Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to Women of the Middle East Podcast, women of the Middle East. This podcast relates to realities of Arab women and the rich and diverse experiences. It aims to present the multiplicity of their voices and wishes to break overdue cultural stereotypes about women of the Middle East. My name is a Maki. I'm a feminist, scholar and educator.
Speaker 2 00:00:28 This is Women of the Middle East podcast.
Speaker 1 00:00:31 This is season four woman voices across genres where I will be speaking to women producing feminist content across different genres and outlets. These courageous voices delve into untapped areas such as women with disability, hybrid identities, intergenerational trauma, feminist narrative, and activism, and much, much more. I'm your host, Emma Malki, contributing to creating a new narrative about us by us.
Speaker 2 00:00:56 This is Woman of the Middle East Mo Tap.
Speaker 1 00:01:00 Hello and welcome to Woman of the Middle East podcast. This episode is being sponsored by the generation amazing foundation generation, amazing as a human and social legacy focused organization that launched in 2010 during Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Generation. Amazing operates a sport for development programs in alignment with the United Nations sustainable development goals and Qatar's, national Vision 2030 to promote sustainability, inclusion, and gender equality. Generation. Amazings unique methodology utilizes the power of football to impact crucial life skills, including communication, leadership, teamwork, and compassion to youth and communities in need across the globe. Since it's launched generation, amazing and collaboration with key partners has reached and positively impacted over 1 million lives in 41 countries and counting For more information about generation amazing. Please visit their website, generation amazing.qa or follow them on at g a for good on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Speaker 1 00:02:12 And as Qatar is hosting the World Cup 20 22, 2 main highlights are worthy of mentioning the huge efforts made to make it an accessible one. And being an insider, I can talk about the amazing opportunity for the blind and partially cited football fans through the live audio description for the opening and closing ceremonies of the first FIFA World Cup held in the Middle East and the Arab world, which will be provided by a team from the graduates of the Masters of Arts in Audiovisual Translation Program at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamed bin Khalifa University, which is hosting us today in their studio. The second amazing, uh, impact is women in sports and highlighting the role of women in sports and in specific football. In this episode of Women of the Middle East, I have a woman cut from a different fabric <laugh> one has who has been passionate about football since she was a kid and dreamt of World Cup tournaments. Uh, and today she's the co-founder of women's football in Palestine, the first captain of the Palestinian National football team, the first woman in the Middle East to obtain a FIFA Masters and to be employed by fifa. There's a lot of firsts there. <laugh> honey Pio.
Speaker 3 00:03:36 I love
Speaker 1 00:03:36 That. Um, so, so happy to have
Speaker 3 00:03:39 You. I'm so happy, um, to have me
Speaker 1 00:03:43 <laugh> tell me so honey, not honey,
Speaker 3 00:03:46 Honey. Just like
Speaker 1 00:03:48 Honey. Just like honey. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:03:49 Awesome.
Speaker 1 00:03:50 Awesome. And you are awesome <laugh>. Uh, honey, your story defies structures of oppression. And here I don't only mean patriarchy, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but also political oppression and colonialism. Yes. I am sure that your journey was extremely hard as both a woman and a Palestinian. Tell us more about that journey, that the unpaved un untraveled road that you took.
Speaker 3 00:04:16 This will take an hour now,
Speaker 1 00:04:18 <laugh>. We're old ears <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:04:21 No, actually, as, first of all, I'm, I'm just happy to be here and, uh, thanks for the invitation. It's definitely my honor, and also to be, uh, uh, invited and supported by generation. Amazing this, uh, amazing, uh, project, uh, and what they do, uh, to change, uh, mindsets and also to give opportunities for youngsters and kids around the world. It's impressive. So, uh, I'm happy to be part of that. And, uh, just going back to your question, of course, as a Palestinian, I have been through a lot, not as you mentioned, at the patriarchal, um, challenges, but also the political and social, and also being a woman and playing football, uh, um, uh, which, which has been known by all, uh, in my definitely region and my country, that women should not, or girls should not play football. So the, the struggle was from all dimensions, from all corners.
Speaker 3 00:05:18 And, uh, everyone thought that, uh, what I'm doing is impossible and it should be stopped, and it has been criticized a lot. But going back so to the different challenges that I have been through, I believe that football is my way and is my instrument to try to tackle those issues, whether it's political, um, to show a different message to the world, uh, behind, uh, besides all walls and checkpoints, we believe in opportunities. We believe in hope and football, uh, across borders. And of course, because of the patriarchal, um, uh, uh, society, cultural challenges to show that women also have the right to, uh, to participate, uh, uh, their talents and, uh, to, you know, to to be engaged in society and to be included, uh, regardless of the, the gender. Uh, and of course the other part of also football is for all. And that's our message that it, it doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl, a man or a woman able or disabled.
