SHARJAH // An Emirati woman who worked as an adviser to the World Bank and has been invited to the White House urged the nation's women to strive to overcome all barriers to achieve their dreams. Lubna Qassim, a vocal proponent of women's rights, spoke at Sharjah Women's College and encouraged her audience of around 100 young women to realise their potential.
Ms Qassim told the women not to allow themselves to be held back by obstacles in their careers. "It hasn't been a smooth, stress-free journey, but I'm so grateful for every obstacle that came my way," she told the women. "I'm grateful to every individual who challenged me or else I'd never come out of my comfort zone. "The real world is very different. It's exciting, but there will be times when you'll be pushed to realise your full potential," she said.
Ms Qassim was an adviser at the World Bank on legal issues concerning the UAE and was invited by the White House to the presidential summit in April, along with eight other prominent Emiratis. In addition to speaking with the US president, Barack Obama, she also met the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. Ms Qassim, who was educated in Britain, has become a role model, according to many young Emirati women, some of whom feel they have a lack of support from family.
Nour Taleb, 18, who studies business and IT at the college and hopes one day to work in management, told Ms Qassim that she did not receive sufficient backing. "Everything has its time to happen," Ms Qassim told the teenager. "If people don't encourage you that doesn't mean you have to stop. You have to keep going, even if people tell you not to." It was not only Ms Taleb who was inspired by the 32-year-old legal pioneer, who is currently heading a campaign to overhaul the UAE's economic legislation in areas such as employment law, insolvency law and foreign investment law.
Alya Abdulrahman, also a student of Business and IT, said: "As Emirati girls, we face challenges every day. You have so much negative response from our parents, friends, colleagues, but we keep on and on." She has ambitions to start up her own publishing house. "I want to encourage Emirati writers. I wanted to write but nobody supported me so I want to support others," she said. Khawla Othman, 19, said Ms Qassim was the picture she had in her mind of the successful Emirati woman. "She has achieved so much already," she said. "She makes us realise we can achieve anything. She gives us hope."
Ms Qassim highlighted examples to give hope to the young women. The UAE has four female government ministers, two female ambassadors and four female judges, she said. In the corporate sector, there were two female pilots in Etihad and numerous other women doing great work for the UAE, she added. Ms Qassim, who is also a fellow at the Dubai School of Government, told the students to set goals, to believe that they could achieve them and carry them out with passion and fire.
"If it's someone else's goals, we may enjoy it for some time, but after a while of living someone else's dreams, we will shy away," she told them. "It's OK to reset your goals, but what is important is that it has to be your goal and your dream." The talk was part of the debating society which recently set up the Model United Nations, encouraging the students to engage in dialogue of current affairs on the global stage.
Gail Alhafidh, from the English faculty, said the debates encourage the students to think about a variety of issues to which they may never have been exposed, such as whether women should be allowed to drive. "Many of them have never travelled abroad so this is an important experience for them," she said. Christina Gitsaki, a Unesco chair in applied research in education, based at the college, said: "She's excelled in a male-dominated society and is young. It's important to have such a proud Emirati woman as a role model for them."
@Email:mswan@thenational.ae
