The Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), is holding an open forum titled ‘Political Participation and Arab Women as Agents of Change’ on Sunday, 11 March, at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), in celebration of the International Women’s Day in Qatar.
The event, organised in collaboration with Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences (HBKU-CHSS), will include a panel discussion on the rationale, challenges, and opportunities of women in parliament in the Arab region and will explore the social barriers to women’s political participation. In addition, the forum will open the floor to topics such as Qatari women in parliament and the impact of their representation in policy-making.
DIFI Executive Director Noor Al Malki Al-Jehani said the event seeks to analyse the current situation of women in parliament, with particular emphasis on women’s leadership and participation in decision-making in the Arab region and in the international level. The event aims to examine the links between women’s presence in decision-making and their impact on improving living conditions for families, communities, and societies as a whole.
This forum will also shed light on the recent steps taken by Qatar to nominate four female members to the Shura Council, which represents an important historic milestone in the process of empowering Qatari women.’
Panel speakers will include female members of the Qatari Shura Council – Dr Hend Al Muftah and Reem Mohammed al Mansouri; Engineer Nashia Al Kharoosi, Member of State Council and Council Bureau in Oman; and Dr Ghadeer Al-Assiri, researcher and political activist from Kuwait. The event will also gather representatives from civil society and the academe.
DIFI is a global policy and advocacy institute working to advance knowledge on Arab families through research and promote evidence-based polices at national, regional, and international level. The institute has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
For more information about the forum, visit the DIFI website at difi.org.qa.
