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KAU graduates first group of women engineers
Mar 13, 2017
Some of the women engineers who graduated with honors from King Abdulaziz University’s Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering. — Okaz photo
By Mishael Al-Ruwaili
JEDDAH — King Abdulaziz University celebrated the graduation of its first batch of female electrical and industrial engineers.
Hanaa Al-Naeem, dean of KAU’s Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering, congratulated the graduates and their parents for the achievement.
“The university has produced a new generation of graduates and future creators during its graduation ceremony. The ceremony included graduates from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Communications and Media, College of Design and Art, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, the Higher Education Institute and the English Language Institute,” said Al-Naeem.
She said the university equips the fresh graduates with various educational and vocational skills.
“The Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering gave women a chance to become pioneers in society. They will build society and break new grounds,” said Al-Naeem.
Ulla Al-Baity said she graduated from the college with honors.
“My colleagues and I are so proud to be the first batch of women graduating from the College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering from a public university. We can’t wait to prove our skills and capabilities in the workplace,” said Al-Baity.
Walaa Balamash said she also graduated with honors.
“We have a lot of challenges ahead of us. But we are confident that we will prove we deserve to be in the workplace as engineers,” said Balamash.
Rahaf Al-Harby said as a graduate of the Women’s College she is aware of the challenges in front of her.
“We are extremely proud and grateful to be the first batch of women graduating from a public university. We know that many other public universities will follow in our footsteps,” said Al-Harby.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/kau-graduates-first-group-women-engineers/
Saudi women meet to address changing role
Mar 12, 2017
RIYADH — Saudi women from adventurers to inventors are hoping a unique conference in Riyadh on Saturday will highlight their changing role and inspire younger women to push for new opportunities in the kingdom.
The event comes at a time when reforms are slowly changing women’s lives. In Saudi Arabia, women live under the supervision of a male guardian and cannot drive.
Women can now sit on the government advisory Shoura Council, vote in municipal elections, and work in some retail and hospitality jobs with the government’s Vision 2030 trying to diversify the oil-reliant economy by boosting female employment.
The one-day conference run by Alwaleed Philanthropies, a charitable group working to help women, will see Saudi women from various walks of life on the stage alongside international speakers such as British women’s rights campaigner Cherie Blair.
One speaker, Raha Moharrak, 31, who made history in 2013 as the first Saudi woman to climb Mount Everest, said girls in Saudi Arabia must be taught that they are not less than boys.
“My journey started as a mini rebellion… I wanted to shock my parents,”said Moharrak, who was determined to do something different after studying abroad and won her reluctant father over by email explaining why climbing was important to her.”
Other speakers include Hadeel Ayoub who invented a smart glove that converts sign language to text and writer Kawthar Al Arbash whose son was killed in 2015 trying to stop a suicide bomber.
Princess Lamia Bint Majed Al Saud, secretary general of Alwaleed Philanthropies, said the conference, with the slogan “Saudi Women Can”, was part of a campaign to draw attention to Saudi women’s achievements and inspire the next generation.
After the conference – which she hopes to make annual – a microsite SaudiWomenCan.com with a mobile app will issue daily motivational quotes, while other initiatives are planned.
“I want to give the younger generation role models to show them that, no matter what obstacles, there are opportunities and give them stories to inspire them,” Princess Lamia told the Thomson Reuters Foundation which is partnering with the charity to provide training for Saudi journalists on women’s issues.
Speaker Eqbal Darandari, associate professor at King Saud University who was elected to the Shoura Council in 2016, said it was important women learned responsibility and leadership.
“We need to teach females to be stronger .. to make change, to work on their own,”said Darandari, adding the biggest progress would come if women were given decision making roles.
“We are achieving things but not as fast as we would like. But this is a problem not from the top but from down, from the people, as what is needed is social change and that is slow.”
Moharrak, a graphic designer, said women need to get the support of their fathers and brothers for real change to happen.
“All the women who have managed to achieve independence have two things in common: a firm heart and an understanding father. We don’t grow up with an easy path but no-one wants to be disowned or disrespect their father,”she said. — Reuters
http://saudigazette.com.sa/business/saudi-women-meet-address-changing-role/
Saudi women in technology seek ways to lead
Mar 10, 2017
By Layan Damanhouri
RIYADH – Women of various specialties in the IT sector gathered on Wednesday at the Women Spark, an initiative by Microsoft in cooperation with Alawwal Bank that aims to promote innovation and excellence in the career development of women.
