribution to the marriage.

Well-bred and educated children, a clean and well-kept home, a sparkling kitchen, a well-manicured garden, an impeccably groomed and clothed husband, and delectable cooking are all considered hallmarks of a successful homemaker.

However, how much value does society really place in domestic labor?

Not much, apparently.

In more traditional societies as well as in so-called modern societies where social stratification is highly pronounced and reflected in the complex diversification of

roles and tasks, and the discrepancies in the value attached to these work typologies, domestic labor is considered one of the less significant tasks and among the lowest paid or undervalued.

In places where people can afford to hire individuals to perform domestic duties on their behalf, the low value attributed to housework is never more obvious.

In the UAE, for example, the monthly compensation for domestic workers is about AED 800-1,500 per month on average. And while the Ministry of Labour has set guidelines in compensating house workers, not all sponsors follow the rules.

Then there is also the proliferation of hourly paid housework, usually involving house cleaning and laundry services, whereby an agency would charge AED 20-40 per hour from the client, but pays its cleaners a fixed salary of AED 1,400 per month. The same thing can be said of office and hospital cleaning service workers who are also employed by agencies. Those who consider themselves “self-employed” or who clean to get some extra income usually have to compete with others who may be offering cheaper rates. Among the ones hiring help, very few, if any, are willing to pay more than the minimum market rate.

It seems, among the wealthy folk, it is easier to pay for a Birkin bag which can cost anywhere between $10,500 and $150,000per piece, than compensate their house worker $1,000 dollars a month. Indeed, the perceivedeffects of raising

domestic worker wages would have great repercussions on the society and the economy if the traditional mindset is used.

In effect, with the limited or lack of appreciation we have for the value of housework, we would assume that if a housemaid will be getting something equivalent to $1,000 monthly, one's work as an office secretary or sales manager would have to be increased substantially. After all, one had to study and gain experience to be in that job.

According to Bryce Covert in her article “Putting a Price Tag on Unpaid Housework” (Forbes Woman), “How do you figure out the value of those hours spent in the home, where no one ever earns wages for wiping noses or countertops? The paper simply calculates what it would cost to pay a domestic worker to do the work. The value for individual families is big: it increases personal income 30 percent. But the effect on the economy is also huge.”

Can you imagine a scenario where you have to come home to a messy house, having to depend on restaurant-bought or fast food every single day of your life, or having no time for leisure simply because you cannot leave your kids alone?

Really, someone has to do the job… and do it well.

But how much, exactly, are you willing to pay for it?

Gender Mainstreaming 92

On accepting violence

against women Claire Dangalan Whenever I come across news of a woman being sexually assaulted, or a girl being molested, my mind wanders back into my life as a social science teacher, conducting classes in both cultural anthropology and sociology, among other things.

I remember one sociological reading I assigned to each of my classes every semester – taken from James Henslin's book “Down to Earth Sociology”, in particular, i.e. “Riding the Bull at Gilley's: Convicted rapists describe the rewards of rape” by Diana Scully and Joseph Marolla, first published in 1985 in the book “Social Problems” (Vol. 32, No. 3).

Scully and Marolla's objective in conducting the research was to disprove the prevailing myth that rape is a crime committed

by mentally ill men.In writing her “Reflection” after their study was published, Scully said, “When I began my work on rape, the psychopathological model, which assumes thatrape is the result of a mental illness and that it often includes an uncontrollable sexualimpulse, dominated the field. According to this model, because men who rape cannot controltheir behavior, they are not responsible for it either. This also was the heyday of victimblaming and the assumption that women consciously or subconsciously precipitate, andconsequently are the ones who are really responsible for, rape.

Thus, much of the psychiatricliterature focused on the behavior and motives of women and even girls rather thanmen.”

In the course of their study involv-

ing American men incarcerated for the crime of rape, and who volunteered for the study, Scully and Marolla identified a list of so-called “rewards” the sample group of men experienced based on their accounts of the assault. These were: revengeand punishment, i.e., revenge rapes as collective punishment for the woman or women the rapist has issues with; an added bonus when rape is committed as an incident related to another (main) crime such as breaking into a home or robbery; sexual access, i.e. men resort to rape when they have no legitimate access to it; impersonal sex and power whereby the perpetrator views rape as a way to get sex without commitment and subjects the victim to humiliating acts thereby imposing his will upon her;

93 Gender Mainstreaming and recreation and adventure which is mostly related to gangrapistsand more youthful offenders prone thrill-seeking and peer pressure.

In effect, the study appears to support the theory that society alsohas a responsibility in the act of rape by perpetuating a “rape culture”.

itself; that is, the cultural normalization of the rape of both men and women.

Based on this concept, rape can, then, only be eliminated through a revolutionary social transformation.

But what is this“rape culture”?

The keyword here is, of course, “culture.”

Culture defines the ways by which we assume our roles in society; the manner by which we are born, who handles or manages the birthing process, who raises us, what defines family and gender roles, how we learn or get educated, what we believe in or our world view or religion, whom we can and cannot marry, the rules and the taboos – prescriptions and proscriptions, the laws of the land and the prevailing morality, etc.; in short, culture is so deeply ingrained in us that it inevitably influences how we think, behave and become.

But since there is what we call cultural variation – what is wrong behavior in one society may be acceptable or considered a neutral act in another – people, quite understandably, do exhibit cultural differences.

The term “rape culture”, however, is a relatively more recently coined term – an outcome of the second wave of feminism in America in the 1970s. The documentary film “Rape Culture”, produced and directed by Margaret Lazarus and Renner Wunderlich in 1975, is credited for being the first vehicle of expression firmly defining the concept

Do you remember your mythology?

Rape through myth and history

In Greek mythology, Leda, the wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta, and mother to Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra (wife of Agamem-

“

Social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter have become vehicles for sharing the unpleasant experience and shaming both victims and offenders

”

non), and Castor and Pollux, was raped by Zeus disguised as a swan. The Gorgon Medusa portrayed by the poet Ovid as having once been a ravishingly beautiful maiden was raped by Poseidon, and then turned into the monster she became by Athena. “The Rape of the Sabine Women” is another popular legend associated with the founding of Rome.

How about your world history classes, especially the raids and the wars?

While considered a morally deplorable and depraved act in most societies, rape has been chronicled to have taken place in all the major wars and invasions dating back from antiquity (e.g.

Greek and Roman invasions), the Middle Ages (e.g. the Vikings, Arab slave trade and the Mongol Empire), the period of European conquest and colonization, up to the present, including the First World War and the Second World War, as well as numerous civil wars and armed conflicts such as the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971), El Salvador (1980s), Sarajevo (1990s), Sri Lankan Civil War (1990s), the Rwandan genocide (1994), Darfur in Sudan (early 2000s), Iraq War (early 2000s), the Democratic Republic of Congo (2010), and the Libyan Civil War (2011), and other acts of violence and force such as piracy, mass abductions and kidnappings.

The role of mass media If you are a fan of movies like “Braveheart” as well as a host of other war-themed or crime-related films, it does not take much imagination to become familiar with the profound horrors of rape – for both men and women victims, and the satisfaction (which may or may not be sexual in nature) it gives the perpetrator/s.

Even current popular TV series like “A Game of Thrones” and “Outlander” are rife with rape scenes involving both minor and major characters.

In the study “The Effects of Mass Media Exposure on Ac-

Gender Mainstreaming 94 ceptance of Violence against Women: A Field Experiment” (1981), by Neil M. Malamuth and James V.P. Check, “The results indicated that exposure to the films portraying violent sexuality increased male subjects' acceptance of interpersonal violence against women. A similar non-significant trend was found on acceptance of rape myths. For females, there were non-significant tendencies in the opposite direction, with women exposed to the violent-sexual films tending to be less accepting of interpersonal violence and of rape myths than control subjects.”

In general, violence in media portrayals of women, especially pornography, has been linked to the way society, men in particular, is desensitized to acts of

Later studies, however, reveal that subjects who have committed sexual offenses are sometimes sexually repressed and usually exposed to pornography at a later stage in life, as opposed to those exposed to pornography early on but who are able to clearly distinguish fantasy from reality. This is not to say, however, that such studies prescribe or support the distribution and consumption of pornographic materials.

the Ohio case in 2013 where the reaction of the offenders during sentencing got more media attention (especially from CNN) and sympathy. The judge found the defendants guilty of rape and more: “Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, two Steubenville high school football players, guilty of raping an inebriated 16-year-old teenager on August 12, 2012, and spreading pornographic photographs and videos of the unconscious girl around Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites” (Mass Media and Rape Culture in America, Melissa Pavlik, 2013).

Social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter have become vehicles for sharing the unpleasant experience and shaming both victims and offenders. One such example was

The sharing of short video clips on social media showing drunk women in bars being molested and acting uninhibitedly trivializes the effect of both male and female behaviors on the actors

violence against women and get conditioned to commit certain violent acts themselves.

95 Gender Mainstreaming

themselves and the audience in such contexts. If a woman (mis) behaves or dresses provocatively, is this sufficient cause or provocation for forced sex (rape)?

Who gets raped?

“So, if something bad happened, it must be because the victim either did something bad and deserved it, or they were just plain stupid. Sadly, the authors point out, not only do the non-victims hold to this self-deceptive strategy, even victims often cling to that worldview which now says, ‘Something bad happened to you. Therefore, you are either bad, or you were stupid.' As victims, we find the world would rather disbelieve us or blame us, and all too often we blame ourselves. Which is why George Will's article was so deceptively destructive. It presented what seemed to be rational concerns that played right into our predisposition to blame and discredit the victims,” says Dixie Gillaspie in her article “Profile of a Rape Victim – It's Not What You Expect” (2014) where she talks about rape victims' perceptions,

both male and female.

It is a truism, though, that the reported victims of rape on both national and global levels are disproportionately female; that rape usually goes on undetected and unreported, especially marital rape. It is also true that offenders are usually part of the victim's familiars – acquaintances, neighbors, friends and family members / relatives.

One can get raped whether scantily clad or covered up, fitting or not fitting a society's standards of beauty, young (or even very young) or old (or very old), illiterate or highly educated and everyone else in between – it doesn't matter what your ethnicity is, your creed, your health or social status, everyone is a potential assault or rape victim.

What is the bull at Gilley’s?

The famous mechanical bull at Gilley's Saloon in Dallas, Texas (formerly in Pasadena) gives the rider an 8-second challenge to stay on the bull. A lot of people get thrown off in the first instance, and the few who make it

through the wild 8-second ride get off the bull with a feeling of victory and exhilaration.

Based on the title of Scully and Marolla's study, rape is likened to riding the Gilley's mechanical bull and succeeding, where the rapist finishes the heinous act feeling empowered and victorious.

It must be noted that while Diana Scully was a rape victim herself, she knew that, as a researcher, she could not walk around acting like “the victim”. In her paper titled “Reflection”, Scully states, “At some point, I stopped speaking publicly as a victim because I was no longer effectivein that role. In fact, my work as a feminist scholar on a topic of deep personal significancehealed me and restored my sense of personal power—the thing that is taken fromwomen when they are raped. It is important for raped women to know that despite what themedical model predicts, it is possible to emerge from rape an even stronger woman than youwere before.”

Do you know anyone who has been raped and kept silent?

Perhaps it is time to speak up.

Gender Mainstreaming 96

Enroute to public

transit safety for women Sabin Muzaffar explores methods of creating safer travel spaces for women.

T

he ability to move freely and have full control over movement plays a major role in women's economic emancipation. It is not untrue to claim that real empowerment is only possible through improved mobility which enables women to take control over their lives, have access to education, markets and exposure to information. That said, it is a bitter pill to swallow that the female gender suffers some of the worst acts of sexual harassment and violence while using public transport.

In 2012, a 23-year-old woman was raped in New Delhi and later succumbed to internal inju-

ries. Her “mistake” was boarding a public bus at 8.30 in the evening.

According to a report published

by Thomson Reuter Foundation, “Six in 10 women in major Latin American cities report they've been physically harassed while using transport systems, with Bogota, Colombia, found to have the most unsafe public transportation, followed by Mexico City and Lima, Peru.”

We live in a world with deep-seated patriarchal mindset where women behaving out of the ordinary or even in ways perceived to be “normal” be-

come targets of predators, with many adamantly justifying the act by saying that “she had it coming!”

It is important to note that not only the environment, but culture, age and geography all greatly influence the movement and travel practices of women.

