Najla Faisal Al Awadhi is a former Member of Parliament (the Federal National Council) of the United Arab Emirates and a distinguished media pioneer in the Middle East. [1] Al Awadhi is one of the first women in the history of the UAE to become a Member of the UAE Parliament and also the first Arab woman to hold a chief executive post in a state run media organization. [2]
During Al Awadhi's four-year parliament term she served on the Education, Youth, Media and Culture Committees; as well as the Parliamentary Steering Committee established to develop a scheme to modernize the Parliament's practices and overall effectiveness. She also previously served on the Foreign Affairs, Planning, Petroleum, Mineral Wealth, Agriculture and Fishery Committees. [3] Al Awadhi was also previously a Chief Executive at Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI). [3] In 2011, Al Awadhi was selected as one of the ‘500 Most Influential Muslims’ by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan. [4] She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and also a member of the Global Agenda Councils of the World Economic Forum. [5] In addition, Al Awadhi was acting chairperson for the regional board of Young Arab Leaders (YAL). Previously, she was also on the Advisory Board of the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy, and a board member with YAL's UAE Chapter and headed its Education initiative that sought to provide higher education opportunities to talented UAE nationals. [6] Since 2007, Al Awadhi has been a regular columnist for local newspapers in the UAE. Her articles cover a range of socio-economic topics, including women's rights, democracy, social justice, cultural perspectives, and education challenges throughout the Middle East.
Al Awadhi is a graduate of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. [7]
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East. Located at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula, it shares land borders with Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the southwest; as well as maritime borders in the Persian Gulf with Qatar and Iran. The United Arab Emirates is an elective monarchy formed from a federation of seven emirates. As of 2024, the UAE has an estimated population of about 10 million. Islam is the official religion and Arabic is the official language. Abu Dhabi is the country's capital, while Dubai, the most populous city, is an international hub.
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The council's main headquarters is located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution.
The Arab states of the Persian Gulf or the Arab Gulf states refers to a group of Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Yemen is bound to the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, based on history and culture.
Women in the Arab world have been subject to changing cultural and social norms over the centuries with a clear difference between Urban areas, Rural areas and age groups. These differences can be attributed to local traditions, culture and religion, women's social or legal status, their level of education, health or self-awareness. Since the 19th century, and notably through the influence of the colonization in North Africa, the Arab Renaissance in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, and the end of the Ottoman Empire, the social and economic changes in the Arab world have become greatly accelerated and diversified.
According to Human Rights Watch, there is substantial discrimination against women in the United Arab Emirates. The status of women has improved over the years. UAE performs better on metrics of gender equality than many other states in the Gulf region, and it has been making reforms to protect women's rights and empower women in different sectors. Critics describe some of these reforms as window dressing.
Dr. Abdul Malik Al-Jaber is a Palestinian businessman. He served as the CEO of Zain Jordan, the country's leading telecommunications provider for two years till July 1, 2011, and is a member of the board of the World Economic Forum.
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Hayat Al Sindi is a Saudi Arabian biotechnologist and medical scientist who is one of the first female members of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. She is famous for making major contributions to point-of-care medical testing and biotechnology. She was ranked by Arabian Business as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
Her Excellency Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi is an Emirati politician and businesswoman currently serving as Minister of State at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She previously served as Minister of Culture and Youth from 2020-2023 for the United Arab Emirates. She has held the position since October 2017. Previously she was the Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs from February 2016 to October 2017. She has also been the chairperson of the twofour54 since 2012 and of Abu Dhabi Media since 2017.
Amal Al Qubaisi is an Emirati politician who served as the speaker of the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council (FNC) from 2015 to 2019. She was first female leader of a national assembly in the United Arab Emirates and the Arab world. Before holding the position she was the chairwoman of the Abu Dhabi Education Council.
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Prof. Moudi A. Al-Humoud, is currently the Founding Administrative Board, Chair of Abdullah Al-Salem University in Kuwait and she is a professor of management at the College of Business Administration, Kuwait University. She served as president of Arab Open University, a pan Arab university operating in Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan and Palestine.
Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak is the managing director of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund as well as the current president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Bassma Al Jandaly is a journalist based in the United Arab Emirates; she worked as a community and crime correspondent at Dubai-based English-language newspaper Gulf News, and is known for her demonstrated interests in humanitarian causes.
Shaikha Najlaa Mohammad Salem Al Qasimi is a United Arab Emirates diplomat who has served as the UAE's Ambassador to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Portugal.
Taryam Omran Taryam was the co-founder of Dar Al Khaleej Printing & Publishing, a publishing house based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Together with his brother, Abdullah Omran Taryam, he founded the first UAE daily national newspaper Al Khaleej, as well as the English-language daily Gulf Today.
Dubai Abulhoul is an Emirati author and columnist. Having published five books since 2012, Abulhoul works as a columnist for the "Al Bayan" and "Gulf Today" newspapers and is CEO of the Fiker Institute, a global affairs and governance think tank that she founded in 2021.
Dr. Ebtesam Al-Ketbi is a political scientist who founded and presides over The Emirates Policy Center think tank.