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Arab women in science &
Technology:
The information society,
greater opportunities for Arab
Women
Presented by: Sana GHENIMA
TUNISIA
AWO, university of Cambridge, September 2005
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Arab women: statistics
3. Involving Arab women in science and
technology
4. The ICT challenges
5. Information society and gender caucus
6. Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
A thousand years ago, the Arab World made
remarkable contributions to science.
Arabs introduced new methods of experiment,
observation, and measurement.
Some examples of those inventions:
Al-Khwarizmi invented algebra and the word
algorithm is derived from his name;
Ibn al-Haytham wrote the laws of the
reflection and refraction of light and
expounded the principles of inertia
Actual situation
Yet today, the number of original research papers
published by scientists in Arabic countries is too
small compared to the number published by
scientists in Europe and the USA.
It is to be hoped that this trend is set to change,
with many Arabic countries opening new
universities and introducing a variety of
educational and training programs to improve
their capabilities in science and technology.
But even with these developments, there is still
disparity between Arabic men and women when it
comes to an education in science and technology
subjects.
Gender descrimination
In many Arabic countries, gender-based
discrimination, coupled with social and cultural
barriers, limits access and participation of women
in higher education.
Some people attribute these barriers to the
teachings of Islam, but this is false as we saw
yesterday.
Science & technology education
Science education in most Arabic
countries begins between 6 and 7 years of
age and is taught in all countries to both
boys and girls until the age of 15.
The major science disciplines are then
studied separately in the last 3 or 4 years
of high school education.
Girls are then less enrolled in high school
science curricula because the existing
education structure encourages girls to
study more arts and humanities.
Science & technology education
There are various reasons for this related to
gender stereotyping, misleading perceptions that:
science and technology are subjects more suitable for
boys
the failure of curricula to relate science and technology
to the everyday life of women.
There is also self-inhibition and crystal barriers
inside girls that affects:
Number of young women entering university to study
science and technology subjects,
Employment involvement that inhibit women to
introduce their own values and visions into a working
world dominated by men.
Cultural disparities
Arabic countries vary greatly in their
culture, traditions, and social systems,
and there is a wide range of attitudes
toward educating women at the university
level.
Although women in many Arabic countries
have the right to a university education,
those in more traditional rural areas often
do not have this chance, whether for
social, economic, or family reasons.
Gross enrolment ratios in tertiary education in selected Arab
countries (1998-2001)
Note:
a) Data for Djibouti, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine,
Qatar and Saudi Arabia pertain to the year 2001/2002.
Data for Tunisia pertain to the year 2000/2001. Data for
Comoros and Yemen pertain to the year 1999/2000. Data
for Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Syrian Arab Republic,
Sudan and the United Arab Emirates pertain to Source: UNESCO Institute for
1998/1999.
Statistics (UIS) databases
Scientific university studies
Percent female in SC Courses 1990-1991 in the Arab World
80
70
60
50
40 Percent female
30
20
10
0
Le da n
S o n ia
Pa no n
i
U. in
A l ia
Jo q
o
or a
bia
a
Dj n
Ba en
Tu a
Ye n
i A ar
t
r ia
e
it
ut
Ku .
yp
E
Ira
da
ri
ali
M o cc
a
wa
tin
y
a
nis
t
ibo
ge
Lib
A.
Sy
m
Om
Qa
a
ra
hr
Eg
r
m
ba
Su
les
r it
au
M
ud
Sa
Source: UNESCO, The Higher Education System in the Arab
States (1993).
