April 6, 2006

GW Delegation Attends Middle East Women’s Leadership Conference

BY JAMIE L. FREEDMAN

The stereotypical image of the Muslim woman was shattered for 12 GW professors and students this spring, when a select delegation from GW’s Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) traveled to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for the second international Women as Global Leaders Conference. Led by Rachelle Heller, associate dean for academic affairs on the Mount Vernon Campus, the group joined more than 1,000 prominent women leaders from 87 countries around the world for an exciting, cross-cultural discussion on women and global leadership.

GW’s contingent, including Mary Buckley, coordinator of the WLP’s International Arts and Culture program, graduate teaching assistant Meghan Shea, BA ’04, and nine undergraduates connected to the WLP program, signed on for the conference after submitting two successful proposals to serve as presenters at the gathering.
“We were thrilled that both of our proposals were approved, one to organize a panel discussion and the other to lead a roundtable,” states Heller. “Attending the conference as presenters made the experience so real and valuable for our students.”
The panel discussion, entitled “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder: Stakeholders View of WLP,” probed the Women’s Leadership Program — based at GW’s Mount Vernon Campus — from various points of view. Joining the WLP panel was Sara Al-Asfoor, an Oman-born former WLP student who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from GW’s business school and is now working for Oracle in Dubai. The group also headed up a well-attended roundtable discussion, “Are Only Extraordinary Women Capable of Being Global Leaders?”

The three-day event featured an impressive roster of guest speakers, including Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; The Hon. Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Cherie Booth, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a noted attorney and human rights advocate; and Linda Ellerbee, award-winning journalist and television producer.

“The speakers were unbelievable,” says Heller. “They were an amazing combination of top women leaders from the east and the west, and interacting with them was an extremely broadening experience for our students.”

Heller notes the students gained as much from informal conversations with their counterparts from around the world, transcending culture and distance to bond as friends. “You think that because women are wearing black abayas (long over garments) and veils that they don’t have many issues in common with us, but they do,” she states. “We learned that all of us are more alike than we are different, and that it’s the differences that make us interesting.”

Shea, who is both an alumna of and graduate teaching assistant for GW’s Women in International Arts and Culture program, concurs. “The interaction with women students from all over the world was half the learning experience,” she says. “Just sitting and discussing our lives was so incredible, and I know that it will have a long-lasting influence on my global perspective. Everyone was so well-educated, hospitable, and generous. It was truly an unforgettable trip.”

The group extended its cultural experience with a visit to Zayed University, a women’s college with campuses in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which hosted the conference. “It is Zayed’s vision to create a workforce of highly educated women who will go on to become leaders in the United Arab Emirates,” says Heller. GW has a special link to the university, as C. Dianne Martin, professor of engineering and applied science, is currently serving for two years as dean of Zayed’s College of Information Systems. “We were very warmly welcomed, and it’s our hope to build on this relationship by establishing a virtual connection for shared conversations between WLP students and students at Zayed,” says Heller.

Everyone came away from the experience eager to continue the engaging global dialogue launched in Abu Dhabi. “The conference presented our students with a wonderful opportunity to join a worldwide community of scholars,” says Heller, who had current and former WLP students submit proposals consistent with the conference theme to win slots in the GW delegation. “That’s exactly what we’re priming them to do through the Women’s Leadership Program, so it could not have been more exciting.”

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