“In Saudi Arabia, female graduates in the IT sector are more than half. We see them working in different specialties,” says Deemah Alyahya, executive director of the Developer Experience and Digital Innovation at Microsoft. “I do see major improvements in females in IT.”
Attendance of females is usually higher in events and training, she notes, an indication that there is a passion and willingness to be more visible in the field.
“The challenge is for women to lead positions in senior management. A lot of females continue to become independent contributors and come to a plateau,” says Alyahya who is the first Saudi female to hold an executive position at Microsoft. “They don’t increase their skills because either they don’t have the confidence to become a CTO or CIO.”
Asked about her role in empower women in the industry, she told Saudi Gazette: “My ambition is to empower women in IT in the Kingdom. As a Saudi IT professional, I feel obligated to support other females in this sector and to enable them with knowledge, networking, software, skills, and whatever they need for them to grow. That’s why I created Women’s Spark and want it to expand it more to females in other sectors because we are now going through a digital transformation in all fields and specialties.”
After three years of the initiative, this year alone Women Spark graduated 30 female cloud experts and architects.
Women in various fields shared success stories and discussed ways to collaborate.
Budoor Ashadawi, who is acting manager of an e-commerce store by day and runs her own entrepreneurship venture by night, says women need to empower each other. “Women can do anything they believe in,” she told Saudi Gazette.
Ashadawi hired a majority of her staff Saudi female graduates. “It wasn’t easy but I feel I have an obligation to give back,” she says. “I found that females are not only hard workers, they are loyal and dedicated.”
Young engineer Aljawharah Alqahtani founded Fixtag, a business in repairing mobile phones. “Girls can do anything from fixing to creating things,” she said commenting on the male-dominated sector of mobile repairing.
Sara Oulddaddah, a leading female gamer in the Kingdom, says there is a community reaching up to 15,000 gamers and developers. She says, “We need to empower each other. In the gaming industry, we have amazing developers, artists and talents. I’m hoping to have an industry to have all these ladies to work together.”
http://saudigazette.com.sa/technology/saudi-women-technology-seek-ways-lead/
GE to bridge gender gap with 50:50 representation of women in technical roles
Mar 8, 2017
Today GE has over 100 women, in addition to over 600 women who work at the all-female business process center opened by GE in association with Saudi Aramco and TCS in Riyadh. — Courtesy photo
Riyadh — In keeping with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and its strategic goal, General Electric (GE) announced on Tuesday its plan of achieving 50:50 representation of women for all its technical entry-level programs in the region, especially in engineering, manufacturing, information technology and product management roles.
The strategy reflects GE’s global initiative to have 20,000 women to fill STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) roles in the organization by 2020, said a press release. It also complements the ongoing initiatives of GE in the region to strengthen the participation of women in its workforce.
In 2009, GE had no women on its team in Saudi Arabia. But today there are over 100, in addition to over 600 women who work at the all-female business process center opened by GE in association with Saudi Aramco and TCS in Riyadh. The goal is to hire 3,000 women for the center in the coming years.
“Saudi Vision 2030 has set the target of women representing 30 percent of the workforce, and we are supporting the goal, with a clear outlook to hire and nurture women in technical roles,” said Hisham Al Bahkali, GE’s President & Chief Executive Officer for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
“Statistics show that 50% of university graduates in Saudi Arabia are female yet only 22% are represented in the workforce. We are committed to making a difference with our new strategic initiative,” he said.
GE has also signed an MoU with the Asharqia Chamber of Commerce in Dammam to train 1000 women over the next five years at GE Garages facility. The training has commenced, with workshops on coding, 3D printing, and 3D modelling, to enhance digital industrial skills of women in industry.
Nabil Habayeb, GE’s President & Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said: “Our focus has always been to create a truly inclusive culture, fostering a climate that enables women’s employment and leadership. Our focus on 50:50 representation catalyzes our own transformation as a digital industrial company.”
GE has launched a white paper that highlights the economic opportunity of addressing gender imbalance across the sector. It states that women are still under-represented in the technology sector with 13-24% represented in IT and engineering positions globally, and just 17-30% ascending to senior leadership positions. While women tend to outnumber men in higher education (55% to 45%), STEM education drops significantly.
GE Chief Economist Marco Annunziata said: “Unless we bring more women into technology and manufacturing, there will be a significant negative economic impact on the sector. This is a problem for business to actively address.”
