Saudi Women Meet with EU Delegation

Several Saudi women coming from different walks of life met with Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, who is currently leading an EU team to the Kingdom, on Tuesday. 

The women shared their experiences in handling top jobs. They explained how the Kingdom was moving forward to achieve its 2030 vision. Both sides also discussed methods of cooperation for exchanging culture and knowledge.

Lama Al-Sulaiman, a JCCI board member, noted that the European citizens need to know more about Saudi society and blamed the foreign media for playing a negative role by stereotyping the Saudi society and particularly, the status of Saudi women. The Western media, she urged, should be accurate while reporting instead of promoting biased information. 

The participants in the meeting broadly concurred that the higher authorities in the Kingdom are pro-women and that there is a wave of change that the country is witnessing, allowing women to claim the space they deserve. However, there is a segment of the society that is still resisting change, posing a challenge to women in their pursuit of advancement. 

Among the participants was Rasha Hifzi, a member of the municipal council, who spoke about the struggles she undertook to be allowed to sit side by side with men in the municipal council meetings. “It was me against 29 men,” she said adding that there is a plan to restructure the council to serve the public in a better way. However, she as a woman, faces problems at various levels.

Basma Al-Omair, head of Khadija Bin Khuwailid, spoke about the role the center plays in supporting women and noted that they have compiled statistics to monitor the views of the society regarding women empowerment. She noted that according to their findings a large portion of the society is supportive of women and noted that the social media does not really represent what goes on in society. She added that 20 percent of the JCCI manpower are women.

Sofana Dahlan, a lawyer and founder of the Saudi National Creative Initiative, shared her experience of obtaining a license to practice, which took years before she finally got it. She added that it was possible only after a royal decree that allowed women to obtain lawyer licenses. Prior to the decree, she used to visit Riyadh on a regular basis for a followup on her file. Now, she renews her license in her home city, Jeddah. Speaking about the cooperation between the EU and Kingdom she suggested that culture and art are great fields where they can cooperate and exchange experiences.
More awareness and education is needed, said Lama, in order to allow youth to plan for the jobs they shall seek for future rather than sticking to the traditional jobs, like teaches and doctors.

Originally published on Saudi Gazette

Saudi Diplomat at UN Climate Talks Proud of Her Global Role

JEDDAH — Saudi diplomat Sarah Baashan who has been appointed to a key position in the UN climate negotiations spoke to Okaz/Saudi Gazette about her new role.

Baashan, along with New Zealand’s Jo Tyndall, was recently appointed vice chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA), the main negotiating platform for hammering out a host of sticking issues in global climate talks.

Through her participation in several international conferences and being part of the legal committee in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Baashan said, she emphasized the importance of standing proud as a Saudi woman in the international arena.

“I worked in several organizations for more than 12 years after I obtained a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University,” she said.

Baashan said several Saudi women are playing key roles in the international arena and are involved in tackling issues of global importance.

“Saudi women are qualified and capable of taking leading national, regional and international roles. They are educated and well aware of the geopolitics of global relations,” Baashan said.

She said she has several years of experience in the field of the politics of climate change. “I joined the Saudi delegation participating in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2012,” said Baashan.

“Our role is to contribute positively to the issue of climate change. Climate change resulted in global warming, which is a problem for most industrial countries. The Kingdom, like many Arab countries, however is not a major contributor to the global warming,” said Baashan.

The Paris Convention on Climate Change, which hosted 195 different countries, resulted in the signing of an international agreement on climate change. The agreement is considered a key step in international efforts toward preventing the adverse effects of global warming and climate change.

Originally Published on Saudi Gazette