Egypt's First Lady, Finnish President discuss women empowerment |
|
Network this!
Text Size 
CAIRO: Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak highlighted the need to "act now" towards women's empowerment during a recent panel discussion.
The panel discussion, titled "Women's Participation and Empowerment for Peace and Security," was held Tuesday on the occasion of Finnish President Tarja Halonen's visit to Egypt. It was organized by the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement (SWIPM) in cooperation with the Embassy of Finland.
In her welcome speech, the First Lady described the issue as "a matter close to our hearts." This meeting, she continued, "further consolidates our collective commitment [towards] the empowerment of women [and to achieve] peace and security."
Mubarak explained why women's empowerment is important in achieving peace and security.
"They [women] serve as architectures of peace and security for many reasons," she explained. "First of all, in health and education they have served as agents of change in the care sector, and in the goods and value adding services they are pivotal to political and economic peace building efforts ... and without security and peace there is no social future."
Empowering women is empowering the generations they are raising and, in turn, the future, Mubarak said. "We are activating powerful sources for change."
"We need to act and act now," said Mubarak, noting that there needs to be active cooperation between governments, the private sector and civil society in order to move forward.
"We are at a crossroad historically, politically and economically and the choice of how to proceed is ours," she concluded.
Mubarak introduced Halonen by saying that she serves as a role model to women, not only in Finland but all over the world as "a person of passion and compassion who cares profoundly for peace."
Halonen recognized Egypt's continuous efforts towards peace and understanding throughout history, even during times of conflict.
Like Mubarak, she stressed the need for a strong collaboration all sides to reach this goal. "Half the globe is women and they are powerful actors," she added.
Halonen said that we have to encourage fellow citizens by giving them concrete success stories of women and their role.
She further highlighted other threats in the world that will drastically affect women everywhere. "Climate change is a particular threat to the poor and 70 percent of world's poor are women and girls," she said.
Nadia Makram Ebied, former minister of state for environmental affairs, said, "Climate change, this terrible threat will bring climate refugees. And it is the women and children who really suffer. This is a global challenge which needs a global solution."
Both Mubarak and Halonen in their speeches referred to the United Nations' Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. This is the first resolution that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women's contribution to conflict resolution and sustainable peace.
Mubarak emphasized the importance of awareness raising programs regarding this resolution.
"This resolution is really old, we will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year," said the Finnish President, noting that over this period, practical implementation of the resolution has been lacking.
Moderating the discussion was Ismail Serageldin, director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and board member of the SMWIPM, who noted that "the global community [has realized that only with the] wisdom and leadership of women [will we have] peace and security."
Representatives of international organizations, civil society, diplomatic missions and members of the SMWIPM Youth Network were present at the discussion.
"It must be recognized that women are an important factor in political and social change, the role of women is essential in all fields," said Andrew Claret, director of the Anna Lindh Foundation in Alexandria.
He added that in Egypt in particular there has been a growing role of young women in initiating intercultural dialogue.
Participants in the discussion suggested partnerships between civil society organizations in Egypt and their counterparts in Finland. Other project proposals were cultural exchange through translation of literature and learning from the Finnish model of education, commended by the participants as among the best in the world.
"We need to highlight the success stories, we have built 115 girl-friendly schools in remote areas which have changed the quality of life there," said Aziza Helmy, senior advisor at the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.
On a final note at the discussion, a young Egyptian-Finnish woman asked Mubarak what advice she would give women under 30 in light of empowerment efforts.
"We are privileged, educated and exposed, our duty is to give and help others, not just through charity, but be part of an organization or association to give a hand to these women," she answered.
"From youth groups to the National Council for Women and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood have open arms [for volunteers in their different programs]," she suggested.
By Safaa Abdoun
© Daily News Egypt 2009
Community Comments (0) - 
Comment on this article 
Comment on this article
The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect Zawya. Read our Comment Policy.
Loading ...
Zawya Comment Policy:
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Loading ...
Post Your Tender Notices for FREE
(No Sign-in Required)
Zawya Tenders is a Tender Notices service entirely driven by contribution
from issuers in both public and private sectors. It is not an e-tendering service and is entirely FREE.
As an Issuer, you can benefit from posting an unlimited number of Tender
Notices for FREE and reaching out to an online community of bidders.
The service also offers you a tool to track the interest of bidders to your
tenders 'live' online.
from issuers in both public and private sectors. It is not an e-tendering service and is entirely FREE.
As an Issuer, you can benefit from posting an unlimited number of Tender
Notices for FREE and reaching out to an online community of bidders.
The service also offers you a tool to track the interest of bidders to your
tenders 'live' online.
| Egypt Tenders | Due Date |
Community Buzz
Stories
Companies
Most viewed companies by Community in the last 24 hrs
| Company Name | Country | Industry |
| Consolidated Contractors Company | Overseas | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Binladin Group | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Dodsal Engineering and Construction | UAE | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Electricity Company | Saudi Arabia | Electric Utilities |
| Saudi Telecom | Saudi Arabia | Telecommunications Services |
| Emirates Telecommunications Corporation | UAE | Telecommunications Services |
| Agility Public Warehousing Company | Kuwait | Transportation Services |
| Al Azizia Panda United Company | Saudi Arabia | General Retailers |
| Al Maktoum International Airport | UAE | Transportation Services |
| Emirates Airline | UAE | Transportation Services |
Projects
Most viewed projects by Community in the last 24 hrs
| Project Name | Country | Sector |
| Takreer - Ruwais Refinery Expansion | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| ENEC - Nuclear Power Plant | UAE | Power and Water |
| SATORP - Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) - Smelter Complex - Phase 1 | UAE | Industry |
| Dubai RTA - Dubai Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Qatar Foundation - Sidra Medical and Research Center | Qatar | Real Estate |
| SATORP- Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical Complex - Conversion Unit and Sulphur Package (Part 2) | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| ADNOC/ConocoPhillips - Sour Gas Fields Development - Shah Field | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| Abu Dhabi DOT - Abu Dhabi Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Takreer - Ruwais Refinery Expansion - Offsites and Utilities Package | UAE | Oil and Gas |