Nonetheless, women, regardless of where they hail from – rural or urban areas, developing or underdeveloped countries – frequently experience many forms of harassment: from an unwelcome comment to inappropriate touching and even rape!

According to IndunaMag, “The

97 Gender Mainstreaming impact of the fear of violence is significant. Firstly, women will adopt all manner of precautionary measures and strategies in order to protect ourselves. These lead to our changing our behavioral patterns – including how we dress, and we are made to feel responsible for any harm that befalls us in public spaces.

Victim blaming is rife. As a result, women tend to avoid travelling unless absolutely necessary, as hyper-vigilance is tiring.”

It is, therefore, safe to assume that this immobility has led to limiting woman's access to resources, disallowing her from participating in economic activity, causing segregation, and reinforcing unfair gendered roles in society.

Acknowledging the issue and realizing the importance of addressing it, a number of campaigns have been launched by different groups and communities globally.

The Transport of London (TfL) launched a “Safer Travel at Night” campaign to ascertain as well as understand women's specific concerns. According to TfL: “The 2014 Safer Travel at Night campaign aims to make people aware of the dangers of picking up un-booked minicabs off the street, such as robbery and sexual assault. In 2013 and 2014, the number of cab-related sexual offences in London fell by 15 per cent compared to the previous year, with specific rape offences down 30 per cent.” It has been lauded as one of the most comprehensive efforts by transport operators to meet the ‘distinct needs of women.'

Other campaigns such as woman-only buses, pink taxis, etc., are all positive steps in the right direction, but they are only a start which cannot fully weed out the problem unless deeper issues are addressed.

Improved mobility to empower women by the use of technology is also an effort that should not be ignored. TfL's #HomeSafeSelfie or Pakistan Innovation Foundation's #TakeBackTheWheel are indeed great initiatives that help women even take full control of their safety and well-being.

“

We live in a world with deep-seated patriarchal mindset where women behaving out of the ordinary or even in ways perceived to be “normal” become targets of predators, with many adamantly justifying the act by saying that “she had it coming!”

”

In order to address and resolve this issue, and create safe spaces for women as far as travel and transportation are concerned, the need of the hour is a public, all-inclusive dialogue that welcomes all stakeholders: women, men, public transport operators, policy-makers as well as those striving to solve this problem.

One way of doing so is by harnessing the power of social media which is fundamental to

certain target audiences as well as being the most viable forum for discussion. While Twitter is a platform for relatively savvier users, Facebook boasts formidable numbers of female users even in developing and underdeveloped countries. This could in fact be a starting point of a blueprint.

Technology can play a pivotal role in raising awareness via enhanced data collection through digital or physical citizen engagement such as polls, referendums, panel discussions, etc.

The successful adoption of any application, tech or otherwise, can only be possible by including stakeholder voices that will not only lead to reduction of offences but also create a safer travelling environment.

According to the UN WOMEN: Sexual Harassment refers to unwelcome sexual comments, attention, actions, or gestures. Like other forms of sexual violence, the key components of sexual harassment are the actions taken without the consent, permission, or agreement of the person or persons targeted. Sexual harassment can include non-contact behavior, such as sexual comments about a person's body parts or appearance, whistling while a woman or a girl is passing by, demands for sexual favors, sexually suggestive staring, following, stalking, and exposing one's sexual organs. Sexual harassment also includes physical contact, such as grabbing, pinching, slap- ping, or rubbing against another person in a sexual way. Some elements of sexual harassment may be cov-

Gender Mainstreaming 98 ered by criminal law. However, many elements may require civic action, which might involve educational and administrative responses.

Sexual Violence refers to any sexual act committed against the will of the other person, either in the case where the victim does not give consent, or when consent cannot be given because the person is a child, has a mental disability, or is severely intox-

icated or unconscious, perhaps as a result of alcohol or drugs.

It encompasses both sexual harassment and other forms of sexual assault such as attempted rape, and rape. It includes acts such as genital mutilation/ cutting, forced sexual initiation, forced prostitution, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and other sexually motivated forms of violence.

Violence against women and

girls (VAWG) refers to any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women and girls, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. (Definition from the UN General Assembly 1993 Declaration of the Elimination of Violence Against Women).

99 Gender Mainstreaming

Beauty is never #nofilter Claire Dangalan How many times have we heard ourselves saying: “Beauty is only skin deep” and “Don't judge a book by its cover,” and actually believing it? Many times, I suppose, especially during our impressionable years… and then faithfully, we hold on to them even as we find ourselves learning just the opposite.

The recent brouhaha over the promotional recruitment video posted by the Alpha Phi sorority chapter of the University of Alabama criticized for being “Racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying, so Stepford Wives: College Edition. It's all so… unempowering” by writer A.L. Bailey has, once again, brought a

lot of sensitive issues under the spotlight not the least of which is our idea of what is pleasing, attractive, beautiful.

Among us women, the idealistic feminist inside us screams “I am free to (just) be,” but then we look around and see society looking back at us. No, we are not as free as we wish to be. There are layers of lenses through which we see ourselves, however unwillingly, and more lenses and perspectives through which others see us.

“Beautiful” takes us places One of my favorite articles on beauty is the one by Sidney Katz: “The Importance of Being Beautiful” (Down-to-Earth Soci-

ology, 2007). He conducted research on “person perception” and explains in the end how a person's attractiveness affects her/his life prospects and experiences whether it be during infancy, childhood, in school or the workplace. The more attractive or beautiful one is perceived to be, the better are one's life chances.

Katz's study supported the socalled “halo and horns effect” which is a term used by social scientists whereby people associate unpleasant characteristics (“horns effect”) with people they barely know based on what they perceive to be a less-than-pleasing outward appearance or some other trait seen as negative, and then decide other peo-

GenderMainstreaming100 ple to be good (“halo effect”) based on attractive physical attributes, charisma or certain skills the individual possesses which they find desirable.

Kristen Houghton, in her article “Pretty Is, Well, Pretty Important to Me,” published on Huff Post Style (2013), admits, “I was a serious girl back then who wore glasses and only lip-gloss, pulled my long hair into a pony-tail and believed that my intelligence was the best thing about me. I still do. But... somewhere along the road to adulthood I discovered what being pretty could accomplish for me and I used it to my advantage. I found out that, no matter how much effort had to go into achieving it, I liked being pretty and better yet, thought of as pretty. It worked well for me.”

In the Journal of Public Economics (2010), a study in Finland called “The looks of a winner: Beauty and electoral success,” it

was found that more physically attractive politicians, both male and female, had 20% more votes in comparison to more competent but average looking candidates.

The Economist also published an article in 2012 called “Don't hate me because I'm beautiful” based on a study done by Bradley Ruffle and Ze'ev Shtudiner showing how CVs with photos of hunks or good-looking guys were selected for interviews. And, to avoid an applicant's being judged for or judging an applicant based on looks, Ruffle suggested that companies “discourage the practice of including a photo altogether.”

But what is “beautiful”?

They say “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” which you may or may not agree with. However, one thing is certain, people we consider beautiful are perceived as pleasing one way or another, eliciting a pleasurable response

“

from within us.

In some places, petite women may be the norm whereas in other societies, voluptuous or curvy women are preferred.

But what we consider beautiful these days is largely influenced by how much we are exposed to the highly globalized Western model of beauty: fair or lighter skin, wide deep-set eyes (maybe not brown or black), the legs of a runway model, low BMI but with the curves of a woman from the pages of Sports Illustrated, relative hairlessness, and hair of a different color or shade and texture.Even “plus-size models,” though not fitting into the size zero model category, have beautiful faces. And they need to be tagged “plus-size,” not just models.

In both historical and cross-culturalstudies on beauty, earlier societiesand various ethnic communities have certain practices

No, we are not as free as we wish to be. There are layers of lenses through which we see ourselves, however unwillingly, and more lenses and perspectives through which others see us

”

101 GenderMainstreaming

designed to make women more attractive to their future mates such as foot binding in China, the use of corsets in Europe, ear stretching among the Masai, facial scarification in some tribal communities in Sudan, and the Kayan neck rings – all of which we may consider strange and unnecessarily painful, but no less strange than what we are doing to ourselves in order to fit into our sometimes impossible standards of beauty.

“Beautiful” – at what price?

Using cosmetics is no longer just about enhancing our appearance: adding color to our lips and cheeks, highlighting our eyes, shaping our brows or mattifying oily spots. Like thespians, some womenput on makeup like

a mask… altering their appearance so that urban legends of a man purportedly divorcing his wife after seeing how she looks without makeup now abound.

Going under the knife, though still somewhat frowned upon, is rampant among celebritiesand no longer uncommon among “regular” people, especially women. People undergo cosmetic surgery to get rid of wrinkles and unwanted bulges or fat (liposuction), to have larger perky breasts (breast augmentation/ silicone implants), to have jaw or chin reduction work, get nose jobs, and get their lips done with lip enhancement fillers.

And it doesn't stop there, simpler cosmetic procedures like skin

lightening and the exact opposite, tanning, have become quite commonplace. Oriental women born with a natural epicanthic fold undergo double eyelid surgery to have “bigger” more attractive eyes. Women with obvious facial and body hair pluck, shave, get lasered, or go through the torture of waxing to keep certain body parts hairless.

Some of us diet, run, Zumba, stretch and pole dance – not for health reasons – but to satisfy a need to fit a category of beauty that is driving everyone mad.

Medical terms like anorexia nervosa, bulimia and body dysmorphiahave become parts of our everyday lingo, and sadly, have begun to afflict more and more

GenderMainstreaming102 adolescent girls who are bombarded daily with unrealistic images of beauty on television, print, digital and social media.

We put ourselves on display on Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr, hoping we look attractive enough to garner the most “likes” or more followers. We post pictures acting weird or funny, or put #nofilter… yet still secretly crave some form of social approval from our various social media friends.

Even on LinkedIn, instead of posting a current business photo, we may find ourselves using an image taken five years ago where we look maximally attractive – perhaps looking both thinner and younger, or at least a heavily Photoshopped one.

There are picture apps that we

can use to change our hair color, length and texture, add a blush to our cheeks, instant eyeshadow, eye and lip color, remove blemishes and alter our face shape, etc. We find them funny when we use them, but to what extent does our use of them reflect our own innermost desires?

Getting away from “Barbie” To be fair, it's not all Barbie's fault.

At a very young age, we learn from fairy tales and folklore that the good and kind-hearted are always fair and beautiful, and that the evil look crooked and ugly. We can blame the authors, or we can blame Disney. Either way, even as we are taught as children that not everything that looks like gold is gold, our own experiences and reactions to

other people, both fitting and not fitting socially or culturally prescribed norms of beauty, tell us otherwise.

Even in our choice of a partner, what strikes us first is his or her looks. We hit bumps and deadends, we make mistakes, and we are supposed to learn from them.

We do know that being beautiful does not equate to one's happiness, but not being beautiful most certainly guarantees failures and heartaches at certain points in life – not for a lack of abilities, skills or intelligence, but more from a lack of opportunities offered by a biased, judgmental society.

Knowing all this, why should we, then, concede to and perpetuate unrealistic standards of beauty?

103 GenderMainstreaming

Spotting the

Glass Cliff

Claire Dangalan sheds light on the issue of glass ceilings that impede women's professional growth We have all heard of the proverbial “glass ceiling” which is a term coined by Katherine Lawrence and Maryann Schreiber of Hewlett-Packard in 1979 at the National Press Club during a discussion at the Conference of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press.

The glass ceiling refers to a perceived barrier in the corporate world and other institutions, which, according to David A. Cotter, Joan M. Hermsen, Seth Ovadia and Reeve Vanneman, in their study “The Glass Ceiling Effect” (1999), “implies that gender (or other) disadvantages

become worse later in a person's career.” This means that all work-related factors being equal, gender and/or racial differences block some people (e.g. women in general or African-American women as a specific segment) from being promoted to higher leadership positions; and the glass ceiling becomes more pronounced as one advances up the corporate ladder. As a glass ceiling, those who are blocked from reaching the higher rungs of position and power “see (it) but don't get there.”

But the glass ceiling has been

somewhat worn and broken down though still perceivable in some instances. Women have risen to higher leadership positions in both government and private institutions, while some have ventured into startups that have been able to successfully ride the first waves of financial instability that afflict all new businesses, establishing themselves as self-made entrepreneurs heading companies and managing firms.