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-ar...ap-5050-representation-women-technical-roles/
Saudi cardiologist honored in New York
Mar 10, 2017
Dr. Rasha Fahd Al-Bawardi
A PROMINENT Saudi woman cardiologist who works for the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School was recently honored, along with 19 other Saudi women, by the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in New York City.
Dr. Rasha Fahad Al-Bawardi was honored with 19 other Saudi women achievers by Saudi Consul General in New York Khalid Mohammad Al-Shareef. The ceremony, which took place as the world celebrated International Women’s Day, was attended by several consuls generals and diplomats.
Al-Bawardi was honored for her role in setting a great example for other Saudi women. She overcame numerous difficulties in medical school and found employment at Harvard University, one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Today, she is a full-time professor at Harvard Medical School.
Thanking the Saudi mission in New York for giving her the award, Al-Bawardi said: “My mother taught us when we were little kids that there is nothing impossible and one can achieve anything they want if they set their minds to it.”
At a time when it was rare for foreign students to be admitted to US medical schools, Al-Bawardi secured a seat at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Science due to her stellar academic credentials. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree in medical science and a graduate degree in genomics and bioinformatics from the same university. After that, she did her internship at Cleveland Clinic and then enrolled in Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York where she studied cardiology for three years.
“I conducted several research programs at the college. After that, I joined the Massachusetts General Hospital where I still work,” she said.
The scholarship program run by the Kingdom’s government allows Saudi students to realize their academic endeavors, said Al-Bawardi.
She added that she wants to serve her country by contributing to advancing medical research in the field of cardiology.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/saudi-cardiologist-honored-new-york/
I predict that Saudi Arabian women in less than 10-15 (at the most) years will make up at least 50% of the workforce if the current positive development continues. This development could potentially boost the Saudi Arabian economy by 50%. Added to that possible taxation (initially small) will also boost the economy tremendously. These two things alone have hurt the Saudi Arabian economy tremendously for too long. If things go as they should and as predicted KSA will remain a G-20 Major Economies Member State and even reach top 13 by 2050. The next 4-5 years will give a good indication of where the country will stand by 2030 (Saudi vision 2030). Exciting times nevertheless. What's better the retarded but highly vocal minority of ultra-conservatives (those that have anything to say about the decision making process) also seems to have been side-linded. Very good. In a few years the oldest and most annoying dinosaurs among the clergy will also perish due to old age or disease.
Mar 13, 2017
Some of the women engineers who graduated with honors from King Abdulaziz University’s Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering. — Okaz photo
By Mishael Al-Ruwaili
JEDDAH — King Abdulaziz University celebrated the graduation of its first batch of female electrical and industrial engineers.
Hanaa Al-Naeem, dean of KAU’s Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering, congratulated the graduates and their parents for the achievement.
“The university has produced a new generation of graduates and future creators during its graduation ceremony. The ceremony included graduates from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Communications and Media, College of Design and Art, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, the Higher Education Institute and the English Language Institute,” said Al-Naeem.
She said the university equips the fresh graduates with various educational and vocational skills.
“The Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering gave women a chance to become pioneers in society. They will build society and break new grounds,” said Al-Naeem.
Ulla Al-Baity said she graduated from the college with honors.
“My colleagues and I are so proud to be the first batch of women graduating from the College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering from a public university. We can’t wait to prove our skills and capabilities in the workplace,” said Al-Baity.
Walaa Balamash said she also graduated with honors.
“We have a lot of challenges ahead of us. But we are confident that we will prove we deserve to be in the workplace as engineers,” said Balamash.
Rahaf Al-Harby said as a graduate of the Women’s College she is aware of the challenges in front of her.
“We are extremely proud and grateful to be the first batch of women graduating from a public university. We know that many other public universities will follow in our footsteps,” said Al-Harby.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/kau-graduates-first-group-women-engineers/
Saudi women meet to address changing role
Mar 12, 2017
RIYADH — Saudi women from adventurers to inventors are hoping a unique conference in Riyadh on Saturday will highlight their changing role and inspire younger women to push for new opportunities in the kingdom.
The event comes at a time when reforms are slowly changing women’s lives. In Saudi Arabia, women live under the supervision of a male guardian and cannot drive.
Women can now sit on the government advisory Shoura Council, vote in municipal elections, and work in some retail and hospitality jobs with the government’s Vision 2030 trying to diversify the oil-reliant economy by boosting female employment.
The one-day conference run by Alwaleed Philanthropies, a charitable group working to help women, will see Saudi women from various walks of life on the stage alongside international speakers such as British women’s rights campaigner Cherie Blair.
