Young Arab Women Leaders: The Voice of the Future

Transcription

1 Arab International Women s Forum Young Arab Women Leaders: The Voice of the Future Birzeit University Birzeit, Palestine Wednesday 22 May 2013 Opening Remarks Mrs Haifa Fahoum Al Kaylani Chairman, Arab International Women s Forum

2 Contents Page Opening Remarks & Acknowledgements 3 Young Women Leader s Initiative to date 7 Relevance of Young Women Leaders in Palestine 9 Challenges & Opportunities for Palestinian Women 15 What can AIWF and other organisations do to help? 18 Concluding Remarks 23 2

3 Opening Remarks & Acknowledgements Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen It gives me great pleasure indeed, both personally and as Founder Chairman of the Arab International Women s Forum (AIWF), to welcome you this morning to our conference, Young Arab Women Leaders: The Voice of the Future. It is indeed an honour and a particular pleasure to be holding the very first AIWF Conference in Palestine here at Birzeit University, the first institution of higher education and centre of academic excellence established in Palestine. Birzeit University, under the esteemed presidency of Professor Khalil Hindi, plays a central role in developing the most valuable national resource in Palestinian society - namely, its people. With expansion, the university is equipping itself to meet the growing higher education needs of Palestinian society, and its various institutes and centers of excellence conduct intensive policyoriented research to assist in the economic, social, and human development in Palestine. 3

4 It is a great pleasure indeed to hold the first of the series of The Young Arab Women Leaders initiatives for 2013 in Palestine and to welcome so many excellent role models and young vibrant Palestinian women representing so many sectors of the business and professional life of Palestine, all primed to be the leaders of the future. Your Excellency, Mrs Rabeeha Diab, Minister of Women s Affairs in the Palestine Government, Distinguished Guest of Honour, it is indeed a great pleasure to welcome you this morning and we look forward to your valued address presently. As Chairman and on behalf of the Board and partners of AIWF, I would like to extend our warmest thanks and appreciation to our partners in this initiative at PwC, especially Mr Warwick Hunt, Middle East Managing Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, for his constant support of this major joint initiative. I extend our warmest thanks and welcome to Mr Michael Orfaly, Partner, Leader Middle East International Development, PwC, Amman, and his esteemed colleagues for their invaluable cooperation and partnership in organizing this important Conference. The Young Arab Women Leaders series of events is a truly positive demonstration of the global partnership between our two 4

5 organizations, built over a number of years, working together on diversity and inclusiveness issues, promoting investment in youth through education, training and the development of leadership skills. For this landmark event, we are delighted to have the support of AIWF Institutional Partner, The World Bank, for whose longstanding and unequivocal support I would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation. I take this opportunity to acknowledge with appreciation the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London, AIWF Institutional Partner, for their on-going support, not least of this special event. Our warm thanks go to Aramex International, for their support of and partnership in this vital Conference. It is a particular honour and pleasure to welcome our distinguished Guest Speakers. We are particularly fortunate to have a major representation from the World Bank and welcome Dr Shantayanan Devarajan, Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa Region, for the World Bank. Our thanks go to Mrs Nadereh Chamlou, Advisor, Office of the Chief Economist for MENA, The 5

6 World Bank who is kindly moderating the afternoon session. We welcome Ms Naela Husni Ali Khalil, Journalist and Author who is our moderator for this morning and extend our warm thanks to her for her kind participation. I am delighted to acknowledge, with much appreciation, all of our distinguished Guest Speakers, government representatives, business leaders, academics and valued AIWF members and global partners and we thank you all for your support and for your presence here today on this special occasion helping to inspire the next generation of young Palestinian women leaders. 6

7 Young Arab Women Leaders Initiative to date Distinguished Guests This conference is in fact the fourth held in the Arab region on Young Arab Women Leaders and follows on from the phenomenal success of our three earlier conferences held in 2012 in Amman, Jordan in June, Beirut, Lebanon in September and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates in December, all of which assembled together eminent guest speakers and participants. The Young Arab Women Leaders conference series aims to assist young women, in particular, in the region to optimize and strengthen their personal, networking and business skills, helping to empower them as they break new ground in business and in public life. In bringing this Young Arab Women Leaders Initiative to Palestine, AIWF is reiterating its commitment to our key objectives of fostering social and economic development in the region. Over the last decade, AIWF has consistently called for the region to fully utilize its most precious natural resource its human capital, 7