And then, comes the “glass cliff.”

The first research delving into the glass cliff phenomenon was con-

GenderMainstreaming104 ducted by Dr. Michelle Ryan and Prof. Alex Haslam of the University of Exeter. In their study, Ryan and Haslam examined the Top 100 companies listed in the London Stock Exchange with a special focus on when they appoint women to their executive boards. The findings of the study revealed a pattern whereby companies appeared highly likely to select women leaders to head their company during downturns or periods of poor performance.

Some people might think getting appointed CEO, especially for women, even in a failing company, is well-worth a try. Definitely. But what happens next?

To be fair, in further glass cliff studies, it was revealed that participants usually chose a woman leader to take over a troubled company as qualities like good communication skills, optimism, intuitiveness, the ability to inspire others, etc., were essential in being able to successfully navigate troubled waters – part of the think crisis-think female (TCTF) pattern observed in both business and politics. The think manager-think male (TMTM) pattern, on the other hand, has something to do with how predominantly male-associated characteristics such as competitiveness and self-confidence are perceived to be highly desirable qualities in a manager, in general.

In addition, if the company in question has a history of being led by males, and if a male is responsible for having led the firm to unstable ground, then a change in leadership may also

require a change in the gender of the leader. This, again, leads us to the question: what happens next?

If the change in leadership leads to a successful outcome, then all will be well and good. The trouble here is that once the company is successfully maneuvered into the post-crisis stage, surviv-

“

Women are “seen to be good people managers and can take the blame for organizational failure.”

However, such so-called failures negatively impact the concerned woman leader’s future career prospects, and may also threaten future opportunities for women leaders to be chosen to head the business or organization.

”

ing a period of financial instability and operational turmoil, the leader may then be criticized for not being able to grow the company after the worst is over.

This can, again, lead to the appointment of a new male leader which leads us to the term “savior effect.” However, if the now-female-headed company remains in crisis mode and ulti-

mately, she (the new CEO, GM, etc.) fails, she can simply take the fall.

Women are “seen to be good people managers and can take the blame for organizational failure” (Ryan, Haslam, et al).

However, such so-called failures negatively impact the concerned woman leader's future career prospects, and may also threaten future opportunities for women leaders to be chosen to head the business or organization.

Examples of female executives that have figured in glass cliff scenarios include Mary Barra of General Motors, Sallie Krawcheck of Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney, Lynn Laverty Elsenhans of Sunoco, Anne M. Mulcahy of Xerox, and currently-threatened Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

In Marcie Bianco's article “Women, Forget Ceilings – Beware of the Glass Cliff” (2015), she mentions similar situations taking place in the media citing executives such as Jill Abramson of the New York Times, Katie Couric of CBS and Diane Sawyer at ABC World News as having become more prominent when their companies were going through some tough times.

The glass cliff has also been observed in law firms where tough cases in which the risk of losing was high usually got assigned to female lawyers; while more “neutral” cases were less gender-specific. In parliament or congress, hard-to-win seats usually have to be won by women.

So the cause of women has moved forward, but not fast enough.

105 GenderMainstreaming Men now ride the so-called “glass escalator� where traditionally female-dominated jobs like nursing and teaching have been successfully penetrated by men, which is all well and good.

However, the glass escalator leads men all the way to the top where a disproportionately larger number of men lead, either as principals, deans or university presidents, or nurse managers as the case maybe. This phenomenon is quite recent and is still undergoing further studies.

The glass cliff is there, for either men or women. But, as it happens, more women are made to face the possibility of falling off the cliff. One saving grace would be historically women-led firms where glass cliff situations such as these seem all but absent; the thing is, such establishments are still few and far between.

mindset.

It's really not a matter of who's leading who right now. Man or woman, it doesn't really matter.

Male, female‌ that is secondary.

What we need is a change of

We need to see beyond the clothes, shoes and makeup, or the wheels, suit and tie.

A leader is a leader, and requires tenacity, integrity, experience and substance, in times of success and failure.

And in the ideal world we all long for, it shouldn't even matter.

Women Achievers

WOMEN Achievers 108

Women unemployment

in MENA and its

impact on the region Maha Tazi investigates the challenges that hinder women's economic

T

oday, in both UN and World Bank reports, the Middle East and North Africa region scores the lowest of any global region when it comes to employment, with a rate of10.6percent across the whole region. Unemployment isparticularly strikingamongwomen populations;in fact, only one in three young Arab women between the ages of 23 and 29 participate in their country's labor force. As a consequence, female labor market participation (LMP) in the MENA rates at a level of 31 percent, which is extremely low compared to other regions in the world such as

109 WOMEN Achievers 43 percent in Latin America, 48 percent in South Asia, and 68 percent in Europe and Central Asia. Moreover, the gender gap is quite homogenous across all Arab countries, withfemale LMP rates at 24 percent in Egypt and 27 percent in Syria. Women's unemployment is, therefore,one of the major challenges the MENA region is facing today.

Economic factors that hinder women's employment One of the main dynamics behind the low female employment participation rates in MENA is the institutional structure of the MENA labor market today.First, because structural adjustment in the MENAregion has, in general, resulted in a de-feminization of the private sector. Women workers are mostly concentrated in the public sector.As a matter of fact, 82percent of the total workers in the public sector in Algeria today are women, 52percentin Jordan and 58percent in Egypt. However, the public sector's poor future growth prospects means women are the first to suffer from the situation, putting them in a marginal and vulnerable position.

The very nature of MENA economies and the specialization of MENA markets contribute to hinder female labor supply. In fact, most of the MENA region's economies are oil-based and,therefore,only offer a few jobs whichtend to target men. Out of the twelve member countries in theOrganization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC), eight are MENA countries, notably Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Qatar. These figures contribute theneeds scheme in which fewer

formal labor market positionsmean fewer chances for women toacquire the status of ‘secondary workers' needed foremost when no males are available.

Ultimately, MENA women today are also discriminated against – when it comes to market hiring preferences wheremale and female-owned firms in the region-

“

Ultimately, MENA women today are also discriminated against – when it comes to market hiring preferences where male and female-owned firms in the region tend to hire, on average, far fewer women in comparison to world averages.

”

tend to hire, on average, far fewer women in comparison to world averages.

To illustrate, in MENA maleowned firms, only 22percent of total workers are women, in comparison with 42percent in East Asia, and 30percent in

South Asia. More strikingly so, the situation is even worse when it comes to female-owned firms: only 25percent of MENA workers in female-owned firms are women, compared to 48percent in East Asia, 39percent in Latin American and 34percent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Conversely, if slow-to-change institutional patterns contribute to undermine women's employment in the MENA region, women's unemployment itself also undermines the whole economy of the region at the macroeconomic level.

Low female participation rates today result in a loss of 25percent of the average family revenues and, on a macroeconomic level, in a smaller rate of economic growth of 0.7 percentage points a year.As a matter of fact, women's high unemployment rates deprive the region's economy of the labor and skills of half the population, which is one of the main explanatory factors for relative Arab economic backwardness: “Women are indeed the Arab World's unutilized and unrecognized human reserve”.

Hence, women participation in the labor market is a pre-condition to the development of the entire Arab region.

Likewise, an important aspect of women's empowerment concerns their economic participation In this sense, integrating MENA women in the economywould be of double-benefit: it will reinforce the role of women in the society, and stimulate the economic activity of the region.Therefore, because women's participation in the economy is an as integral part of their empowerment as

WOMEN Achievers 110 well as a pre-condition to the human and economic development of the whole region, it has become a major imperative and challenge for the MENA region today.

Cultural factors that preserve the gender gap Cultural barriers and obstacles also contribute to reinforce the gender gap, thus constraining women's economic participation. First and foremost, the persistence of the traditional gender stereotype contributes to the reproduction of inequality in the society. Highly resistantnorms and perspectives still give women primacy in reproductive and familial roles.

Case in point, women's labor participation in the MENA reaches its peak earlier than in other regions of the world, with the peak occurring between the

ages of 20 and 24, after which it starts decreasing. Hence, with the peak corresponding roughly to the age of marriage and early childbearing, this implies that marriage in the region entails other kind of responsibilities which oblige women to renounce their jobs.

In her work, RoksanaBahramitsva explains that within the traditional model of marriage, men are defined as the breadwinners and women as the homemakers, thereby setting apriority for domestic and reproductive roles for women, which then severely limits their post-marriage employment and career growth prospects.

Another factor undermining women's employment in the region is their de facto unequal access to education. Today, about 40percent of women across the Middle East region are illiterate,

with slight variations from one country to the other.And because women are not given the same educational opportunities as men, far fewer actually enter the workforce.

In fact, schooling also hasa positive effect on both reproductive and employment choices.

Research shows that 66percent of women who finish secondary and higher education use contraceptives and end up with a 1.9 child average, and only 44percent of women with no education make use of contraceptives and subsequently end up raising four or more children.

The laws also play a key role in tackling the issue of women's exclusion from the economic and public spheres in general. Today, women's economic opportunities in the region are seriously constrained by the presence of

111 WOMEN Achievers

gender-specific mandates establishing categories of gender-appropriate and inappropriate professions. In this context, in Women's labour market participation in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria & Tunisia, NielsSpierings, professor at Radboud University in Nijmegenspeaks of developing “opportunities” through the role of gender equality laws and anti-discrimination laws for the elimination ofpersisting legal discrimination against women. In fact, gender equality can also be achieved by promoting affirmative action in order to restore formal equal-

ity through the establishment of quota laws for women in certain sectors and the passing of legislation that encourages women's labor participation.The passing in 2002 of a landmark quota law requiring a minimum of 20percent womenin seats in the Moroccan parliament is one such example.

It is also important to focus on the role people themselves can play in the process through their adherence and capability to question their own attitudes and mentalities. ProfessorNeil Spieringsdescribes “attitudes”

as having to do with “whether the general societal norms in a country tolerate women to work outside the home”. Also, as Ivan Martin, Professor at the European University Institutepertinentlypoints out in Female Employment in MediterraneanArab countries: Much More than an Economic Issue, “without the women's contribution, there can be no change or development in the Arab Mediterranean countries”. Hence, women also need to stand up for their own rights and denounce the many sources of theireveryday exploitation, and ultimatelyclaim their due.

WOMEN Achievers 112

Illustrating Aspirations CEO Rasha Hamdan talks about the burgeoning greeting cards industry in an Internet-dependent world Aspiration knows no boundaries – this is a message Yislamoo, an Arabic greetings company, has clearly illustrated time and again. Dedicated to enhancing social correspondence across the MENA region, the company is a woman-led enterprise based in Jordan that celebrates the magical beauty of the Arabian culture, and specializes in print as well as electronic greetings.

Talking about the venture, CEO Yislamoo Rasha Hamdan reveals, “Our core areas of experience are in design and Arab talent scouting as well as retail and ecommerce.” The company strives to bring loved ones closer together by commemorating special and everyday occasions through a wide array of localized, arty greetings with an impishly fun and region-centric approach.

Yislamoo is all about breaking boundaries and stereotypes.

“It was indeed challenging to convince people about the company's immense potential. Naysayers scoffed, and came back to us claiming that gone are the days of print, and that the greeting cards industry is an aging one. But Yislamoo has proved them wrong. To everyone's sheer surprise, our audience comprises young people – Generation Y, the millennials so to speak,” the dynamic CEO remarks. A fact

concurred with by companies and organizations worldwide.

A 2014 research conducted by UK's Greeting Card Association shows that the value of the UK market has increased by 5.4 percent, with everyday cards at £1.02 billion compared to £0.96 billion in 2012, an increase of 6.1 percent. In a survey, industry research company IbisWorld noted that “The popularity of on-

“

Jordan has become, hands-down, the hub for tech startups and resilient entrepreneurs, with quite an impressive chunk of women-led businesses. It wasn't forced or premeditated, it happened organically as a byproduct of opening up the platforms to anyone who was interested

”

line cards has surged, with the sale of electronic cards – or custom-printed ones ordered online – up to $3.5 billion in 2012 from just $65 million a decade ago.”

But getting recognition and establishing a solid fan base were not the only hurdles the young company faced. “It was actually connecting to people who possessed the purchasing power which was the real impediment,” says Rasha. The company has

shown resilience as it expands regionally with the assistance of Eureeca, a crowdfunding entity, successfully raising its first round of funds.

