Haifa Al Kaylani, president and founder of the Arab International Women’s Forum, says the Arab world is getting “very close to gender equality” in STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), in terms of enrolment and opportunity to advance, but she called for more initiatives to bridge the gap between industry and academia.
Haifa Al Kaylani spoke to Al-Fanar Media during the QS Higher Ed Summit: Middle East and Africa, held in Dubai earlier this month, where she moderated a panel discussion on “Bridging the Industry Academia Gap.”
Following are highlights of that interview.
Al-Fanar Media: In your opening remarks at the ‘Bridging the Industry-Academia Gap’ panel, you said that although we have exceptionally high levels of education in the region, we also have high levels of unemployment, especially among young women. How far away do you think we are from gender equality in the science and technology fields?
Haifa Al Kaylani: We are very close to achieving gender equality in the sense of men and women enjoying equal opportunities to progress into senior leadership in STEM especially. The MENA region’s universities often report majority-female cohorts, and we are seeing more women than men graduating from courses such as law and STEM.
However, we also see that this is not necessarily translating into higher numbers of women participating in STEM jobs. Women need to be encouraged not only to have excellent education— this is happening—but they need to put that education to good use serving their families, serving their communities and their economy.
I would say the region is moving rapidly towards a gender-neutral workplace policy. All the signs are that we are moving in the right direction, and making it possible for women to progress into senior leadership positions in the workforce by levelling the playing field and ensuring that women have the opportunity to balance a successful senior career with a home and family life.
When we started the Arab International Women’s Forum, we were talking about windows of opportunity opening up for Arab women. Twenty-one years on, we see doors open for women in the region to enter all sectors politically, socially, and economically, thanks to the investment in education.