8 stressing in all our annual programmes and initiatives the importance of developing a viable environment for entrepreneurship and education while advocating for equal opportunities for all Arab citizens. Our principal objective today must be to identify and build a network for young business and professional women in Palestine and the region, uniting you all as an inspirational group of young women from all professions and sectors of business, public life and civil society, who are all marked for future positions of leadership within your companies, organisations and your communities. 8

9 Relevance of the Young Women Leaders Initiative in Palestine Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen Dear Friends, Allow me to examine how the Young Arab Women Leaders programme relates to Palestine. According to the World Bank, female labour force participation in the West Bank and Gaza is among the lowest in the world and hence the region and is in complete contradiction to the progress achieved by women in terms of gender parity in education. Over the past decade, the participation of women in the labour force has increased but, nevertheless, is still only a quarter of the rate of their male counterparts. In mid-2012, the labour force participation rate was 69.2 per cent for men and 17.3 per cent for women. Employed women face stark gender segregation. In 2011, the vast majority of employed Palestinian women worked in the service sector and a large share worked in agriculture. 9

10 Women in the service sector work as teachers, nurses, administrative assistants, and secretaries. As these are nongrowth areas of the economy, these sectors are unable to absorb new female labour market entrants, resulting in a persistently high rate of female unemployment over the last few years, impacting on young women. The decline in the share of manufacturing employment, the third largest employer of women, has further reduced women s limited labour market choices. As economic hardship has forced closures, married women who might have withdrawn from the labour market under normal conditions are remaining in their jobs, meaning fewer opportunities for younger women in general, highly educated young women in particular. The lack of employment for young educated women is in stark contrast to the worldwide trend of older and less educated women being outside the labour force. According to the ILO, females unemployment duration is four times that of males. 10

11 Research reveals that families place great store on girls education to ensure their daughter s chances of working in the culturally acceptable formal labour market, to improve her chances of marriage, and as insurance in the event of marital breakdown or male joblessness in the future. Families have therefore recognised that the model of a male breadwinner is vulnerable and that women need to prepare for its possible collapse. However, young women s employment is still not perceived as their primary gender role thus illustrating how patriarchal gender norms are, so far, resistant to change by new societal needs and women s participation in the labour market does not automatically eliminate deeply rooted gender-based inequalities. The Palestinian Ministry of Women s Affairs was established in 2003 and has made significant advances in mainstreaming gender into ministerial plans. With regard to political participation, Palestinian law is largely in compliance with international standards with the rights of women to vote and stand for elections guaranteed by legislation passed in Quota systems were introduced to improve women s 11

12 political representation as a result of lobbying by women s organisations and networks, supported by the Palestinian Authority Minister for Women s Affairs. Consequently, the proportion of seats held by women has increased significantly and women s rights organisations are now calling for a higher quota to further improve representation. However, women are still underrepresented at all levels of governmental decision-making and the political representation of women is still negatively influenced by gender discrimination and other external factors. Despite all major political parties having quotas for women in their governing bodies, the participation of women in the leadership of political parties is extremely limited. Elections are expected to take place in Within the current government, 5 of the 23 ministers are women. Over the past few years, the Ministry of Women s Affairs has reported an improved women s representation in technical and senior positions in various governmental institutions and an increased proportion of female staff in the public sector. 12

13 Civil society in Palestine is indeed vibrant and robust. In 2009, there were over 2,100 civil society organisations registered in Palestine dealing with women s rights and welfare. They fall into two categories, those with a charitable focus and those who work on grassroots empowerment or advocacy. In fact, charitable work in Gaza is one of the few sectors where employment is available and is now considered to be decent work, albeit often temporary for young female graduates. Young women have been able to support their families through intermittent income, food assistance, and temporary work schemes. AIWF has always believed that true and sustainable progress in the Arab region can only be achieved when women are playing a key role in the development process at all levels and when the region fully embraces, empowers and utilises its remarkable pool of human talent. Youth is critical in this process and now is the time to address what the World Economic Forum calls The 100 Million Youth Challenge, when not only Palestine, but all countries across the Arab world are faced with the imperative of fostering economic growth, empowering youth and creating jobs. 13

14 At AIWF, we are always looking for new approaches to the youth unemployment challenge and we believe that these include incentivising young people to develop marketable skills and educators to emphasise skills development whilst encouraging private sector firms to recruit and develop Arab graduates so we have a youth that is not only educated, but also employed. Job creation is the crisis of our time, and for this reason AIWF is heavily invested, with our many partners, in the success of the Young Arab Women Leaders initiative, and is very focused on empowering youth in Palestine and in our region to become entrepreneurs and job creators which, we believe, is key to achieving sustainable and inclusive growth. 14

