Queen Rania Underlines Role of Arab Women in Developing Their Societies in a Televised Message on the Occasion of Arab Women’s Day

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah underlined the integral role of women in the development of societies noting that women’s participation was not an end but a means that could achieve further progress for Arab societies.

In a televised message on the occasion of Arab Women’s Day, Queen Rania said the launching of an Arab Media Campaign, which calls on women to seek further education, have the courage to venture into all sectors of society and take part in the decision-making process would better enable them to be part of the overall course of development.

The media campaign which will be launched simultaneously on Arab television networks is one of the main projects of the Arab Women’s Summit which Queen Rania currently heads, and aims to change existing stereotypes of women in the Arab World while prodding them towards further participation.

Queen Rania has always underlined the role of the media and education in changing engraved stereotypes of Arab women in order to create a general awareness of issues and policies affecting, them while activating their role in building their societies and encouraging their full participation in public life.

According to the Arab Human Development Report 2003, one of the main hindrances affecting the region’s development is the lack of women’s participation, rights and access to knowledge.

A clear note in the televised message was that we are not re-inventing the wheel but rather helping it roll, for human history is witness to the role women have played as the family’s corner stone since eternity.

The Queen highlighted the role of media in a meeting with Jordan’s women parliamentarians and newly-appointed senators as well as the executive board of the General Federation of Jordanian Women (GFJW) last month, when she reiterated “there must be an open discussion as well as cooperation among institutions as well as the media to raise awareness on issues being discussed so as to achieve the needed legislative amendments to any laws. In addition, there must be harmony between laws and regulations, including those guaranteeing women’s rights, on condition that such rights do not contradict with culture and religion.”

The Arab Media Campaign will been launched on the occasion of Arab Women’s Day which was set by the Arab Parliamentary Union meeting in 2000 in Algiers.