Speaker 3 00:06:21 Football is for everyone. Uh, regardless of all the differences that we have as a human being. And, and to have all these challenges at once, and growing up in such a context was extremely, um, extraordinary. But I wanted to take this challenge, uh, and I believed in, in, in the way that I could tackle these issues, uh, starting from just a small hobby, football in the streets of Bethlehem and taking it, uh, um, across the borders, uh, all around the world believing in one message, which is, uh, football is hope and football brings opportunities and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and we Palestinians and specifically women, uh, want, uh, to live alive abundantly. And our message is not about destruction and death, uh, and despair. Our message is about hope, opportunities, bringing people together, um, and, uh, the language of football that everybody understands. And, and that's what what we started to carry from Palestine to all around the world, uh, uh, uh, starting from football in, in the narrow states of Bethlehem to towards stages in P five and beyond. Mm.
Speaker 1 00:07:28 The first, um, step into empowerment is believing in yourself. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. Now I see you a, uh, very confident young woman. Yes. Um, but back then in Palestine, how did you manage to believe in your ability as a young woman to do something that hasn't been done before? And who is your support system? Was it your family who was there to support you in doing what hasn't been done? Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:07:59 Actually, it's difficult to believe in yourself in such a context where everything around us is insecure, uh, from political, from, uh, we lived in a very insecure, uh, environment, knowing that, uh, also tomorrow might never come. Yeah. And that is another level, but the other level is to believe in yourself and your talents and what you can offer to society at large. And that was a challenge, because even if you believe yourself, the others will try to, uh, to push you or, uh, you know, like, uh, you know, to, to corner you in a way that it is not possible. Like if you want to say, I want to become a football player and I want to reach, uh, uh, um, different levels in life and go live abroad and study and stuff, everyone would, would, would have like told me at that time. It's not possible.
Speaker 3 00:08:50 And, and for some reason, I had this rebel inside me to take off all the challenges. I don't know from my credit, but I was born in this attitude. I would say that I don't take enough for an answer until it is completely, um, with a good reason justified. So if you tell me, uh, why I should not go to the streets and play football as a girl, when my brothers are allowed to go to the street, then maybe I will consider your argument. Mm-hmm. But when you just tell me to stay at home and not play football, just because girls should stay at home and help, uh, in the, in the house, support their mothers, this is not, uh, uh, concrete real argument for me to accept it. Mm-hmm. So that was my, um, uh, uh, like my, uh, my, uh, attitude at that time that I want to implement what I believe in.
Speaker 3 00:09:42 And I thought that football was my only way because, you know, at that time, I grew up in a very modest family, two brothers, two sisters, uh, living in, uh, in small house, one room all together. So, and the only way to express ourselves or myself at that time was just going to play football because my parents couldn't afford to bring us, um, uh, toys or put us in other activities or so. So that was my only chance. If you stopped me from my only chance of entertainment where I felt myself and I felt free, and I felt despite of all the situations around me, then of course I will not stop. And that's, that's where give me the courage to believe more and more in myself, because I had the talent. And the talent also gives the chance to others or to people to believe in themselves, to know your skill.
Speaker 3 00:10:28 So when you have the skill, it makes you challenge everyone because you know you can. And that's important to believe in yourself. When you have the skills, you have the termination, you have the will, and you are also a risk taker because no one can make a ch a difference without making risks. So I had to take the risk on my shoulders because I believed that I could play football, and I was good at it. And then I transform it into a, uh, a whole, uh, society to believe in me. And my support system actually was my talent, number one. And also, um, my mom was actually, uh, kind of my, uh, uh, support system behind the scenes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like from the backwards. So she was telling my dad, or she will, you know, just let her play football in the end. She will understand that it is not something for women, uh, just, you know, to, to to give me time to gain time. Yeah. But when I started to be 15 and 16, then I started to realize, no, no is not just a game. It's much more than that. And that's where all started.
Speaker 1 00:11:34 That's amazing. This sets you rightfully as a role model empowering other young women and girls. I know you will also be talking more about, uh, this in a couple of days, as you will be one of the panelists and a panel I'm moderating for Generation Amazing. During their annual festival on sports for development and role of women in the region, focusing on the theme of breaking barriers. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, what has football offered you as a woman?