There are many facets to business success, and one of the leading aspects is the role of the government in supporting or encouraging entrepreneurship. “Jordan has become, hands-down, the hub for tech startups and resilient entrepreneurs, with quite an impressive chunk of women-led businesses.

It wasn't forced or premeditated, it happened organically as a byproduct of opening up the platforms to anyone who was interested,” she says. She further notes, “Keeping the platforms open to everyone who applies for incubation, training, etc., is important. Yes, there are public and private sector programs that encourage businesswomen. Unfortunately these do not positively illustrate women employment, where we are still underpaid and under ranked as far as a career growth path is concerned.”

With a vision to “To break social and cultural boundaries among the Middle Easterners themselves, one card at a time,” Yislamoo's trailblazing CEO aims to expand in a gender-biased Middle Eastern environment by being as utterly unbiased as possible, and celebrating both genders.

113 WOMEN Achievers

In search of entrepreneurial diversity in Pakistan Sabin Muzaffar delves deep into issues affecting women entrepreneurship in Pakistan, exploring answers for diversity and progress.

Pakistan is a country witha troubled economy, a dismal state of socio-political affairs, and itis anation simmering with colossal dissatisfaction. Ranked 146th out of 187 countries on the UN Development Program's 2013 Human Development Index, a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide, Pakistan is a country where roughly 90 percent of the women population are marginalized in every sphere of society – from the home front, education, careersand to business.

Although the last one decade has seen about a handful of Pakistani women enter the realm of business, technology and entrepreneurship in the country, there is still a deep void to be filled as far as diversity for national economic progress is concerned.

While this increasingly widening gap can be attributed to deeply-rooted gender segregationin a traditionally patriarchal society, women's lack of awareness regarding their social issues, a poverty of women-centric initiatives from the private sector and, most importantly, the absence of a meaningful discussion on gender diversity and inclusivity have played a critical role in shackling women economically.

“

Although the last one decade has seen about a handful of Pakistani women enter the realm of business, technology and entrepreneurship in the country, there is still a deep void to be filled as far as diversity for national economic progress is concerned

”

Women are now being termed as the third billion the world over,and who are set to join the workforce in the next one decade. In Pakistan, even urban women fall prey to the masculine hegemonic mindset, be it in educational or career choices, or venturing into the domain of entrepreneurship and decision-making; except for a select few!It is true Pakistan suffers from the lack of a proper infrastructure, policies and opportunities for entrepreneurship – what with its socio-political and economic crises. Such an environment invariably poses more hurdles for women in Pakistan.

According to an ILO report titled “Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan: How to improve their bargaining power,” writer Nabeel A. Goheers comments, “The business environment for women in Pakistan reflects the complex interplay of many factors. The modern institutional environment has a cosmetic tinge of equality and sometimes even discriminates positively in favor of women, but the underlying power of tradition and the vested interests of the patriarchal system work to maintain the status quo. The legal framework, the policy environment and the regulatory structures thus embed — or are interpreted — to discriminate against the economic activity of women.”

Even in this day and age, the

WOMEN Achievers 114 pace of growth in women's participation in the economic activities of the country remains sluggish. Educational choices are generally made to create perfect brides as opposed to trained professionals. There is a comparatively low conversion percentage of female graduates into career women, and an even lesser ratio of them in high-ranking positions.

While critics might argue that this is a global phenomenon, the public and the private sectors across the world are proactively working to change this situation,this is not the case as far as Pakistan is concerned.

In order to create a knowledge-based, sustainable society – a notion of having something one would consider utopic relative to Pakistan –much workneeds to be done.

Rhetorical as it may sound, it

is women who hold the key to a prosperous future mainly because they not only work for economic progress but also because their inclusivity generates welfare development.

In an article published in The Guardian, International Trade Centre (ITC) executive director Arancha González was quoted as saying,“In some places women are not part of the economy; they are considered to be a non-asset of the economy. It's almost like you have a plane with two engines but you only fly with one engine. You need to have both engines running if you want to generate the maximum amount of growth.The most interesting thing about women entrepreneurs is not only that they are an amazing engine for economic growth, but they are an amazing engine for equitably distributing the growth.”

Putting this into the Pakistan narrative, and based on a report by Jawad Syed, “Pakistan has one of the lowest rates in the world of female participation in economic activity. Compared with neighboring Iran and India, where female labor force participation rate (for females aged 15 and older) is as low as 38.6 percent and 34 percent respectively, Pakistan's female economic activity ratelags behind at 32.7 percent (UNDP, 2007).

According to the United Nations Human Development Report,an overwhelming majority of economically active women in Pakistan are working in agriculture (65 percent) followed by services (20 percent) and industry (16 percent). Female professional and technicalworkers represent only 26 percent of total workers. Furthermore, the ratio of estimated female to male earned income is only 29 percent (PPP US$ female 1.059, male 3.607).”

Adding, he writes, “According to the Economic Census of Pakistan, women-owned businesses represent about 2.4 percent of a total 3.2 million enterprises in Pakistan (FBS, 2006). Most of the women-owned businesses are reallysmall, that is, with a turnover less than Rs1 million and/or investments less than Rs0.5 million.”

In another report titled “2015 Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard,”sponsored

by DELL, it was revealed that“Pakistan receives the lowest overall score for access to resources

115 WOMEN Achievers

and the lowest scores for three of the indicators that make up this category. In Pakistan, only 19 percent of women have some secondary education, only 3 percent of women have a bank account and there are impediments for women accessing SME training programs. Ghana receives the lowest score for Internet access with less than 10 percent of women using the Internet.

Pakistan does only slightly better with just over 10 percent women accessing the Internet.”

The need of the hour is to enable women participation in not only the skilled workforce, but also to create a viable environment for female entrepreneurship. For this purpose, it becomes critical that all stakeholders – the private and public sectors, families, especially male relations –play a proactive, positive role in encouraging and supporting women.

The role of technology in women entrepreneurship cannot be emphasized enough. While women's inclusion in the STEM (science, technology, engineer-

ing, mathematics) fields is being encouraged from East to West, Pakistanis still at the stage of infancy.

Digital gurus such as Jehanara, President of the Pakistan Association of Software Houses, and Women Digital League's Maria Umar are some of the visionary women paving the way for future female technologists and women-preneurshere to take charge of their destinies.

It is high time that generally held concepts such as the tech and engineering fields being traditionally men-oriented need to be tackled at all levels – starting from homes, educational institutions, to the business and corporate levels.

Surprisingly, there has been a slow but steady rise of women entrepreneurship and technology in Khyber Pakhtukhuwa, a Pakistani province still considered deeply entrenched in patriarchy.

True, women still fall prey to the conservative mindset, but entities such as the Women's Digital

League are supporting the female community on multiple levels including raising awareness, capacity building as well as by creating support centers.

Moreover, the private sector needs to step up by launching CSR or social impact initiatives such as competitions involving female students in schools and colleges to encourage gender diversity. In addition to this, national, regional as well as inter-school educational policies should be devised topromote inclusivity, encouraging girls to participate.Pakistan needs women-centric incubators that actually launch ideas as well as offer training and mentoring grounds.

More legwork is truly the name of the game which will,hopefully, lead to the constructive development of Pakistani women, thereby harnessing their true potential and creating an empowered, knowledge-based society.

The question is, are well all willing to take that leap?

WOMEN Achievers 116

Women in aerospace: space lawyer writes monographic book on space law

Sabin Muzaffar chats with illustrious lawyer-professor Dr. Maria-Laura Voda about women in Space and her monographic book on Space Law. Tell us something about yourself I am a Romanian based in Dubai since 2011. Apart from working as a lawyer (corporate / commercial / dispute resolution / international transactions), I am a professor at the University of Wollongong, Dubai, teaching International Law, Diplomacy, Business Law and a few other related subjects.

You hold a unique specialty in Space Law, tell us about that.

I am a space enthusiast, which is the why I tried to approach this field from my own perspective – which is law. In terms of studies, I have a Bachelor's Degree in Law, a Masters in International Law and several specializations at the European Space Agency, UN, Academies of International Law in Netherlands, Spain, China, India, etc. In 2006, I started my PhD in International Law, specializing in International Space Law, at the Romanian Academy in Bucharest. Most of the research for my thesis has

been done in the Netherlands.

The moment I pursued my PhD in Space Law, it completely changed my life. I was particularly attracted to the novelty of the Space Law field, about the fact that it is a niche domain (and highly technical) for a jurist, and about the fact that it implied a lot of innovation and interdisciplinary approaches. It is a hybrid of public and private law, technical terms, space applications that you need to look at from different perspectives,

117 WOMEN Achievers and plenty of government documents, memorandums and even contracts that make space research and exploration the new purpose of high politics in the centuries to come. Nonetheless, I was and still am attracted by the originality of this domain.

More about me… I love books and animals, shoes, chocolate, mornings and peace. In Dubai I have discovered a new type of introspection, which makes me particularly happy from time to time. I usually try to think about me as being an extremely simple individual. But that, I believe, is the most difficult thing to do, and the conundrum of my full existence.

What is a space lawyer?

Space lawyers are jurists by formation – all of them: university professors, researchers, practitioners… all with a specific background, education and career in the field of International Space Law. At this time, there are not too many space lawyers in the world due to the particular features of the field; therefore, the domain is open and growing.

Some of our fellow colleagues see us being quite posh due to the domain we activate in. It is a tough domain, I would say. Plus, it is a particular category of lawyers or jurists (privileged I would say) having as their main aim to develop and grow the space law field, which, 50 years ago for example, was only a dream.

Now, it is part of our day-to-day life, and definitely a determinant of our future.

What has been the greatest challenge in your professional pursuits?

Of course, any professional pursuit has plenty of challenges of various types. I would look only at the space law perspective so far. The greatest challenge, for me, was research. Starting from difficulties in finding literature or scholarly sources in the space law field to finding specialization programs abroad (which are not so many), plus I had a reputation to defend. I was the first student in the Romanian Academy to pursue a PhD in the

“

The Middle East and UAE in particular are an amazing promoter of space tech, space science and applications – a very technologized society with plenty of companies involved in the field, an active space agency, a UAE satellite orbiting now around us… therefore, I would consider the UAE as an interesting and important spot on the space map.

”

space law field, therefore, it was a pioneer work, plus the name of the institution behind me. The Romanian Academy is the most prestigious scientific forum in the country, hence, my task has been more sophisticated than I thought. I have tried to put it on the map as doing research in the space law field, and I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that I have succeeded.

What milestones have you achieved so far?

“Legal Status of the Outer Space

and of the Celestial Bodies” is my first book ever. I have authored articles on the same matter, but nothing compares to a book.

This book is my major achievement in the research field so far.

A great milestone.

Secondly, I would look back into my professional life. I have been qualified as a lawyer at a very young age (22) and I was lucky to pursue this field from various perspectives: private practice, in-house practice or running my own law office back home, mostly related to international business law matters.

Third, what made me extremely happy and honored was my work at the governmental and intergovernmental level. I had a series of government postings in my country and an appointment in a UN-related organization in the space law and policy field.

This period of my life exposed me to the United Nations work, to the International Astronautics Congresses, to Space Generation Congresses, and to a world that supported my dreams and made my interest in space to become real.

Fourth, I am teaching. It feels great and it is a great honor for me to spend time and talk to my students, see them interested in various fields, and sometimes share with them my experiences in the space field. It is particularly rewarding for me as an individual.

Comment on the UAE as well as the Middle East as far as education pertaining to this field is concerned? And what is its relevance to this day

WOMEN Achievers 118 and age?

The relevance of space applications is tremendous and continuing to grow: from satellite TV to the Internet, GPS, phone, Google Earth, to more sophisticated technologies, all are coming from, are related to or are based on space applications. These are the minimal usages of space… the ones we can feel and sense every day. Aside from these, space involves scientific experiments, telemedicine, remote sensing, emergency response, disaster management – all designed to improve the society we live in and the life we live.

The Middle East and UAE in particular are an amazing promoter of space tech, space science and applications – a very technologized society with plenty of companies involved in the field, an active space agency, a UAE satellite orbiting now around us… therefore, I would consider the UAE as an interesting and important spot on the space map.

In UAE, as in many other parts of the world, space law or the legal regime of outer space is approached under public international law (it constitutes a branch of this broader field). There are already organizations active in the field of education, which have plenty of great results so far, such as the Arab Youth Venture Foundation. There is a lot of space technology implemented, constructed or even in the course of being built in the region. The engineering field when it comes to space is, I believe, well-developed due to the amount of business it generates in the region.

