7 - 13 February 2002
Issue No.572
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 7 - 13 February 2002 Issue No.572 |
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Seeking a more effective media
Leading Arab women met in Abu Dhabi to set a new regional media strategy that aims to correct Arab women's image and highlight their role in society building. Dahlia Hammouda reports
Arab first ladies and top women activists have met once again, this time to talk about how the media could be instrumental in projecting a more realistic image of Arab women to replace the negative one that remains prevalent in today's Arab media.
Mrs Mubarak speaking to the press following the forum proceedings
The women were gathered in Abu Dhabi on 2 and 3 February to attend the "Towards an interactive media" forum, the fourth in a series of six themed forums that emerged from the resolutions of the First Arab Women's Summit held in Cairo in November 2000.
In her speech at the opening session, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, head of the Arab Women's Summit, said that the common factor that brings these Arab women together is their deep-rooted Arab values and their dreams of a better future. "We all share the strong desire to change Arab women's conditions at all levels and to transform their presence into a creative energy that could be utilised to realise the dreams of our nation," she said.
Mrs Mubarak expressed pride in the positive spirit emanating from the resolutions of the Arab Women's Summit, which also permeated the three previous forums and allowed for the democratic exchange of ideas and expansion and intensification of dialogue among the participants. "Nobody could have imagined that the summit and its forums would be so well-established so quickly," Mrs Mubarak said. "Thanks to the summit, a number of practical projects to reinforce solidarity among women in the Arab world are under way, most important of which is the upcoming establishment of the Arab Women's Organisation, which is to be one of the agencies of the Arab League and is expected to have a huge role in advancing Arab women."
In less than two years, the first Arab women's summit was convened in Cairo in 2000, the second extraordinary summit was also held in Cairo in November 2001 and three forums were held in three Arab capitals during 2001.
Mrs Mubarak said Arab women have come a long way in achieving many of their objectives, having secured most of their rights and reached high positions in all fields of national work.
"The question we must be asking ourselves today is: have our official media organisations reflected this positive picture of Arab women's achievements and have they been on top of the latest developments in women's status region- wide?" Mrs Mubarak asked.
Participants agreed that the media will be depended upon in the future to do a great deal. There was also a consensus that the new media strategy should not confine itself to improving women's image, giving them a wider presence in media institutions or granting them some space to voice their concerns and demand their rights. "This strategy should be based on a principle we must all agree upon, which is that women possess a huge creative influence in building the developed societies we all aspire to and they are the most capable of understanding the pedagogic issues that the future generation's upbringing depends upon," Mrs Mubarak said.
Rectifying Arab women's image in our Arab media will also serve a greater purpose -- amending that image in the Western and international media as well. "It is absolutely necessary, at this point, to correct the image of Islam and Arab culture, which have been subjected to a smear campaign in the Western media during the past period," Mrs Mubarak stressed.
In a final message to her audience, Mrs Mubarak said that the changing world around us necessitates that we should be revising many of our thoughts and long-held beliefs. "If our destinies have placed us now in the face of a host of global challenges, let us be up to it. Let us learn to courageously confront our own selves, beginning today -- the starting point on the road to a better future for us all," she said.
On Friday, at a celebration marking Arab Women's Day, Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, wife of the UAE president, awarded Mrs Mubarak the Zayed Medal in recognition of her tireless efforts in pushing for Arab women's progress.
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