Speaker 3 00:11:59 Everything, I must say, football offered me, honestly, everything. So for me, football is my life. I grew up knowing football. I started from, from nothing, just playing football with the boys, um, uh, <inaudible> in the narrow streets of, of Bethlehem. So for me, football gave me the opportunity to go out to the world, uh, gave me the confidence, gave me, um, the, the capacity to think, um, uh, beyond my context. It gave me the opportunity to dream of a better future and also to dream of a future that I could help others, uh, to open the path for them as well. Um, and, and football also gave me the chance to, to live in Europe and, uh, start working at fifa. And I have this huge network that I build throughout the years with great people, great organizations, uh, uh, around the world. And, and, and also helped me to put, uh, uh, the Palestinian on the map as well, uh, uh, to show, uh, uh, my identity as a Palestinian Arab woman, um, fighting for peace and justice through football.
Speaker 3 00:13:13 So, so for me, football was about all on top of that deliberation as such, to represent my identity in the best way away from stereotypes, judgments, uh, all these stereotypes that put us on us as Palestinians, as women. And, and football gave me the chance to change those stereotypes and, and build another image about who we are as a Palestinian woman playing football. But also it helped us football to be on the map. Uh, because unfortunately right now, uh, Palestine is not on the, uh, on the political map. However, it's on the football map, uh, since so many years, uh, starting from the twenties and then recontracting it in 1998, uh, by, uh, as a full member at fifa. So I cannot tell you how much football changed my life. And, and that's why now I am resistant. And, um, also carrying this message that I also want to change the lives of so many others because to give to football what it has given me Hmm. Personally, because I know it's power to change people's lives because it happened to me. And I believe that it can happen to so many people.
Speaker 1 00:14:22 Yeah. It's very powerful when you have a passion
Speaker 3 00:14:24 For it. Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:14:27 Um, do you define yourself as a feminist?
Speaker 3 00:14:30 It, of course. Um, it depends like how people understand feminism. Because if you, if you define, if you, uh, Google feminism, you can say it's equal rights, equal opportunities. And if that's, what is the definition of feminism? I'm a feminist because I believe in equal rights, equal opportunities for men and women regardless. And, and, and we, we need a lot of people to be feminist, uh, including men. This is not a label or a title, I would say for a woman, because a lot of men I know, they're also feminist, and they help, uh, uh, to get, uh, chances for women. Give them the opportunity, give them the, a seat on the table and a voice. Yeah. So, yes, I'm on this coast as well, to ensure that, uh, we will have a world equal word, both men and women with equal rights, equal opportunities.
Speaker 1 00:15:24 I agree with you 100%. Sometimes, um, um, I'm met by people who would say, um, you know, when I define myself as a feminist, this reduces me to a one, uh, type of ideology. But I'm like, what other, uh, ideologies do you have? What other ideologies have been structured to embrace the female coaching? The woman. The girl. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. At least with feminism, we are very clear on saying we are looking at the rights and the responsibilities. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we need equal rights and equal responsibilities. This doesn't mean that a woman is bio biologically, uh, a man or an equal to a man. Both
Speaker 3 00:16:01 Or against men.
Speaker 1 00:16:02 Or against men. Exactly. That's how it is on the country. They complete each other. Yes. There should be a balance. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, you are an ambassador and member of influential international organization around the world to empower women and children through sports and pro promote equality and non-violence through football. And how do you see this path of inclusion and justice happening? Do you see that football can really play a role and, and, and this kind of promotion of inclusion and justice? Can you see, can you re repeat the benefits? Can you see it with your own eyes?