One speaker, Raha Moharrak, 31, who made history in 2013 as the first Saudi woman to climb Mount Everest, said girls in Saudi Arabia must be taught that they are not less than boys.
“My journey started as a mini rebellion… I wanted to shock my parents,”said Moharrak, who was determined to do something different after studying abroad and won her reluctant father over by email explaining why climbing was important to her.”
Other speakers include Hadeel Ayoub who invented a smart glove that converts sign language to text and writer Kawthar Al Arbash whose son was killed in 2015 trying to stop a suicide bomber.
Princess Lamia Bint Majed Al Saud, secretary general of Alwaleed Philanthropies, said the conference, with the slogan “Saudi Women Can”, was part of a campaign to draw attention to Saudi women’s achievements and inspire the next generation.
After the conference – which she hopes to make annual – a microsite SaudiWomenCan.com with a mobile app will issue daily motivational quotes, while other initiatives are planned.
“I want to give the younger generation role models to show them that, no matter what obstacles, there are opportunities and give them stories to inspire them,” Princess Lamia told the Thomson Reuters Foundation which is partnering with the charity to provide training for Saudi journalists on women’s issues.
Speaker Eqbal Darandari, associate professor at King Saud University who was elected to the Shoura Council in 2016, said it was important women learned responsibility and leadership.
“We need to teach females to be stronger .. to make change, to work on their own,”said Darandari, adding the biggest progress would come if women were given decision making roles.
“We are achieving things but not as fast as we would like. But this is a problem not from the top but from down, from the people, as what is needed is social change and that is slow.”
Moharrak, a graphic designer, said women need to get the support of their fathers and brothers for real change to happen.
“All the women who have managed to achieve independence have two things in common: a firm heart and an understanding father. We don’t grow up with an easy path but no-one wants to be disowned or disrespect their father,”she said. — Reuters
http://saudigazette.com.sa/business/saudi-women-meet-address-changing-role/
Saudi women in technology seek ways to lead
Mar 10, 2017
By Layan Damanhouri
RIYADH – Women of various specialties in the IT sector gathered on Wednesday at the Women Spark, an initiative by Microsoft in cooperation with Alawwal Bank that aims to promote innovation and excellence in the career development of women.
“In Saudi Arabia, female graduates in the IT sector are more than half. We see them working in different specialties,” says Deemah Alyahya, executive director of the Developer Experience and Digital Innovation at Microsoft. “I do see major improvements in females in IT.”
Attendance of females is usually higher in events and training, she notes, an indication that there is a passion and willingness to be more visible in the field.
“The challenge is for women to lead positions in senior management. A lot of females continue to become independent contributors and come to a plateau,” says Alyahya who is the first Saudi female to hold an executive position at Microsoft. “They don’t increase their skills because either they don’t have the confidence to become a CTO or CIO.”
Asked about her role in empower women in the industry, she told Saudi Gazette: “My ambition is to empower women in IT in the Kingdom. As a Saudi IT professional, I feel obligated to support other females in this sector and to enable them with knowledge, networking, software, skills, and whatever they need for them to grow. That’s why I created Women’s Spark and want it to expand it more to females in other sectors because we are now going through a digital transformation in all fields and specialties.”
After three years of the initiative, this year alone Women Spark graduated 30 female cloud experts and architects.
Women in various fields shared success stories and discussed ways to collaborate.
Budoor Ashadawi, who is acting manager of an e-commerce store by day and runs her own entrepreneurship venture by night, says women need to empower each other. “Women can do anything they believe in,” she told Saudi Gazette.
Ashadawi hired a majority of her staff Saudi female graduates. “It wasn’t easy but I feel I have an obligation to give back,” she says. “I found that females are not only hard workers, they are loyal and dedicated.”
Young engineer Aljawharah Alqahtani founded Fixtag, a business in repairing mobile phones. “Girls can do anything from fixing to creating things,” she said commenting on the male-dominated sector of mobile repairing.
Sara Oulddaddah, a leading female gamer in the Kingdom, says there is a community reaching up to 15,000 gamers and developers. She says, “We need to empower each other. In the gaming industry, we have amazing developers, artists and talents. I’m hoping to have an industry to have all these ladies to work together.”
http://saudigazette.com.sa/technology/saudi-women-technology-seek-ways-lead/
GE to bridge gender gap with 50:50 representation of women in technical roles
Mar 8, 2017
Today GE has over 100 women, in addition to over 600 women who work at the all-female business process center opened by GE in association with Saudi Aramco and TCS in Riyadh. — Courtesy photo
Riyadh — In keeping with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and its strategic goal, General Electric (GE) announced on Tuesday its plan of achieving 50:50 representation of women for all its technical entry-level programs in the region, especially in engineering, manufacturing, information technology and product management roles.