BAHREIN Gender indicators
BAHREIN GENDER INDICATORS 2000-2001
90
80
70
60
50 Women
40 Men
30
20
10
0
unspecified)
Science
Health and
Education
Engineering
law, social
humanities
Business,
(agriculture
science
welfare
Arts &
Others
and
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
20
40
60
80
100
120
0
Legislators, senior
officials and
business
managers
Professionals
Services workers
and shop and
market workers
Skilled agricultural
and fishery
workers
Crafts and related
workers/supervisor
s, food, industrial,
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
chemical industry
workers
BAHREIN Employed population by Occupational group (%) (1991)
Men
Women
Gender Employment indicators
SAUDIA Arabia
Saudia Arabia Gender Indicators 1997-1998
120
100
80
Women
60
Men
40
20
0
Education Arts and Business, Science Engineering Health and Others
humanities law, social welfare (agriculture
science and
unspecified)
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
OMAN
OMAN University Fields of study (%) 2000-2001
100
90
80
70
60 Women
50
40 Men
30
20
10
0
Arts and Business, Science Engineering Health and Others
humanities law, social welfare (agriculture
science and
unspecified)
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
Legislators, senior
officials and
business
managers
Professionals
Services workers
and shop and
market workers
OMAN
Skilled agricultural
and fishery
workers
Crafts and related
workers/supervisor
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
s, food, industrial,
OMAN Active population by occupational group (%) 2000
chemical industry
workers
Men
Women
JORDAN Indicators
Jordon Women Studies 2000-2001
90
80
70
60
50 Women
40 Men
30
20
10
0
Science
Health and
Education
Agriculture
Engineering
law, social
humanities
Business,
science
welfare
Arts &
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
20
40
60
80
100
120
0
Legislators, senior
officials and
business
managers
Professionals
Services workers
and shop and
market workers
Skilled agricultural
and fishery
workers
JORDAN
Crafts and related
workers/supervisor
s, food, industrial,
chemical industry
workers
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
JORDAN Employed Population by Occupational group (%) 2002
Men
Women
LEBANON
LEBANON Gender Indicators 2000-2001
100
90
80
70
60
Women
50
40 Men
30
20
10
0
Education Arts and Business, law, Science Engineering Health and Others
humanities social science welfare (agriculture,
services and
unspecified)
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
Legislators, senior
officials and
business
managers
Professionals
Services workers
and shop and
market workers
Skilled agricultural
and fishery
workers
LEBANON
Crafts and related
workers/supervisor
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
s, food, industrial,
chemical industry
workers
LEBANON Employed population by Occupational group (%) 1997
Men
Women
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Education
Arts &
humanities
Business,
law, social
science
Science
Engineering
EGYPT
Health and
EGYPT Gender Indicators 1998-1999
welfare
Others
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
(agriculture
and
unspecified)
Men
Women
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
Legislators, senior
officials and
business
managers
Professionals
Services workers
and shop and
market workers
Skilled agricultural
and fishery
EGYPT
workers
Crafts and related
workers/supervisor
Source: ESCWA Social Statistics Information System
s, food, industrial,
chemical industry
EGYPT Employed population by occupational group (%) 1998
workers
Men
Women
Women involved in Sc & Tech
In certain disciplines, such as
public health at The Lebanese
University, and pharmacy in
Syrian universities, there are
more female than male
undergraduate students.
Women tend preferentially to
enroll in the life sciences and
chemistry, with far fewer studying
physics, mathematics, and
engineering.
Women involved in Sc & Tech
This seems to be more the result of female students
choosing these subjects than active discrimination by
the education system.
This trend is also seen among U.S. and European
female students.
For example, in the EU, women constitute more
women undergraduates of natural science than of
mathematics or computer and engineering
undergraduates.
Cultures are changing!
Recently, there has been a noticeable shift in the type of
scientific disciplines chosen by Arab women, with more
female students selecting courses in engineering, physics,
mathematics or computer sciences.
That examples were exposed in the figures I showed
Bu as we see this positive trend is here but it does not
necessarily mean that greater career opportunities await
women graduating in science subjects.
Some EGYPTIAN indicators
In Egypt, a survey by the Supreme
Council of Universities for 1995-96
reports that:
in disciplines such as pharmacy
and dentistry, more than 40% of
the faculty are women;
in the sciences, 25% of the
faculty are women,
but this decreases to less than
10% in departments of
engineering and technology.
% Female Faculty members in EGYPT (1995-1996)
100
90
80
70
60 Faculty Women
50
40 Faculty Men
30
20
10
0
Medicine
Agriculture
Engineering
Pharmacy
Dentistry
Sciences
Veterinary
technology
medicine
and
Once again, these statistics are very
similar to those for U.S. universities or
Europeen ones. So it seems to be a
general gender problem.
Influent factors
There are a number of socio-cultural factors that
limit career advancement opportunities in
science and technology for Arab women.
Women are raised and educated in a male-
dominated society with very traditional attitudes
and constraints. These vary greatly not only from
one Arab country to the next, but also between,
for example, urban and rural areas of the same
country.
Other Influent factors
Other factors, such as the challenges of
combining responsibilities for a household
and family with a professional career.
In addition, it is extremely difficult for a
woman to re-enter the scientific workforce
once she has put her career on hold to
raise and educate children for many years.
Professional progress for women
Despite all the constraints and obstacles in Arabic
countries, women scientists have achieved considerable
professional progress within a short period of time.