Speaker 3 00:16:40 Absolutely. For me, this is one of the, the main things that why I am still in football for so many years and taking football as, as a career and as a life, because I see that a football can change so many, um, uh, issues in societies and can tackle, uh, problems, can tackle poverty, can tackle refugees, issues, can tackle health issues, can, can contribute to, to society as, as RAAs can empower women, can. It does all this, and in the ultimate goal in the end, of course, to bring people together in a safe environment where everyone has the right to play. And, and, and I believe from my context, as a Palestinian football helped that, because we started from nothing. We started with only 1, 2, 3 players. And now we have hundreds of girls playing football, even thousands with clubs and leagues, and women as coaches, women as referees,
Speaker 1 00:17:35 Really in Palestinian, in pales across of
Speaker 3 00:17:37 Palestine, definitely. Wow. And, and we have been in remote areas where even girls were not allowed even to walk in the street. Um, uh, and then we changed this perception through football. Yeah. Uh, we brought football activities, football projects. We empowered the coaches, um, the community in those, uh, remote areas. So they started to have even a different image about what could football do, because it gave them an income, it gave them opportunities, it gave them a chance to travel outside the country. And, and not only that, but also for refugees for other countries. For example, when I was in Papua Guinea for the under, uh, uh, 16 Women's World Cup, under 20 Women's World Cup, I, uh, the problem there was violence. So we thought how we could help through football to increase awareness at least, or change the mindsets of men in that region to understand women's rights.
Speaker 3 00:18:31 And then we started huge campaigns, training volunteers to ensure that they understand that no violence against women, and it helped also to change the mindsets of, of the guys there. So through football, it's as simple as it is. Hashtag and violence the same. When we, uh, did, uh, under 16 women's work cup in Jordan, um, uh, we tackled the refugee topic and how football gave them hope and opportunities empower those girls to believe that it's not the refugee, uh, camp is the, it's, it's the, it's the limit that is the sky is the limit, because football will help them to know that you don't accept what it is now. And there is, uh, a lot of opportunities beyond that, but you have to fight for it, and you have to believe in it, and you have not to accept the situation you are in. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 3 00:19:23 So those examples where you go to New Deal here and you see the slums and, and you see the girls believing in the rights, but they don't know any better because, and then you take them outside the slums and they said, wow, I can make my dream come true. Yeah. Those are the stories I'm engaged with almost every single day in my life. And that's what gives me the motivation also to keep going on, because those girls know how it works, and they want to be inspired, and they want those role models to look up to them and to see that it's possible it happened with her, it will happen with me. And that is our role in society to make this happen for them through football.
Speaker 1 00:20:02 You gave me goosebumps, <laugh> with sports. Now that you're talking, I'm trying to contextualize it somehow. Um, when you give the girl or the woman, um, the agency over her own body and brain, it's, you know, we, we always talk about, you know, education and how it empowers women. But with sports, you take it to another level. Yes. It's giving her the agency, uh, over her brain and and body because of the physical activity that it entails. This is very powerful. This is extremely powerful. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I, I agree
Speaker 3 00:20:40 With you. I believe, yes.
Speaker 1 00:20:41 Well, a woman in sports though, and in many po as like in many public rules in this society and our part of the world have the added role of representation because we know that one empowered woman and the field will empower many other women. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, do women in sports and specific from your experience, act on this premise? Do you think women in sports are building culturally accepted and safe communities for other women to join? You just said it. Okay. You gave me examples from, uh, different parts of the world. Let's go back to Palestine. Okay. Where we know that the issues are compounded. Okay. We know that domestic violence is very high. And, and, and Palestine, we know that, uh, women, uh, are, uh, under double oppression. Uh, it's not the political oppression only, but it's the, the limitations that the culture imposes on them. How do you see sport changing the, the society? How did, because not, yeah. And this is something that you've done, at least in Bethlehem, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. How did you manage to change the mindset of the society to go from an aggressor to a protector?
Speaker 3 00:21:52 Yeah. I mean, those problems, unfortunately, uh, for women exist everywhere around the world. Definitely. Um, um, there's always a challenge for women at all levels wherever you go. Uh, some of course, areas are more than others, depends on, uh, political, economical, old situations. So, so how to manage to get out of that. It's not easy. Like, of course, it's not easy because like, okay, you can say, I'm a rebel. I want to fight. I want to fight. But of course, like you are surrounded by, um, uh, those obstacles or those challenges that might stop you completely and, you know, frustrate you all the time and make you want to stop because then you put yourself in a risk. Uh, also, you expose yourself too much. Uh, you fight too much. You, you make enemies as well. And, and, and, and people might want to silence you in general.
Speaker 3 00:22:47 Uh, but you know, you need to build a network, uh, around you that believe in the same cause and believe in the same challenge or dream that you want to go to. So once you build a community that believes in the dream, you believe in, then you become stronger. Yeah. Uh, so one alone, you cannot, uh, make it happen. Of course, you need this community to, to that you build in, in order that more people believe in your idea and your dream. And then of course, the more, the more that you can make the dream come true for you and for the group and for the community as a reflection, uh, in the future. So I believe it's important to create this community, a woman, to support each other, to believe in their rights, in their dreams, to, to believe that they can dream. Because we struggled at the beginning to push the woman, even the girls, to have a dream.