The strategy reflects GE’s global initiative to have 20,000 women to fill STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) roles in the organization by 2020, said a press release. It also complements the ongoing initiatives of GE in the region to strengthen the participation of women in its workforce.
In 2009, GE had no women on its team in Saudi Arabia. But today there are over 100, in addition to over 600 women who work at the all-female business process center opened by GE in association with Saudi Aramco and TCS in Riyadh. The goal is to hire 3,000 women for the center in the coming years.
“Saudi Vision 2030 has set the target of women representing 30 percent of the workforce, and we are supporting the goal, with a clear outlook to hire and nurture women in technical roles,” said Hisham Al Bahkali, GE’s President & Chief Executive Officer for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
“Statistics show that 50% of university graduates in Saudi Arabia are female yet only 22% are represented in the workforce. We are committed to making a difference with our new strategic initiative,” he said.
GE has also signed an MoU with the Asharqia Chamber of Commerce in Dammam to train 1000 women over the next five years at GE Garages facility. The training has commenced, with workshops on coding, 3D printing, and 3D modelling, to enhance digital industrial skills of women in industry.
Nabil Habayeb, GE’s President & Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said: “Our focus has always been to create a truly inclusive culture, fostering a climate that enables women’s employment and leadership. Our focus on 50:50 representation catalyzes our own transformation as a digital industrial company.”
GE has launched a white paper that highlights the economic opportunity of addressing gender imbalance across the sector. It states that women are still under-represented in the technology sector with 13-24% represented in IT and engineering positions globally, and just 17-30% ascending to senior leadership positions. While women tend to outnumber men in higher education (55% to 45%), STEM education drops significantly.
GE Chief Economist Marco Annunziata said: “Unless we bring more women into technology and manufacturing, there will be a significant negative economic impact on the sector. This is a problem for business to actively address.”
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-ar...ap-5050-representation-women-technical-roles/
Saudi cardiologist honored in New York
Mar 10, 2017
Dr. Rasha Fahd Al-Bawardi
A PROMINENT Saudi woman cardiologist who works for the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School was recently honored, along with 19 other Saudi women, by the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in New York City.
Dr. Rasha Fahad Al-Bawardi was honored with 19 other Saudi women achievers by Saudi Consul General in New York Khalid Mohammad Al-Shareef. The ceremony, which took place as the world celebrated International Women’s Day, was attended by several consuls generals and diplomats.
Al-Bawardi was honored for her role in setting a great example for other Saudi women. She overcame numerous difficulties in medical school and found employment at Harvard University, one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Today, she is a full-time professor at Harvard Medical School.
Thanking the Saudi mission in New York for giving her the award, Al-Bawardi said: “My mother taught us when we were little kids that there is nothing impossible and one can achieve anything they want if they set their minds to it.”
At a time when it was rare for foreign students to be admitted to US medical schools, Al-Bawardi secured a seat at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Science due to her stellar academic credentials. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree in medical science and a graduate degree in genomics and bioinformatics from the same university. After that, she did her internship at Cleveland Clinic and then enrolled in Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York where she studied cardiology for three years.
“I conducted several research programs at the college. After that, I joined the Massachusetts General Hospital where I still work,” she said.
The scholarship program run by the Kingdom’s government allows Saudi students to realize their academic endeavors, said Al-Bawardi.
She added that she wants to serve her country by contributing to advancing medical research in the field of cardiology.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/saudi-cardiologist-honored-new-york/
I predict that Saudi Arabian women in less than 10-15 (at the most) years will make up at least 50% of the workforce if the current positive development continues. This development could potentially boost the Saudi Arabian economy by 50%. Added to that possible taxation (initially small) will also boost the economy tremendously. These two things alone have hurt the Saudi Arabian economy tremendously for too long. If things go as they should and as predicted KSA will remain a G-20 Major Economies Member State and even reach top 13 by 2050. The next 4-5 years will give a good indication of where the country will stand by 2030 (Saudi vision 2030). Exciting times nevertheless. What's better the retarded but highly vocal minority of ultra-conservatives (those that have anything to say about the decision making process) also seems to have been side-linded. Very good. In a few years the oldest and most annoying dinosaurs among the clergy will also perish due to old age or disease.
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