When it comes to legal educa-

tion, the domain is still new and in the course of implementation, as in many other parts of the world. However, with the growing usage of space, I personally believe that space law should become a distinct area of study for university students.

How can we empower women through this field?

Women are already a very solid participant in the space field. From Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut and the first woman in space, to Anousheh Ansari, the first space tourist – a woman as well – the space field offers plenty of examples of women doing research in outer space, contributing to space missions, engineering space missions and contributing to a better world.

Space offers a great venue for women's growth, inclusion and a clear proof of the strength and skills that us, women, have with regard to outer space. Space is a little “unfriendly” for humans in general, but this was not a barrier for us women to get involved.

Tell us about your book and its importance in this field –

in the global as well as local context.

My book is called “The Legal Status of Outer Space and of the Celestial Bodies”. It represents a slightly revised version of my PhD thesis and it is very new…. published in October 2015. I like to believe it is an updated and useful material for lawyers, and for the general public with an interest in the space affairs.

This book has a monographic approach, which is rare in the space law field. In general, lawyers write about sectorial fields, such as copyright in space, or insurance in space applications or the public international law treaties in the field. In comparison, the present book attempts a full approach of the space sector and its implications on the legal field, from public law to private law, to policies, to the legal regime of the newest space applications like suborbital flights, space tourism, the future of commercial space transportation and even more exotic subjects such as cyber presences in outer space and their legal regime or asteroids deflection or even potential contacts of humankind

119 WOMEN Achievers with an extraterrestrial form of intelligence from a legal perspective.

From a personal point of view, I deem the book as being a useful material and a reference point for further research on sectorial areas of space law. Space law is, anyway, very international or much internationalized; hence, the book can be used in any part of the world as a research and information tool.

What do you aim to achieve through this book?

At first, outreach and understanding. I tried to clarify a lot of grey areas in space law. They exist and will continue to exist due to the lack of regulation at some point. Then, I tried to add more to scholarly research in the field and to grow this field which is, for us lawyers, still new. I also tried to put the space law topic on the map and open it for any individual interested to study, research or work on such a beautiful and challenging domain.

Seeing the book now, I feel that somehow my goals became re-

ality and it's all so amazing.

Anything you wish to add.

I would particularly like to thank Ananke for this beautiful opportunity and for the overall aims you want to achieve by running this publication. I am a firm supporter of Ananke, and I am delighted and honored to be part of the visionary women Ananke is promoting. Congratulations for your lovely work!

NGOs

NGOs 122

Improving lives of

the stigmatized Intro: Maha Tazi talks to eminent Moroccan activist and winner of the prestigious Opus Prize Aicha Chenna on gaining inspiration from a sense of justice deeply rooted in the value systems of religions Tell us about Solidarite Feminine. What is ASF? What are the major objectives of the association?

The Association Solidarité Feminine (ASF) was initially founded in 1985 with the objective to provide shelter and other forms of social assistance to unmarried mothers in Morocco. ASF has a double objective, that is, both legal and socio-economic.

Legally, it strives for the recognition of abandoned children by the biological father in official state documents so that such children do not hold the status of Illegitmate (on their ID) throughout their life. Additionally, Solidarite Feminine also works for the social reintegration of stigmatized mothers in the period following the ‘trauma' which is usually characterized by the rejection of the young mother by the biological father as well as her own family. At ASF, the hosted mothers have the oppor-

tunity to attend literacy classes and workshops where they acquire the practical skills needed to secure a regular and decent income.

Now, nearly 25 years after its official inception, Solidarité Féminine employs women at two restaurants, a bakery, four small shops and a Moroccan bath, and provides them with healthcare, childcare, and job skills.

How did the idea to found an association for single mothers come to you in the first place, and why?

Extramarital sex, as in most societies around the world, is taboo in Morocco, technically punishable by imprisonment, though the law is rarely enforced. Single mothers, then, are the ultimate “taboo individuals”, and women who get pregnant out of wedlock are often rejected and marginalized within their communities.

Most of these women come to us dishonored by their families, thrown out into the streets and left with no resources. Worse, pregnancy is quite often the result of abuse or rape, while young mothers are the only ones to be blamed for what is seen as a crime against the entire society. Moreover, the children born

to unmarried mothers suffer as well. Many abandoned babies have died in orphanages or grew up scarred by their status.

Without a ‘proper' family name and without papers, they are condemned to be called “illegitmate” for life.

Here, I slowly came to understand the depth of the stigma and bias that young women experience when they are pregnant out of wedlock, and if they try to raise their babies. They are likened to prostitutes, even if they are young and vulnerable, and even if their pregnancy is the result of rape. Therefore, as a social worker in Casablanca who has witnessed sexual violence and the terrible plight of young unwed mothers and the miserable fate of their innocent children, I was truly motivated to found ASF back in the 80's.

Was there any major event in your life that ultimately determined you to found ASF? Any anecdotes?

123NGOs I often tell the story of a moment and an image that are still vivid in my mind. They come to me when I cannot sleep, which is often.

Once in the 1970s, during a very cold winter, I passed by a hospital where there was a nursery full of abandoned babies ready to be transferred to an orphanage in Casablanca.

These babies were already blue from the cold. I felt some of them could be dying. When I asked why, I learned that they were just dropped off and the mothers had nothing to leave with them.

The hospital did not have the resources to fill the gap either.

I also remember seeing another place in a poor area where single mothers left their babies, where babies were stacked in vegetable boxes, without any care. I knew that we could do far better. My journey led me along the way to work often with a French nun, Marie-Jean Tinturier, who was also a social worker. We met many young women and realized that they often did not want to abandon their babies. We also realized that, however hard the lives ahead, the babies needed their mothers, and that there was no substitute for a mother's love.

What were the major challenges faced by the association since its inception?

In 1985, we decided to start a program, and we did not call it an association at first. In fact, if we had submitted a project proposal, we knew it would have been rejected by everyone - in a society that fiercely condemns

extramarital relationships and puts the sole responsibility of morality on women.

So we began in a basement, in a small corner that a women's organization kindly provided us somewhere where we could work. We conducted no studies because we had no resources.

Everyone was a volunteer, and there were only three dedicated people at the time. I myself continued to work as a government social worker as I could not af-

“

We began in a basement, in a small corner that a women’s organization kindly provided us somewhere where we could work. We conducted no studies because we had no resources.

Everyone was a volunteer, and there were only three dedicated people at the time. I myself continued to work as a government social worker as I could not afford to lose my job, and soon, I quickly found myself overloaded with work.

”

ford to lose my job, and soon, I quickly found myself overloaded with work.

In fact, I think that if we had any notion of the obstacles we would face, we would never have had the courage to begin with. We began with a daycare center so that babies would be cared for during the daytime while their mothers had a chance to learn some skills that would allow them to work. We wanted to

have a decent place. We began small and grew over the years.

In our defense of unwed mothers' rights to social recognition, we were also opposed with the strong wrath and resistance of ultra-conservatives. I was often accused of promoting promiscuity and prostitution through my support of single mothers' right to a decent life; I received death threats on many occasions as well. In response to my detractors, I always declared “I have a Muslim heart and a secular mind.”

What has been the local and international recognition of ASF so far? Are you happy with it?

In 2009, during Solidarité Féminine's 24th year, I was awarded the world's largest faith-based prize for entrepreneurship, the Opus Prize. The prize provided the organization with USD 1 million of financial support.

The Moroccan-American board based in Washington DC held an event at that time and we were all very happy.

The Opus Prize is awarded to activists all over the world who take up the challenge of solving the most persistent social problems. It aims at encouraging outstanding entrepreneurial enterprises that demonstrate an abiding faith to combat intractable global issues like poverty, illiteracy, hunger, disease, and injustice by empowering the less privileged.

I also received significant financial support from Moroccan King

NGOs 124 Mohammed VI and his wife, Princess Salma, who personally attended the opening of the association's fitness center and spa in 2004, and which is one of our biggest sources of pride.

What do you think are the major challenges Arab women face today?

The real issue is the mentality of some people whose purist, fundamentalist traditions, and culture, shape the society's attitudes towards women as well as the relations between men and women, and the social expectations from women. These attitudes lie behind the social hierarchy which makes the lives of women so difficult. There is a clear social ladder. At the top

of that hierarchy is a mother with sons, then a mother, then a widow, then a divorced woman, then a single woman. At the very bottom is the single mother.

There is an urgent need today to tackle this kind of misguided perception and attitude through education and raising awareness in order to change the status quo in the favor of women, children and equality for a better future.

About Aicha Chenna: Aïcha Ech Channa is the Founder and President of Solidarité Féminine, providing services in Casablanca, Morocco, to help unmarried women with children gain the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure their own livelihoods. During the 1980s,

Ech Channa worked with the Moroccan Ministry of Social Affairs, where she was confronted by the ordeals these women and children faced on a daily basis.

A Muslim, Ech Channa says she gains inspiration from a sense of justice rooted in the value system of all religions. She explains that single mothers have been marginalized and stigmatized for too long in Moroccan society, although she notes the situation is improving. Solidarité Féminine officially was recognized in 2002 by the government as a charitable organization, and has received financial support from Moroccan King Mohammed VI. His wife, Princess Salma, attended the opening of the association's hammam (fitness center and spa) in 2004.

125NGOs

Tending Orphans of Mozambique Claire Dangalan talks to Barbara Hofmann about our non-profit organization Association en faveur de l'Enfance Mozambicaine (ASEM) and its efforts to change the lives of Mozambique children.

How does one begin to describe the plight of orphans around the world?

To date, there is an estimated 150-153 million of them globally, with about 56 million of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, 5.5 million in MENA, 26.9 million in East Asia and the Pacific, 40.8 million in South Asia, 6.8 million in the former USSR, and 7.8 million in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, around 1.2 million trafficked children, 150 million street children worldwide and tens of thousands of child soldiers remain undocumented.

In Mozambique alone, in a population of around 25.8 million, 8 percent are orphans.

Mozambique is the place where the story of Swiss national Barbara Hofmann and the children's charity she founded way back in 1990 called the “Association en faveur de l'Enfance Mozambicaine” (ASEM) or “Association for the Children of Mozambique” begins and continues.

Barbara always says how she came to Mozambique by accident or simply because of fate or destiny. After all, she had been thoroughly immersed in her career as a financial management and administration executive involved in the banking sector and

multinational businesses in Geneva. But after the stock market crash of 1987, her career path led her to Mozambique, to a job she did not like… only to return because of what she witnessed.

“I resigned from my job, but I was determined to return to the country after seeing the sorry plight of the children,” says Hofmann. As far as Barbara was

“

Barbara set up the not-for-profit charity (ASEM Swiss), and started a “soup program” even while the civil war was still raging in 1991.

Severe droughts hit the country from 1991 to 1993, with only 2 centimeters of rainfall in three years in Beira. For the feeding program to continue, Barbara had to find a dedicated water source.

ASEM was granted access to a well and was able to produce 300 liters of soup per day to feed 300 children.

”

concerned, it was a done deal, settled in her mind, so she approached the Mozambican government to tell them about her objectives. But because she was just one person with no formal entity to represent, the government said “no.” She then faced the challenging task of setting up her own children's charity.

Back in Switzerland, Barbara began to work in earnest to set up an organization based in Mozambique, to help orphans and less privileged children.

She sold off all her assets and returned to Beira, Mozambique in 1990 to set up the Children's Centre after getting all the necessary paperwork done.

She set up the not-for-profit charity (ASEM Swiss), and started a “soup program” even while the civil war was still raging in 1991. Severe droughts hit the country from 1991 to 1993, with only 2 centimeters of rainfall in three years in Beira. For the feeding program to continue, Barbara had to find a dedicated water source. ASEM was granted access to a well and was able to produce 300 liters of soup per day to feed 300 children. Not enough… never enough.

The ongoing civil war tore families apart and there were many orphans roaming the streets.

People lost their homes, and were sick, hungry, and some were dying.

Such was the desperate state of affairs surrounding Barbara and her infant project ASEM. Permanent shelter became another challenge when Barbara took fifteen orphans under her wing.

She had to beg people and restaurants to donate grains and

NGOs 126

vegetables, whatever they could, to help with the soup rations. In 1993, Barbara got a piece of land where four tents were set up: two as sleeping quarters, one for schooling and another for storage.