Speaker 3 00:23:42 Like ask a woman, what is your dream? Like, what is your goal in the future? How do you see yourself in 10 years? Where do you want to go? And, and, and most of women at that time, or girls, they didn't even have a dream because the dream was even difficult for us to imagine it or visualize it. So, and that's why I say it's important you dream and believe in your dream and build a community around it to support your ideas to go forward. And, and this comes to support each other, to believe in our, uh, um, talents and opportunities and, uh, skills and not put each other down and not try to, uh, corner each other or, uh, to criticize each other. So once we have this community that supports each other for one goal, we will make it happen.
Speaker 1 00:24:31 And I know that you made it happening, and it's, those are not slogans, because I know your story, and I know for sure that this is exactly what happened. You, it started with one mm-hmm. <affirmative> honey who, uh, turned, who turned that dream into a force through building a critical mass of girls and women. Uh, that's very powerful. Yeah. It's very powerful.
Speaker 3 00:24:55 Thank you,
Speaker 1 00:24:56 <laugh>. And you need to keep
Speaker 3 00:24:57 Doing that. Absolutely. No, I am, uh, this is a mission. You know, it will never stop. And it's combined with passion as well. So this is my, the way I am. Whether I work in football, I work in politics, or I work anywhere around the world. And I told you before, whether, if I'm with my friends or with girls around the world, this is who I am and what I believe in, and I hope it will keep going. And I hope I will have also more people who believing in this more and more and more that we can make it happen.
Speaker 1 00:25:28 What, what, what are your dreams? What is still to be achieved for
Speaker 3 00:25:32 You? I believe that I, I would like to see, uh, a woman, uh, always represented everywhere, uh, around the world. Whether in, in, in, in society at large, whether in politics, whether in sports. I would like to see a woman, uh, on the table with a voice, woman represented everywhere. Like, it's just, sometimes when I look at picture of something where old men there, I mean, okay, it looks good, but now we are in 2020 century, 21st century. So it's changing. I believe there should, no decision should be made without a woman on the table, because I believe in diversity and inclusion. I believe that different ideas, different perspective, uh, it'll help for a better results. Uh, and I always say, if, if you empower women, uh, in society, you empower the whole of a generation. So if you will look at, uh, a successful society, if it's successful, you look how women are represented there. Because for me, that's a dream. I want to see women represented everywhere at high level, around the world, supported by the system that's designed something for them, um, to give them the, the, the tools to also dream to be in high levels. Because a lot of women are also hesitant to be CEOs or to be, uh, leaders income because the system doesn't support that, whether they want to be mother or they have kids. So
Speaker 1 00:26:57 Everything is set. And as we said, everything is said and made for men.
Speaker 3 00:27:02 Exactly. So designed for, for such a system. And, and that is one of my dreams, to see this changing and to see a woman as presidents, and to see women as leaders, to see women everywhere without even wanting to fight for this. So to see the future that it's shaping that we see a leader regardless of a man and woman, but in equal rights, equal opportunities.
Speaker 1 00:27:25 Now, honey, I understand that your cause is bigger than you, but what is your personal dream as a woman, as a Palestinian woman who went through all of this, uh, which I bet you and I'm sure is not, wasn't an easy journey for you, and I don't think that you are at the end of your journey. I think you're just at the beginning of your journey. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and you're still very young. So, um, <laugh> still young, <laugh>, what's your personal dream? What do you want to achieve personally? I know the personal is political, but for you as a person who managed to transfer to, to go from one world to the, the to another world, still holding your identity and your identity is very close to you who you are, because you are breaking barriers, and it's very important that people see you as a woman, as a Palestinian, but there are other layers to your identity. What do you wanna achieve for you, for honey?
Speaker 3 00:28:25 For me, I would like to be honest, to be in a place where I can have the decision to give opportunities for other women and change their lives. So I want to be that person who can open the doors for women and be the example for this and, and, and, and show that it, it's possible for women to open other doors for other women without any, uh, uh, uh, without challenges, without prejudice, without all that. So I would like to be that woman in that position who can manage to give other women the chance to make the dreams come true. And I hope that I can, uh, I can manage to do that, but I, I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later. But that is one of my personal, uh, ambitions. I would say that to be in a place where I can decide on woman to be in the workplace or of course, based on experiences and skills and expertise. Definitely. So this is also number one too.