Although there is an increasing pool of highly qualified
women scientists in some Arabic countries, few women in
universities and research institutes are presidents,
directors of institutes, or heads of divisions or laboratories.
Professional progress for women
Very few women scientists are involved in the political life
of their countries, although those who are involved have
proved to be strong advocates for science and
technological development.
It is important that more Arab women scientists are
encouraged to enter politics where their voices will be
heard.
Involvement in International Organizatio
A few female scientists from Arabic
countries serve on national and
international committees where they have
the opportunity to promote science and
technology at both the national and global
level.
Some enhancing initiatives are noticed
every day
Arab network for women in scienc
A network for women researchers was launched
this Year (February 2005 ) in Salmania, Bahrain,
to promote gender equality in scientific
programmes and institutions in the Arab world.
the network would be very important in
promoting Arab women's access to careers in
science and technology, and in correcting the
gender imbalance in science that is present to
varying degrees in Arab countries.
International Science awards
• Pr. Zohra Ben Lakhdar
Laureate 2005
• Professor of Physics
Laboratory of Atomic-Molecular
Spectroscopy and Applications
Department of Physics
Faculty of Sciences
University of Tunis El Manar Tunisia
The 7 th edition of the
L’ORÉAL-UNESCO FOR "For her experiments and models on
WOMEN IN SCIENCE infrared spectroscopy and its
(March 2005) applications to pollution, detection and
medicine."
HER Advice…
… to the would-be female physicist
Professor Ben Lakhdar's advice reflects her
struggles and the difficulties she has had to
overcome.
"Be aware of the importance of culture; be
open-minded as a scientist and as a person.
Seek independence. Understand how
important it is to be a responsible citizen. And
be optimistic: more and more women are
becoming involved in the sciences, especially
biology. Women are now more independent.
Women's careers are becoming more
important and more highly valued by society.
The average age of marriage is now higher:
27 compared to 15 when I was that age. Be of
good heart and be confident."
So what is the main idea?
In the words of Kofi Annan, as he launched a
U.N. global initiative to educate girls, "Let us
prove that a society which empowers its
women is a society sure to succeed."
The Information society
Information and communication technology (ICT) is
transforming the global economy and creating new network
that stretch over continents and cultures.
However, there remain noticeable disparities as to the
extend in which access and skills are available.
The benefits of knowledge and technology are not available
to the large majority of the world’s population.
Not only do these differences affect developing nations and
disadvantaged communities, but within societies there are
also significant disparities.
Digital Divide
Developing countries, in failing to respond to
the transformation that the development of
ICTs has produced, will be severely burdened
when they participate in the global economy.
There are unequal power relations in our
societies that contribute to differential access,
participation and treatment for men and women
vis-à-vis access to, and control of ICTs.
GENDER Digital Divide
Women find themselves in most cases, not
only excluded from equal social and economic
opportunities in general, but also in terms of
the benefits offered by ICTs.
Without women’s participation in decision-
making in all spheres of life and at all levels of
society, poverty will not be eradicated, nor will
fully democratic societies be created.
Limited access to ICT for women also has the
effect of reducing countries’ competitiveness in
the global market.
IT Can Take You Anywhere
If you study technology subjects it does not
automatically mean you are headed for a
geeky job in a back room or laboratory.
Technology is now part of every field of
activity and mainly in business or industry.
It can literally take you anywhere from
concrete things like e-Learning or e-
commerce to Virtual reality with 3D effects in
movies.
IT: A development mean
Definitely, IT gives us a lot of things for women
or for men, regardless of gender.
The new technology has given us a new option,
but still it is a tool.
As long as we learn how to use this technology,
this is enabling all people, including women, to
participate in business and other social activities
as well.
But technology does not change everything, and
we need to revisit obstacles for women.
IT: A development mean
To support our emerging economy in Arabic world, we
need to reactivate our resources more effectively.
Nowadays women are invited to be more active in
business, but we need to look carefully into what the
Arab community has done for women.
We need certainly to develop more support systems for
women in their communities, as men tend to have
"automatic" expectations that women take care of family
matters such as taking care of children.
Unless we develop such support systems in any country,
opportunities for women will remain much less than
those for man no matter how hard women work.
A concrete example
Tunisia established since 1956 a Personal Status Code
that redeemed the place of the Tunisian woman in the
family & in society.
In 1987, a new Era of deep constitutional, political,
economic and social reforms were engaged in favor of
Women.