15 Challenges and Opportunities for Palestinian Women Distinguished Guests, This is a time of much challenge for the Arab region as a whole, and for Palestine in particular; but it is also a time of many opportunities. The World Bank, in its Economic Monitoring Report of June, 2009 entitled Palestinian Economic Prospects: Gaza Recovery and West Bank Revival, reported: Very few economies have faced such a comprehensive array of obstacles to investment - not just of physical impediments to movement, but also comprehensive institutional and administrative barriers to economies of scale and natural resources, along with an unclear political horizon and the inability to predictably plan the movement of people and goods. However, in July, 2012, The World Bank released its report in Ramallah entitled Towards Economic Sustainability of a Future Palestinian State: Promoting Private Sector-Led Growth, which asserts that future growth of the Palestinian economy will depend upon how well it can integrate into the world economy and take advantage of its main riches: its well-educated and entrepreneurial 15

16 population and its location as a gateway between the Arab World and Europe. A Palestinian state could seek to emulate the outward-looking models of the East Asian countries, with trade as the main driver of future growth. The report celebrates the Palestinian economy s main resource, its people, who are highly educated and entrepreneurial but stresses that for the Palestinian economy to improve its competitiveness and move towards higher value-added products, particularly services, investment in the education system is key to hone skills to the needs of the private sector. All reports support the assertion of The World Bank that ultimately, sustainable economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza can only be founded on a vibrant private sector able to provide the jobs needed by the expanding Palestinian population and generate the revenues required to fund essential government services. 16

17 What can AIWF and other organizations do to develop the next generation of Women Leaders? AIWF is indeed proud to work across the board with governments, educators and the private sector to facilitate a greater role and a lasting impact for women in the region, bringing together high-level participants to power change, create partnerships and promote viable business alliances between men and women leaders in the Arab world and their counterparts in the international community. AIWF was founded in 2001 to serve as the voice of Arab women, showcasing their development, promoting cross-cultural diversity and creating greater public awareness of women s success and prospects in the Arab world. From day one, our Annual Programmes and initiatives have looked at the potential and challenges of women and youth as drivers of change, building upon timely themes and emphasising the importance of partnership, capacity-building, mentorship and information exchange in a truly international context, bringing policy makers together with business leaders to effect positive change. 17

18 AIWF has achieved recognition as a powerful advocate for women as engines of economic and social growth in the Arab world with entrepreneurship and the creation of viable business environments where SMEs can flourish as common keystones of our groundbreaking AIWF Annual Programmes and Conferences over the years, held in Paris, London, Brussels, Madrid, Cairo, Amman, Washington DC, Damascus and Dubai. For 2013 and beyond, with over half of the Arab world s population under the age of 30, we clearly see job creation, education and capacity building as being critical, not just for the future of the Arab region but for all emerging economies including Asia, South America and Africa. We believe that women's entrepreneurship is absolutely essential to the sustainable development process. Women already play an important role in some parts of the region as business owners, but they will need to play an even larger role at this critical time because, without more women in politics, business, finance and civil society, playing significant roles in shaping the new Arab future, there will never be real, lasting and sustainable empowerment for women and youth in the MENA region. 18

19 Concluding Remarks Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen We look forward to collaborating with all our distinguished guests, speakers and participants to ensure that our young Palestinian women leaders are given every opportunity to develop and enhance their potential to become effective leaders in building a better future for our Palestine. We will build on the fruits of today s deliberations as they relate specifically to women in Palestine and with further Young Arab Women Leaders conferences scheduled in the region for later this year. The outcomes of the Young Arab Leaders conferences to date have reinforced AIWF s long-held belief in the importance of coaching and mentoring and the presence and influence of strong, successful role models to empower Arab women. This, combined with policies actively encouraging women to work and promoting entrepreneurship and advancing their participation in business, the 19

20 professions and public life, would pave the way to closing not only the gender gap but also the leadership gap. It is only when women are empowered in sufficient numbers that we will create a society that truly works for women and a society that works for everyone. Ensuring that Arab women are empowered to actively participate in private sector growth, undertaking senior management positions, is the only way to show the younger generation that successful women are the norm and no longer the exception in the Arab world and they are the driver of change. Thank you for your kind attention and I wish you all a most stimulating and productive day. 20