Towards the end of 1993, after a truce was declared, the Italian (Alpini) UN troops present in Beira collected money to fund the board and lodging of 80 children in the center There was also enough funds to enroll 120 children as day scholars and they were given three meals a day.

The Alpini built the Macurungo

Centre - comprising a dormitory, kitchen and school building made of locally sourced materials. Soon the number of residents soared to 170, with many more enrolling in the school.

Hofmann was able to found and organize ASEM Portugal in 1995, and by 1996, ASEM was capable of building another school (ASEM Manga School) 20 kilometers from the town center.

A second center (Manga Centre) was constructed in 1998.

With the high demand for shelter, it was not long before the

Macurungo Centre became overcrowded. Over 2,000 plates of food were served to children every day, says Hofmann.

ASEM had to push ahead to provide the needs of an ever-increasing number of destitute and orphaned children.

Even when the original plan was for ASEM to serve as a “transition center� for children prior to reintegration, refusal of a child was never an option, no matter how difficult the conditions were.

Eventually, some of the children were reunited with their families, but some stayed with ASEM for

127NGOs 15 years. By 1999, Barbara was able to organize ASEM Mozambique and co-create the Foundation of ASEM Italy Onlus.

Barbara contracted cerebral malaria in 2001 and ended up in a coma for a month in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. But clearly, Barbara's task was still unfinished, and she miraculously recovered even as full rehabilitation took about five years.

“I was nearly dead but something, someone pulled me back.

I would have died if a friend had not helped me get the medical care I required. I owe my life to that friend… she was crying for me when I regained consciousness. When I realized I was alive, I felt like I had a new life.

My purpose was ever clearer, and my spirit was stronger. I was physically weak but my heart beat with a greater purpose.”

“While I was recovering, my Mozambican staff took over and managed the ASEM centers in Beira and Gorongoza and did a wonderful job. All the years of work paid off. They learnt silently, and I am proud of how my staff took the reins and raced ahead,” says Barbara.

Beginning in 2007, the Mozambican Government took over in the payment of the salaries of ASEM teachers. The kids still receive educational support from ASEM, through its 100 percent Mozambican staff, with the exception of Barbara.

Towards the end of 2012, Barbara was invited to speak at TEDxAmsterdam Women, giv-

ing her a chance to speak about life in Mozambique, the vicious cycle of poverty and how children get severely victimized by circumstances, and, more importantly, to pose a challenge to the audience.

“If humankind would join hands, will there still be hands free to hurt, to beat, to kill, to rape?

No. You may not know the person sitting next to you, and so it is with life out there. But do you realize that you just gave love to someone... and it is so easy. We can change lives, and we can be great to ourselves and to others just by holding hands. Dare to choose with an open heart... will you now dare to open your eyes, take your key and follow your mission?”

Barbara was also the recipient of THE ONE 2014 Internation-

al Humanitarian Award for her charitable work. The award ceremonies were held in formal ceremonies in Hong Kong on June 12, 2014.

Work in ASEM continues as Barbara and the various ASEM teams across the globe realize the formidable challenges orphans still face and the need to keep rebuilding lives.

ASEM is already a registered charity in Canada, Switzerland, Italy and Mozambique. ASEM USA is currently in the process of being organized.

For more details about ASEM and its projects, please visit their website: www.asemworld.org or send an email to Barbara: barbara.asem@gmail.com

NGOs 128 mentia where the affected individual progressively worsens in terms of memory impairment, their inability to carry on normal day-to-day conversations, mood and behavioral changes, paranoia, and “difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.”

Most often associated with aging, people at age 65 or older are, indeed, at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's, but recent findings have shown that about 5% of cases affect people in their 40s and 50s, afflicted with what is termed “early onset Alzheimer's.”

People diagnosed with Alzheimer's have a survival range of four to 20 years, and as doctors are still only discovering more facets of this debilitating disease, no cure has yet been found.

Nurturing Remembrance Claire Dangalan interviews Desirée Vlekken about her non-profit initiative 4get-me-not and talks about its role in raising awareness about Alzheimer's disease.

Memories are precious – something we are all so keenly aware of.

With memories, we are able to think fondly of days gone by, and people who have shared a part of our lives. With memories, we can contemplate on how far we've gone, how much of us has changed, and what direction our lives have taken. Whether they be happy or sad ones, joyful or bittersweet, memories help

keep us sane, hopeful and, most of all, human and humane. For, to live, it is by far much better to have regrets, than have nothing in life, and no memory to be regretful for.

But what happens when one's biology allows for memories to be snatched away?

The loss of memory is one such outcome of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a very specific form of de-

What is different and at the same time regretful about Alzheimer's is that the general lack of awareness and understanding has led to Alzheimer's sufferers becoming isolated from their own friends and families, and stigmatized by the rest of society.

Most family members end up not only despairing the situation of their loved one with Alzheimer's, but also uncertain and frustrated about their seeming inability to deal with the situation in the best possible way.

In the UAE where knowledge of Alzheimer's is still generally at a germinal stage, Desirée Vlekken, through the non-profit organization she founded called 4get-me-not.org, embarked on a quest to educate people about the disease, and ensure that those affected are given a

129NGOs chance to live the rest of their lives in the most comfortable and decent circumstances possible, and with the full understanding and support of their loved ones and caregivers.

When asked about how 4getme-not was conceived, Desirée says, “My in-laws and my parents are of the same age. The former are sociable, outgoing and had been leading enjoyable lives in their twilight years.

The opposite happened to my parents especially to my father who became a recluse after his retirement. This aggravated his bouts of depression, and he also developed Type II diabetes. Both depression and diabetes were trigger factors of his early onset Alzheimer's disease. About five years earlier, he was already showing signs of AD, but we did not pay attention thinking it was a natural part of aging. But in December 2012, a year after I was confronted by my Dad's situation, I looked for an AD support group but didn't find any.

So instead of me continuing to seek help that wasn't there, I decided to try helping others by organizing 4get-me-not.org as an information platform for people who want to know and understand AD. Information is simplified and shared in a way meant for people with non-medical backgrounds as well as for family members and caregivers of AD patients.”

Setting up 4get-me-not was obviously not an easy task.

Desirée recalls, “I started by getting the support of my husband.

There was no other AD organization in existence before, and

I had to navigate the way on my own and set it up completely from scratch. 4get-me-not was a new organization with a bold mission, and I knew that, as a woman, I had to be bolder to get CSR support. For a time, I was in doubt of my capacity because in my mind I'm just a simple housewife and mother to a simple family. Who would listen to me? Then I started the first film screening on AD in 2013. It was 4get-me-not's first public exposure. I designed the event to be simple, honest and informative, so we gained a lot of followers. In time, we gained

“

Most often associated with aging, people at age 65 or older are, indeed, at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s, but recent findings have shown that about 5% of cases affect people in their 40s and 50s, afflicted with what is termed “early onset Alzheimer’s.

”

the valuable support of volunteers (mostly pre-med students from the Dubai Medical College for Girls and Emirates Medical Student Society), and private entities who have made it part of their CSR activities. 4get-me-not is now on its 3rd year, and all our CSR events on AD are always jam-packed.”

Desirée, a Political Science Graduate of the Royal Pontifical University of Santo Tomas and a holder of a Masters in Business Administration at the Graduate School of Ateneo de Manila

University in the Philippines, is a Filipino expat who has been living in Dubai for 15 years, and is married to a supportive Belgian husband. They have a 5-yearold son whom she allows to tag along during her meetings.

She proudly says, “Our son can ‘speak' Alzheimer's flawlessly.”

As the founder and CEO of 4get-me-not, Desirée finds it challenging to balance work and family life, but she has a pretty good functional arrangement with her husband, “It's hard balancing everything, but I do follow a daily schedule so that I can keep track. My husband and I have house chores. If I can't cook dinner, he'll pitch in so I can finish a report. Then the following day I'll do his chores, and so forth. I ensure that both my husband and son are present during 4get-me-not events so they see and understand better why we are here. Whenever I have spare time, I bake with my son or play mini-golf or play the piano. I also enjoy reading inspirational books on historical figures particularly about Eleanor Roosevelt.”

Although 4get-me-not has already grown in leaps and bounds in a relatively short span of time, Desirée says she hopes to establish one 4get-menot chapter in each of the seven emirates.

When asked to share her advice to all girls and all women struggling to succeed and find happiness in life, Desirée says it is all encapsulated in her favorite quote from Carl Jung: “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Women In Media

Women in Media 132

Women have suffered more by the hands of the chroniclers than history itself!

Engendering the Media

Sabin Muzaffar investigates the of women in media

The importance of inclusivity is now being acknowledged not only in how the story is written, but also by whom it is actually penned. While this realization has dawned upon us quite late, and progress, albeit at a snail's pace, is underway, women participation in the media business still has a long way to go.

The media domain has traditionally been considered a male-oriented segment.

Even though women participation started way back in the 1800s, it was basically relegated to society, fashion and food reporting. Sexism, ageism, not taken seriously enough, being the “softer” sex were among the

many factors that deterred women from entering into fields of journalism or mass media. This, combined with Barbera Welter's “cult of true womanhood” theory, deepened the gender bias in a vocation that entailed going out in the field and voicing out bold opinions.

According to the theory, “The attributes of True Womanhood, by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and society, could be divided into four cardinal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Put them all together and they spelled mother, daughter,

sister, wife – woman. Without them, no matter whether status there was fame, achievement, or wealth, all was ashes. With them she was promised happiness and power.”

Fast forward to the new millennium, women's participation in various industries has steadily increased. And the tech boom after Y2K has witnessed women users rapidly populating the digital landscape. Sadly, however, research still shows that “women, who are more than half the population, are assigned to report stories at a substantially lower rate than men. In evening broadcast news, women are on-camera 32 percent of the time; in print news, women report 37 percent of the stories; on the Internet, women write 42 percent of the news; and on the

133 Women in Media wires, women garner only 38 percent of the bylines.” This was reported in the “Status of Women in the US Media 2015.”

According to a comprehensive report by the International Women in Media Fund (IWMF), “The study found that approximately 170,000 people are employed in the journalistic workforce of the 522 companies surveyed in the study. These include 59,472 women and 109,763 men.

When aggregated, data show that men represent nearly twothirds (64.9%) of the total workforce across regions, compared to slightly more than one-third

women (35.1%). The IWMF's findings for women's participation in the news work force (35.1%) of the 59 nations studied are lower than ILO's (2009) for women in the broader industrial labor force (40.4%).”

Even in this day and age of “enlightenment,” why is it that men's opinions matter more than women in the political, economic and financial spheres of society? Not only is the male gender quoted more often than its female counterpart, statistics show an under-representation of women in top management, decision-making positions, and even when it

comes to syndicated columns.

As a sector that supposedly (or otherwise?) thrives on progressive thought, is it not critical to empower the media, journalism and its various offshoots through diversity?

Indeed, its importance lies not only in generating impartial information for the masses comprising both men AND women.

The inclusive and balanced dissemination of news can and do play important roles in assisting communities to attain progress through knowledge and awareness, and by eliminating gender biases.

Women in Media 134 are about to enter our fifth year. Ti22 stands for Titanium on the periodic table of elements, a metal that is very valuable because of how unique its properties are, being both the strongest and the lightest. That's the benchmark for our films – creating films that are impactful, creative and emotional, and leave a lasting impression.”

Breaking Boundaries Ti22 Films' Reim El Houni talks about stereotyping women in the media and creating lasting impressions through cinema.

Women's participation in the world of cinema is slowly but positively gaining momentum. Although it is well-documented in the West, more awareness and recognition is still needed as far as female participation in Arabian cinema is concerned.

Dubai-based Reim El Houni of Ti22 Films is one among an illustrious group of women who have found fame and acclaim in the Arabian movie-making landscape.

Crafting compelling visual stories for corporations, businesses, agencies, broadcasters and charitable organizations, Ti22 Films is an internationally recognized award-winning production house that strives to “connect powerful messages to memorable results.”

Talking about the company, Reim El Houni reveals, “Ti22 Films was established in January 2011, so we

Over the past decade, the Arabian film industry has evolved quite dramatically, with female participation on the rise. Commenting on the role of women in films and media, Reim opines, “I think women play a significant role in this industry. More and more decision-making roles in the media are being held by women.” She further adds, “The fact that this is not a 9-5 industry in itself is unconventional. Women in the media are leading very active and practical lives. I think this industry has proven just how adaptable and flexible women in this profession can be and this, in turn, is empowering.”