Speaker 1 00:29:34 You, uh, um, talked about yourself a bit and you said, I'm a rebel, so I, I I bet you a rebel is, is a rebel <laugh>. So, um, just like you found your cause in sports, uh, I think that a rebel, the rebel in you will find its own way to be happy, even in, in personal matters. Uh, and, uh, I really wish you a long life of happiness and achievements. Yeah. Thank you. It was a pleasure to have you.
Speaker 3 00:30:03 It's a pleasure of mine. And talking about happiness, as I said at the beginning, happiness is an attitude. So every day you wake up in the morning, you decide how your day you want to be. Of course, there are so many challenges during the day, issues you deal with, but how to deal with the issues with an attitude, this is, will define your happiness ultimately. So, so I encourage people just to know, think of a better future and think every day is gonna be a nice day, <laugh>, regardless. So regardless of that, that will, you know, you know, thinking positive will attract positivity around you regardless of the situation you are in. So a lot of people ask me how still you managed to smile when you grew up in such a context. I was like, you know, smile was our own, uh, whole or weapon, or how we present, how we we deal with things. Doesn't mean that, uh, when you smile that all good, uh, nothing is going on, but this is an attitude. So if you work on your attitude every single day, the rest will come. All will be good. You know, most importantly, be healthy and fine, and all the issues will be sorted.
Speaker 1 00:31:07 Definitely. And I offer you this, uh, lovely community that, uh, a woman of the Middle East has built. Um, um, seriously, look at, uh, the woman that I, uh, I've interviewed, I, I've learned from them a lot. I have, um, uh, I have found a, um, strong and robust, um, support system for me, um, and, uh, woman that are very different than mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, than me. But still the values are the same, of course. So, as I told you at the beginning, I know nothing about sports. I know nothing about football. You need to educate me. Um, although, you know, I've got to those years in education, and, but at the same time, um, I am, um, a friend, uh, and I can offer you my, uh, point of view. I remember at some point, uh, there were, um, you know, some headaches around something that I've said.
Speaker 1 00:31:58 And I, um, I, I knew that couple of my friends who are politicians right, went through that, you know, a similar kind of attacks. So the first thing I did is I called those women, by the way, not Arabs, not Muslims, not, you know, because those things as, as some may think they're important. What is important is the fact that they're woman who went through experiences that could help me. Of course. And this is what I hope, I hope Women of the Middle East, uh, will, uh, will be offering others. So I remember that I talked to them and they put me in the right mindset mm-hmm. <affirmative> to be able to, um, go through that ordeal. Course. Of course. Um, so, um,
Speaker 3 00:32:43 And that's important. That's very important with each other to support each other and women support each other too. This is really important.
Speaker 1 00:32:49 Exactly. And
Speaker 3 00:32:50 Because we are very few in positions, so let's open the doors for each other and believe in each woman, because every woman has a story, doesn't have to be the same story as yours. We are all different. So there is no need to compete, I believe. Definitely, because everyone is different. Everyone contributes with different skills, different opportunities, different experiences, and all, all differences will make us stronger and special because every woman has a different story. She has her own struggle and her own battle regardless. And it's respected and appreciated and never underestimated. So it's important that we collect those stories and bring them together to become stronger together in order to have or find our position in, in the world.
Speaker 1 00:33:36 And this is why women should be leading, should be, uh, assuming leadership positions because, uh, those experiences bring us together and they're based on values of course that would protect us, the society, the children, the youth. We look at everything. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:33:53 <affirmative> absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:33:54 360 degrees <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:33:56 Absolutely. And you know, half of the is woman. So Exactly. And we need to do a lot and we need to, to, you know, to have the platform to express ourselves and, you know, show our talents and experience because they have women have a lot of potential. Exactly. Everywhere you go.
Speaker 1 00:34:14 Exactly. I agree with you. <laugh> again was a pleasure.
Speaker 3 00:34:18 Pleasure was
Speaker 1 00:34:19 Mine. And I think, uh, generation amazing again for sponsoring this episode and the college, um, of humanities and social sciences for offering their studio for us to record. Thank
Speaker 3 00:34:29 You. Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:34:33 Thank you for listening and watching to stay up to date with Women of the Middle East podcast. You can subscribe and don't forget to rate us. If you would like to contact me directly, you can do so on Instagram or Twitter or via email. This is Women of the Middle East podcast.