Women are provided with specific mechanisms aimed to
consolidate their achievements and promoting their
integration as a full partner into dynamics of
development.
Some indicators will give us more details
Tunisian gender indicators
Regarding 2004-2005 official statistics in Tunisia, women
represent:
27% of the active population.
More than 10.000 women head of offices but
mainly in classic economic branch.
57% of students in universities
33% of students in scientific branch
49% of students in ICT field
Women represent 22,17% of the decision makers
in the public sector.
women represent 15% of the government: 2
Ministers, 5 secretaries of state and 23% of the
Parliament.
The Key of Success
How to ensure women involvement everywhere
even in science & technology, in our countries?
To continue the development of female human
resources mainly Education at the 3 required levels.
To develop women’s empowerment and to promote
their opportunities for integration into the economic
activities.
To reinforce the role of women in civil and political life
and especially as a decision maker.
To reinforce the principle of equity in the legislation
But even with all these factors, we need essentially a
very strong political will to ensure equity and
partnership between men and women at all levels.
My personal opinion
Because of the nature of my job, I
often come and work with many
European or American nationals,
both men and women, and actually I
don't feel that there are
disadvantages for me as being an
Arab woman to conduct business
anywhere.
Some difficulties I experience here,
as I experience in some other
countries, are the language,
stringent regulations, etc., but those
are nothing to do with being a
woman.
My personal opinion
If you as a woman want to be successful, you have to
possess all the elements for success and you have to
well prepare yourself, just like any successful man.
What are the key factors for success? You have to have
the right attitude, skills, experience, education, self-
confidence, stamina, commitment, etc., and at the same
time you have to be in the right place at the right time to
grab the opportunities.
Over my fourteen year's career life, I have never felt
disadvantaged by being a woman especially because I
born with great gender achievements in my country.
Sometimes I actually feel that I have some advantages
of being a woman.
Some ICT advantages
For women, the advantages offered by ICT are
appreciated since they allow, for all people, but
especially for them:
More freedom regarding work timing
More mobility thanks to the e-work solutions
More self confidence and fulfilling their potential thanks to
intellectual effort that gives same chance for both man and
women.
Continuous training and improvement with e-learning
solutions taking in account their specific familial constraint.
In the field of entrepreneurship there are enormous
opportunities for women.
New rules for the 21st century Econom
The Internet and other advances in information
technology have dramatically changed the playing field
for women.
It has brought down barriers that kept women out of the
work force by providing opportunities to telecommute
and work from home.
It has also made it easier for women to start up
businesses with very little capital and only a handful of
employees.
The rules of the new economy also call for a different
type of leadership, one that is based on team building
and a flatter organizational chart.
That will open up more possibilities for women and men
to work on an equal and level playing field.
More new Opportunities
We are at the beginning of
potentially, enormously
interesting new era.
We are entering this new
phase, where we can all
become more international,
more global, etc. without
losing specificity and
rooteness in our countries.
These new technologies open
up a field, where we can
connect to each other as
organizations, as entities, as
projects across the world.
More new Opportunities
Information technologies give opportunities to women
to enter spaces, political, economic, cultural spaces,
etc., where before we were more excluded or had
limited options.
There are enormous possibilities, but it will take
initiative. It will take action. It is not going to fall from
the sky. It is much more than simply knowing how to
use the hardware.
There is an intervening set of cultures, economic
cultures, political cultures, etc., that need to be
developed and within which these technologies can
really enable us.
WSIS & Gender Caucus
Strenuous efforts will be needed to
capitalize on the opportunities
offered by the World Summit on
Information Societies (WSIS) to
bridge the gender divide which is
already apparent within the
emerging information society.
To achieve this, we must foster the
broadest possible participation of
decision-makers, professional
communities, and representatives of
civil society, bilateral and multilateral
partners, and the private sector.
WSIS & Gender Caucus
Together all will set out:
to discuss ongoing initiatives on gender and ICT
to raise awareness on gender-related barriers to ICT
access;
to include women as leaders and decision-makers;
to facilitate better understanding of the needs and
directions within the framework of gender and ICT,
to render assistance,
to support local solutions and content;
and lastly also to take forward the commitments that
were made at previous UN conferences and summits.
Conclusion
So I just want to finish on this positive note and
to tell to ALL WOMEN OF THE WORLD:
Welcome to Tunisia 16-18 November 2005 to
take part to the WSIS and to build the
future together.
Thank you.
