Kuwaiti minister hails Sheikha Fatima as the ‘Mother of the Arabs’

Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, wife of the late founding President, Sheikh Zayed, and chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, said a recent accolade bestowed upon her only strengthened her push to continue supporting families.

“This new award doubles our responsibilities towards the family and the need to formulate programmes and strategies that take into account aspirations of its members,” said Sheikha Fatima, after being named Mother of the Arabs by the Arab Family Organisation.

Kuwaiti minister Hind Sabih Subaih commended the efforts of Sheikha Fatima in supporting family programmes and the empowerment of women.

She made the comments during an honouring ceremony for Sheikha Fatima, the state news agency Wam reported.

“Sheikha Fatima is a prominent figure in the field of humanitarian and social work in the Gulf and Arab regions,” said Ms Subaih, Kuwait’s minister of social affairs and labour, and the minister of state for planning and development.

She congratulated Sheikha Fatima on the award of the title and applauded the AFO for such recognition.

Other officials spoke about the role Sheikha Fatima played in standing up for disadvantaged women in the region, and elsewhere in the world.

“The honouring of Sheikha Fatima is a tribute to every woman in Palestine who is still struggling to survive, and each woman in Syria and diaspora who lost a son, a husband, a house and family amid the world’s inability to protect them,” said Enas Makkawi, manager of the directorate of Women, Family and Childhood at the Arab League.

“Her honouring is also an honour for each martyr on Arab land, and all women living in conditions deemed the most difficult in recent history.”

Sheikha Fatima is also Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development, was also present at the ceremony.