She further says, ”It is quite amusing that, although we are a small team, it is an all-women group. From main director to producer, and even the accountant, it is all female. I have always had great experience work-

135 Women in Media ing or collaborating with women, and it makes me very happy to continue encouraging such activities.”

A study supported by UN women and the Rockefeller Foundation, and commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, reveals that “… some of the most profitable international territories illuminate that, globally, it is more than a film problem when it comes to valuing girls and women. It is actually a human problem.”

Talking about stereotyping women in Arabian films, Reim agrees, saying, “I think cinema still is stereotyping women. That said, there is a rise in more dominant female characterization that is now slowly but gradually becoming the norm. Speaking in terms of production, I also think it's very important to train your team so that they grow with you and feel more empowered in their roles.”

Everything in the end, according to Reim, boils down to taking a leap. “I have met a number of women who have great business ideas but don't feel confident enough to put things out in the open. I think it's all about taking action.”

Encouraging women participation in any field, be it film or any other, is only possible through the active support of the government, which can pave the way for others to follow. A fertile land burgeoning with immense opportunities, the UAE has proven time and again that it is a catalyzing force in terms of women empowerment. “To me, the UAE has always felt like a country where anything is possible. I think there is a growing ecosystem for entrepreneurs, and in that, there is a growing ratio of women. I think the potential is huge because there are fewer limitations. I definitely feel that being based in Dubai is very advantageous as I am surrounded by so many entrepreneurs, which has made my goals more achievable.”

Reim has high hopes for Ti22 Films and hopes to further develop her team of talented women through training. To her, persistence and perseverance lead to success. Emphasizing the importance of going through all the processes of learning is essential to understand the production hierarchy and all the facets of filmmaking. She concludes, “Only by spending time as

a runner, a camera assistant or a props buyer, etc., do you understand the challenges of these roles, and can, in time, command the respect of men in the industry.”

Ti22 has won numerous awards and accolades including its ninth award for representing the UAE, winning silver at the 5th Annual Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards on Thursday, 2 October 2014, at the Palm Beach Cannes in France.

“

Only by spending time as a runner, a camera assistant or a props buyer, etc., do you understand the challenges of these roles, and can, in time, command the respect of men in the industry

”

Women in Media 136

Women journalists un-silent voices in the Middle East

By Claire Dangalan Where freedom of expression, in general, is usually quelled at state level especially in some ultra-conservative Middle Eastern societies, it is hard to imagine just how women can even venture into the sometimes-frightening world of journalistic practice.

And while the “softening” effect of a female presence in what could otherwise have been a hostile news coverage or interview is considered a desirable outcome in field reporting (an indicator of gender bias, nevertheless), being a female reporter or news correspondent is a double-edged sword, too, as no one can and should downplay the seriousness of offenses committed against female media practitioners who have ventured deep into regions of conflict and political unrest.

In some cases, too, as mentioned in Laila Fadel's article “Rosie the scribbler,” her own experience, though not as dangerous, made being a woman journalist trying to get an interview in a conservative country quite inconvenient.

She narrates, “In conservative Muslim societies of the Middle East, women journalists face other, less dangerous, issues,

too. In extreme conservative portions of societies, men sometimes will not speak directly to a woman reporter, which can make interviews tricky. In Libya, for instance, it took me two days to arrange an interview with the leaders of the extremist militia Ansar al-Sharia following the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. The group was accused of having a hand in the attack and the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens. At first they refused, saying that it was inappropriate for them to speak

to a woman.”

The experiences of female foreign correspondents covering areas in turmoil such as the assault on Lara Logan of CBS, a leading American broadcast network, while covering events leading to the oust of Hosni Mubarak in Tahrir Square, Cairo, put the spotlight on the dangers of being a female reporter caught in the middle of traditional male dominated societies – even in the so-called “neutral” role of a “journalist.” And while

137 Women in Media

her being American was a big factor in the furor and publicity that followed, even Logan acknowledged the fact that the horrendous assault she experienced cannot compare to the dangers local female media practitioners have already faced in their own territories.

In a report by DW Akademie titled “Egypt: Networking women journalists,” it was revealed that some of the problems confronting female media practitioners include lower wages than their male counterparts, limitations of topics they are assigned to cover, the physical dangers of traveling, sexual harassment, insecurity and low self-esteem, difficulties balancing the roles of mother, daughter, wife and career woman, and lack of solidarity among themselves.

In the less conservative UAE where a number of female figures already occupy prominent leadership positions, more women journalists have been given a chance to flourish in their careers, earning the respect and admiration of their peers, and being able to tackle a wider range of topics beyond childcare, entertainment, culinary arts, nutrition, the family and other traditional female-oriented subjects. Noura Al Kaabi, the chief executive of twofour54, Abu Dhabi's worldclass media free zone, serves as a shining example of how far women's role in UAE media has moved forward.

Yet, much has to change and still needs to be done at a socio-political structural level for rapid advances among women in media to take place, much more so

in patriarchal societies where male dominance is extremely pronounced. Developments in legislation and government policies directly aimed at empowering women in general (not just journalists) do not always guarantee rapid transformation, but they are a highly effective means of sparking societal change.

According to Zeina Awad in her article “On the front lines with female journalists”, women's role as media practitioners is quietly advancing with, unsurprisingly, the support of men, “Within media organizations, female journalists have made huge strides, and are regularly given breaks – in my experience, some of the most supportive bosses I have had have been men.”

Women in Media 138

Scalingup Spellbound's CEO Salwan Al Shaibani on making waves in the world of communications.

It is a brave new world – a dynamic landscape fueled by innovation and the spirit of entrepreneurship. A time when women have emerged from the shadows to take the reins of their destiny, bringing awe-inspiring talent to the forefront. One such woman is Salwan Al Shaibani – CEO Spellbound, UAE, a multi-faceted establishment that strives to empower clients through cutting-edge marketing, brand creation and a unique approach to advertising.

“I started working for the Citigroup as an intern immediately after graduating from business school. My career actually began as a banker, enabling me to grow and specialize in risk management,” reveals Salwan Al Shaibani. Always ready to take on new challenges and exploring new opportunities, the trailblazing CEO contemplated on setting up her own business.

“I saw huge potential in the market, and it was in 2006 that I decided to venture into the fields of media and advertising. This is how Spellbound was established.”

The pre-recession period was immensely competitive and launching a start-up was no easy task especially in the midst of an economic boom. “Our biggest challenge was to pene-

trate a highly saturated market as far as media and advertising was concerned,” she says. But the company capitalized on its core competency – B2B communication solutions. It was the challenge that fed and instigated our creative side to develop innovative products,” says Miss Al Shaibani. Further, she adds, “Personally speaking, it is because of these tests and challenges that I have learnt to channel my all-rounded approach to business effectively, and continuously work on achieving that little girl's dream.”

It is not untrue to claim that women entrepreneurship is poised to be a tipping point for global economic comeback. Worldwide, women own or operate 25 percent to 33 percent of all private businesses, according to the World Bank. Women-owned enterprises grow faster than those owned by men and faster than businesses overall. Countries and governments can play a pivotal role by tapping into this under-explored area.

Talking about the encouraging position of the UAE, Ms. Al Shaibani says, “The government provides full support and adequate multi-faceted platforms as well as opportunities for women to participate in the country's progress and advancement.

Our visionary rulers have provided us with all the necessary tools, technologies and funding necessary for productivity and growth. Now it is our responsibility to utilize these benefits for our country's advancement. We are capable of rising to the challenge but it is imperative to invest in continuous self-development to keep moving forward.”

Emerging markets such as the Middle East and Africa are bursting at the seams with opportunities, particularly for women entrepreneurs. “We are lucky to be born in an era with ample access to technology as well as guidance. The climate is perfect for women to grow and excel,” the CEO says thoughtfully.

Salwan Al Shaibani has high hopes for her company and envisions it to becoming a household name in times to come – serving not only the community but also acting as a catalyst for economic growth. Praising His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum, she concludes, “His Highness has put a lot of faith in us. He once said in a speech, ‘I have said it loud and clear: Beware, men, lest women deprive you of all the leadership positions in the country.' We at Spellbound believe no different – come and grab the opportunities.”

139 Women in Media

“

I have always dreamt of running my own set of ventures. But in order to do that one needs to go through the process of learning and attaining the right skill-set and knowhow

�

Women in Media 140

A passage to India Editor The Indian Trumpet, Purva Grover, talks about her aspirations, the eZine and falling in love with all things Indian all over again.

Tell us about ““The Indian Trumpet””– howdid it all start,and why?

When I, Purva Grover, an Indian girl, landed in Dubai, I felt I couldn't leave behind my passion for journalism and my love for home. At the same time, I couldn't help but play with fonts, colors and words to create something for my fellow NRIs. Little did I know that the hearts and minds from all communities would greet my dream with the same passion and love! Ibecame an NRI in November 2012, and felt a strong urge to strengthen my bond with my home, India, and also a strong desire to explore my new home, Dubai.

Very soon, this aspiration (first expressed via a blog) became a talking point amongst the huge Indian diaspora, not just in Dubai but all across the globe,and the magazine was born in July 2013.

The story of “The Indian Trumpet” magazine has been that of knowing Indians all over the world and falling in love with all things Indian all over again.

Running the magazine has been an exciting, fascinating and challenging journey. I have lived through moments that made me smile and scream at the same time. There were times when the laptop misbehaved, fonts got mixed up, and writers and photographers missed deadlines, but then these were com-

plemented with times when my inbox got flooded with encouraging words, download speeds improved, and colors and words just fell into place. I even accepted that while I couldn't do it all in one issue, each day would bring me one step closer than I was the day before to achieving my dream of doing something for Indian expats. I began to smile at the thought that, as an NRI, I was getting a chance to love, miss and appreciate “home”! And honestly, even if someone had told me that this is how tough the journey would be, I would have still done exactly the same thing, and with the same enthusiasm.

“The Indian Trumpet” is for all the people I knew, got to know, and will know through this magazine.

“The Indian Trumpet” is the ONLY e-magazine for Indian expats/NRIs. Its unique content captures the color, culture and chaos of India that NRIs crave and miss, once every two months. The magazine is aimed at anyone who wants to be in touch with India and its ethos. The target audience for the magazine includes Indian expatriates globally, resident Indians andnon-Indians across the globe. “The Indian Trumpet” is a celebration of India and Indian-ness.

As a woman entrepreneur, what roadblocks did you face kick-starting this ven-

ture and bringing your ideas to life?

I wish I had a gender-specific answer to this question!I guess I just did what any man would have done to make his venture grow bigger! I dream big, work hard and with passion, respond to the demands of readers, stay humble, celebrate victories, learn from failures, etc.Any new venture has its share of challenges and rewards. I don't think I can single out any particular situation as a problem for those are just hiccups that any start-up faces. But yes, as an individual, it has been a challenge to switch roles between an editor, founder and entrepreneur. Having said that, I am grateful for collapses and cheers and pats on our back and learnings from mistakes.

We continue to strive harder and dream bigger,and to gather love and spread smiles across all latitudes and longitudes. In a journey so exciting, tiresome, rewarding and challenging, it is tough to single out problems!

So, I'd rather say that there were problems that helped us grow, and they taught us that growing up would be incomplete without a few bruises.

Comment on the digital gender divide, and how, in your opinion,can itbe bridged?

Is there a divide? Everyone with a smartphone, tab or a laptop works the same way. The content

141 Women in Media

“

The story of “The Indian Trumpet” magazine has been that of knowing Indians all over the world and falling in love with all things Indian all over again

”

Women in Media 142 that drives each gender does and will continue to vary, but other than that, we are all glued to the screens.As for us, we have a wonderful online presence for both genders,and why so?Because one, we're living in the digital world, and two, the very nature of the magazine demands a strong online presence.

We are a magazine that aspires to connect to/with Indians across the world and with one another, and give them (and even non-Indians) a chance to read about and indulge in all things Indian.

Needless to say, Indians back home clearly love what we are serving in our pages, and hence, our online presence helps us reach them, too. Were we not an e-zine, we would have been unable to connect with such a huge bunch of people in such a short time! Today, we are just a year and half old with a small team but have over 20,000 followers, and this has been made possible not only because we're an e-zine but also because we're available free-of-cost to our readers, which is another

wonderful USP of us.

What milestones have you achieved so far in terms of your venture “The Indian Trumpet”?

Quite a few, actually!

• Just two-issues-old, a professorand academician picked up “The Indian Trumpet” to study as a part of her course on online journalism at the London School of Journalism; • Just one-issue-old, I received a letter from an editor of NRI magazine for Indian-Americans, which has been running for more than two decades. It was full of praises for our work!

It was followed by letters from several other editors of other magazines; • A senior citizen reader wrote to me thanking me for keeping India alive for generations to come; • At our first Breast Cancer Awareness event, we encouraged women to get them tested: it was a special moment; • Our Punjab special edition (September-October 2014) was very well-received by readers in Pakistan (Punjab), too!

What kind of response has “The Indian Trumpet” received so far?

The response has been brilliant as the milestones suggest. After the debut issue itself, our inbox was flooded with mails from ex-colleagues, ex-classmates, ex-bosses, relatives and friends.

These were words of encouragement, appreciation and love. By the second issue, messages from fellow NRIs from not only Dubai but also from Turkey, the US,

143 Women in Media Kuwait, Oman, Australia, London and more started reaching us. They demanded, we delivered and they appreciated, we strived to work harder.

In just a year and half, we have managed to connect with thousands of Indians all across the globe, and we aspire to give many others a chance to indulge in all things Indian. Its popularity is also visible in the fact that while the magazine has no permanent team member except me, it has people (Indians and non-Indians) from all over the world contributing towards it.

How can women be empowered technologically?

Again, I wish I had a gender-specific answer to this question. Technology can be used to empower any mind: man, woman or child.

If there is one thing that sets apart ‘“The Indian Trumpet”’ from other magazines catering to NRIs, what is it and why?

There is no softfeature magazine for NRIs. “The Indian Trumpet” is uniquely Indian in terms of content yet universal in terms of “connect.” It can be an introduction to the Indian identity for some as well as a nostalgic joyride for others. The packaging and design is traditionally Indian while being contemporary, keeping our web-based identity and the savviness of our readers in mind. Being web-based, we are accessible from all corners of the world to whomever is curious about India and Indians.

Our themes have been interesting, unique like celebrating the

good ol' beverage chai, expressing our anger against the rising incidence of rape in our country, visiting the charm of the number one, spelling the tales of childhood games, paying a tribute to maa (Indian mother), etc. The content of the magazine aims to paint a vibrant canvas covering a range of subjects – gastronomic, cinematic, literary, architectural, sartorial and musical.

NOTE: The Indian Trumpet,a bi-monthly e-zine, catering to

Indian expats is now a quarterly, releasing four issues a year: Spring (February), Summer (May), Fall (August) & Winter (November). What isnot changing, however is their rich, colourful& engaging themes; philosophy of championing talent and it being a free read, available on their portal,

theindiantrumpet.com.

Women in Media 144

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E mic en g o n n o c i e r e g e on the k g a i t s r ' n T sma Karen O nder u o F k n reneurs Travel-I p e r t n e en of wom

Travel Ink is a content consulting agency that primarily supports the travel and tourism industry in their communication activities.

Managing Director of the company, Karen Osman, talks about the UAE's highly encouraging environment for women entrepreneurs, and how their participation can play a pivotal role in the economic activity of the country.

In your opinion, what roles have the public and private sectors played in promoting women entrepreneurship?

Living in the UAE, there are fantastic opportunities for entrepreneurship, and women are able to take advantage of this by creating their own companies, having access to financial assistance as well as being able to attend various training and networking events. It is this accessibility that encourages women to become entrepreneurs.

How can women entrepreneurs contribute to the economic activity of the country?

Entrepreneurs,

regardless

of

whether they are male or female, stimulate the UAE economy. We are creating new businesses and jobs, intensifying competition and essentially increasing productivity, which directly translate into high levels of economic growth. Entrepreneurs also provide a platform whereby they can discover, offer and enable untapped creativity and skills.

What potential do the Middle East and, by extension, the UAE have as far as women entrepreneurship is concerned?

Although women entrepreneurs are well-established in the re-

145 Women in Media gion, there is still a lot of room for growth. By providing the tools to grow their business, there is so much potential that can be revealed in the UAE and beyond.

Does your organisation encourage women participation in the world of business and at the workplace, how?

Setting up the business myself as a woman, I was inspired by many other female entrepreneurs and was keen to learn how they managed to balance work, family and children as well as trying to find a little “me� time! So in that sense, I was encouraged to participate in the world of business and hope I have done the same for others as well.

How has your organization

empowered women?

At Travel Ink, we have a number of female writers and, by offering flexibility and the ability to work from a place of their choosing, as well as extensive use of technology, this provides them the freedom to balance and organize their lives as they wish.

ing each other, there is no limit to what we can achieve.

What is your vision for your organization and women empowerment?

Go for it but take calculated risks. Take the time to discover what you enjoy doing, what your skills are, and how they can serve the market as well as the reasons why you want your own business. It's not an easy path but it is an exciting one, requiring hard work, patience and dedication – it will probably be the most gratifying work experience you will ever have.

My vision for Travel Ink is to grow the business by providing engaging content to clients across the region. We can only do that by tapping into the local talent to continue providing high levels of service and quality. By reaching out to women, being role models and mentors, working together and support-

What message do you have for women who (a) are striving to carve a niche for themselves in the corporate world, and (b) looking for alternative means of employment/vocation?

www.travel-ink.com

Ananke

e Team

Sabin Muzaffar Executive Editor

Sabin specializes in topics relating to education, technology as well as women economic emancipation and is currently heading Middle East's only eZine celebrating visionary women – Ananke (www.anankemag.com).

Sabin has been in the publishing business for almost two decades and has worked for prestigious media entities including UAE's leading newspapers Gulf News and Khaleej Times in addition to contributing to ITP Publishing, BBVA OpenMind, MangoBaaz, Pakwired.com and UN Women's EmpowerWomen.org. She has previously worked for imminent Pakistani publications Monthly SHE, SPIDER and daily The News International.

Born in a family of progressive individuals, Sabin strongly believes in the power of collaboration and knowledge exchange, which led her to launch Ananke. The platform's primary aim is not only to showcase women trailblazers as role models for aspiring young females, but also to document and record their achievements digitally.

Sabin was also recently selected as UN Women Global Champion for Women Economic Empowerment.

LOVELY CLAIRE DANGALAN

Features Editor When my friends ask me, “Did you always want to be a writer?” I usually just give them a shrug and a tentative nod.

It was my dream to become a missionary doctor… sort of like a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or “Doctors Without Borders” medical practitioner. My parents actually supported my dream, and bought me and my brother a lot of science books including a medical encyclopedia.

In the end, I graduated with an AB English degree, but I still had one more semester to go to finish Mass Communication. But since I already had a job waiting for me in Manila before graduation, I did not re-enroll the following semester. By then, I already had a five-month-old baby so I also felt compelled to start working right away.

For graduate school, I enrolled in Socio-cultural Anthropology as a scholar. I finished all my academic subjects, but I still need to finish my thesis on recidivism and reintegration among inmates. I am unsure if I can continue as I will need to update my data. I might just enroll in something else or start a new research project.

I have been a production assistant, editorial assistant, product planner, copywriter, college teacher, call center tech support staff, proofreader, freelancer, marketing manager… and I also had a stint working at Mc Donald's as a teenager. But of all these roles… there is none I love more than writing.

Oh, and did I mention I love studying? I do.

I would be a lifelong student if I could afford to.And I miss reading for pleasure so much, too!But with Ananke and my day job, there's very little time to do that.

Still, I remain optimistic.

As a child, I loved learning about words and I enjoyed spelling. I loved my dictionaries and my first few books, and I took them with me everywhere I went. I had two dictionaries when I was in primary school, and my first storybooks were “The Princess and The Frog” by Hans Christian Andersen, and “Lorna Doone” by RD Blackmore. The fairy tale set me on path of loving highly imaginative prose and poetry; the novel, on the other hand, which I read without full comprehension (I was only six or seven!), developed in me a taste for discovering new words and eagerly finding out exactly what they meant.

Oh, and it made me, probably one of the youngest admirers of the protagonist John Ridd.

I basked in the company of books: children's books, atlases, books on astronomy, medicine, science, culinary arts, etc. At a very young age, me and my brother had free and full access to all of our parents' reading materials, whether they be novels

by Stephen King, John Le Carré, Robert Ludlum, Alex Haley, James Clavell, Danielle Steele, Harold Robbins, etc., or of the Mills & Boon variety. I read our mom's magazines which she faithfully subscribed to: Women's Journal and MOD. I cut up all the short stories I liked and recipes, too. By the time I was twelve, our mom would sometimes say if our house burned down, it would be because of all my magazine clippings.

In college, I enrolled in BS Biology or pre-med, and bought anatomy and physiology books. But because of financial considerations, after finishing a year in Biology, I decided to change courses. I had a heart-to-heart talk with our mom; rather than wasting more money and time the following school year, I enrolled in Mass Communication as my interest in photojournalism grew. However, as luck would have it, the sole professor teaching photojournalism returned to his media practice so, there I was, enrolled in Mass Communication without my favorite subject being taught anymore.

I then decided to take up AB English alongside my Mass Communication studies because I also like literature. I was also interested in political science and psychology so I took on additional subjects I was allowed to take in those areas.

Haytham Hassan

Graphic Designer Haytham has been part of our Production Team at the American University in Cairo Press for almost two years now. I have been particularly impressed by his genuine interest in learning, his eagerness to accomplish, and his ability to positively contribute to the workplace. He enjoys a confident and strong, yet modest and agreeable personality.

Haytham is self motivated and enjoys a natural curiosity for acquiring knowledge and gaining new skills.

He is intelligent, diligent and hardworking. He has been exceptionally able to grasp the business cycle and technical knowledge of book publishing, from production to sales and marketing, in a few weeks. He is pleasant to work with, cheerful, and performs efficiently even in stressful times of work.

Haytham is gifted with people. He quickly gained the respect of all his colleagues of all ages and backgrounds.

In recent discussions with him, I was quite impressed to see his determination and clear definition of his future career plans.

Miriam Fahmy AUC Press, Production Manager

I Graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) with Bachelor of Arts, Majored in communication and media arts and minor business administration. Haytham is May 2016 Master of business adminstration (MBA) Candidate , specialized in Marketing.

I am graphic designer advanced professional trainee in the production department at AUC press one of the biggest publishing houses in the Middle East since October 2012. Being in the production department taught me many managerial skills, as working on a book from scratch as a manuscript till final printing and meeting the deadline mentioned before starting work on the book.

In addition, I have good experience in marketing using this experience to market my handmade artistic work and I was invited twice to participate in art exhibitions in London and Birmingham.

Maha Tazi Features Writer

Maha Tazi is a graduate in International Relations and Middle Eastern Politics from the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD), where she is currently teaching philosophy at the undergraduate level as an Adjunct Instructor

In the course of her studies and career, Maha lived in many countries: starting from Morocco and France where she was raised and did her studies, then in Turkey where she majored in conflict resolution, and eventually to Dubai where she is currently working as a communications specialist and a philosophy instructor.Maha has a special interest in world affairs and gender issues: Majoring in International Relations and Diplomacy during her Bachelors, she took a one year Women Studies course at Sciences Po Paris as part of her minor requirements.Previously, Maha also worked with several NGO's which struggle for the advancement of women's rights, including Association Solidarite Feminine (ASF) in Morocco before joining the Ananke team one year ago.Maha is also author of several articles published in the Moroccan Times and The SocioLog; her articles focus both on feminist topics and wider philosophical debates. Her thesis work, also published in this journal, exemplifies the link Maha draws between philosophy and feminism; she wrote on the topic of: ‘Feminism is a Humanism'.Â

Maram Moghannam El-bawwab Ananke‘s Design Competition winner

My name is Maram Moghannam Elbawwab, I'm 22 years old and soon 23, I live in Gaza – Palestine.

I have a 2-year diploma's degree of executive secretary in English at GTC “UNRWA”, and I'm studying bachelor of English literature at Al-aqsa University.

I hope to find a good job, I prefer in Art fields, because i love arts and I'm gifted in drawing and I'm improving myself.

I want to be a worldwide artist and visit beautiful countries like Japan, Italy..etc.

I want to represent my homeland “Palestine” all over the world.

Ananke‘s Design Competition winner Maram Moghannam El-bawwab