RIYADH: A Saudi female student from the US has conducted advanced research in solar technology at the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
Samar Alqatari is an engineering physics student with a focus on renewable energy at Stanford. As a research assistant, Alqatari has spent the summer in the nanoelectronics and photonics labs of Dr. Ammar Nayfeh and Dr. Matteo Chiesa.
Her research focuses on the characterization of zinc oxide using a process called atomic force microscopy, which has the ability to analyze the surface and electric properties of nanomaterials, to look at the topography and conductivity properties of a zinc oxide thin film coating on a silicon wafer.
The results have many applications in electric devices, flexible electronics, and most importantly solar cells, according to a statement from Masdar.
Alqatari received her scholarship from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia to study at Stanford University.
Nayfeh said: “The nanoelectronics and photonics labs at Masdar Institute is the perfect location for promising students such as Samar Alqatari to conduct advanced research.” “Her research has already produced significant results, which we hope will benefit the academia and the solar energy industry.” Alqatari said the research she conducted at Masdar has many applications in renewable energy, specifically solar power.
She added the institute has provided a stimulating environment for research and innovation. She added: “The lab environment is very relaxed but at the same time their work on cutting-edge projects remains productive.”
She said Masdar Institute helped her decide on pursuing a career in academia with a focus on solar energy.
1. Were women’s roles in the Arab Spring more or less meaningful than men’s roles?
Women played an essential role in the Arab Spring that was as important as the role of the men; however, in a region that has always been known to be male dominant, that equivalent role had much more meaning. This had a huge impact on the overall international perception and credibility of the uprising.
2. Have the revolts of the Arab Spring improved the position of women’s rights in the region?
For sure, her role in the Arab Spring forced the respect and acknowledgement of her rights within transformed/reformed countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, and the entire region as well. However, women need to continue playing their vital, visible roles in the development of their communities, as the current transformations happening may compromise her rights.
3. How can the women of the Arab Spring turn this activism into long-term/sustainable gains?
By continuing to voice their opinions and playing their essential roles in their communities on a social, economical and political level, without accepting any compromises, women today can demonstrate that they are an active 50% of the population and will always have 50% of the say.
1. Were women’s roles in the Arab Spring more or less meaningful than men’s roles?
I think this depends on the country. For example, we haven’t noticed the presence of women in the Syrian revolt as much as we saw it in Egypt, Yemen, and, maybe, Libya. Women's roles in Egypt in the revolt have been as important as men's, and we saw them as university students, housewives, elderly women — united and all fighting for the same cause.
2. Have the revolts of the Arab Spring improved the position of women’s rights in the region?
I think it is too early to tell; time will show, as we see changes in legislation in favor of women. Generally, I believe women are taking part in the Arab Spring to improve their position on all levels, whether economic, social or political. In Tunisia, now we have seen that women are skeptical of their future and of their rights being reversed after the Arab Spring.
3. How can the women of the Arab Spring turn this activism into long-term/sustainable gains?
Women in the Arab world should ensure that policies and regulations are changed on the long run in their favor. Also, women must ensure their full participation in the political, economic and social life to guarantee that those gains or achievements are there forever.
1. Were women’s roles in the Arab Spring more or less meaningful than men’s roles?
It's unfair to put men and women opposite to each other in any comparison. So we should shift from the competitive "more" and "less" to see how they complement each other in the Arab Spring! Each play a vital and unique role that can't be played by the other. I believe if the Arabs succeeded in achieving liberty and human and political rights in their spring, women's rights would be part of that for sure.
2. Have the revolts of the Arab Spring improved the position of women’s rights in the region?
It's too early to tell, as each country and revolution is different. But so far, my thoughts about it go to the favor of countries like Tunisia, which granted women the freedom of choice to wear hijab, or veil. But they are not in the favor of allowing parties like the Muslim Brotherhood their goal of canceling Egypt's Family Law (known as Suzanne's Law) because they claim it's against Islamic Sharia. In countries like Saudi Arabia, where we lack any form of "Personal Status Laws," we are pushing to regulate it as soon as possible, while it makes me concerned that Egypt could go backwards. In Libya, they are canceling the women’s quota in the Parliament, and that also takes women’s status backwards.
3. How can the women of the Arab Spring turn this activism into long-term/sustainable gains?
This is the best time for women to claim their rights and to be fully engaged in the human and political rights movements in their countries. I am hoping this will lead to the placing of more and more active women in decision-making bodies when things settle down. More women will be inspired to speak up and break the societal restraints imposed on them. Those women should then act as the guardians and voices for women's rights in the new governments. I am also hoping to see the first Arab woman president. All these can be factors to sustain gains for women's rights.
Her house in Amman is like a fashion hall, an artistic museum. Fine artistic works by Arabs, mostly Iraqis - paintings, jewelry and accessories - furnish the house. In a corner of the living room is a decorated wooden closet. The Iraqi artist and fashion designer, Hana Sadek, greeted us in her house in Amman in the basement which is like Ali Baba's cave. She is no ordinary clothes designer. She entered the profession via the plastic arts. Before she designed clothing, she traveled the Arab world in search of traditional fashion and she ended up writing an academic study of Arab dress and jewelry. She is a painter and a poet. Al-Jamela met her in her house in Amman for the following interview.
Q: Is it necessary to use a designed dress?
A: The question is related to art. Someone could ask if it is necessary to hang a painting in your house or have sculpture there? Is it necessary to listen to music? The same thing applies to fashion. Artistically designed fashion is an elegant and fine art; it is not a need but it becomes a necessity when we wear it. As for me, I do not want to wake up in the morning and see things reflecting bad taste and ugliness. When I go to an occasion, I want to see women wearing beautifully designed clothes. Women have a tendency to change and if the change is beautiful, they will accept it.
Q: Do you think that Arab women know how to choose the right dress?
A: No they do not. I try to draw out the beauty of the Arab woman's body. Arab women's bodies have unique features that we do not see in western bodies. Bodies have flaws and my job is to conceal them and show beauty. Some women ask to hide the hips. Due to the types of food we eat and the fact that we do not exercise regularly, many of us do not have good figures.
Q: In your mind, what are the standard measurements of the Arab woman body?
A: Arab women walk attractively. When they wear western clothes, their walk changes because western clothes were not designed for them. When they wear Arabic styles, they feel that the walk suits the clothes and adds softness and gentleness. They have their own magic but unfortunately most clothes designers do not concentrate on that magic. When I asked why I had received a fashion award in Rome, I was told, "Because you succeeded in showing women's femininity without showing their bodies."
Q: You mentioned femininity. What do you mean?
A: I am of the sixties generation, a generation that asked for freedom and equality with men. We strove hard not to show our femininity, thinking if we did that we would lose our case against men. I regretted this when I grew up because I was not able to enjoy and display my femininity and coquettishness. I regretted not dressing in Arab clothes which illustrate sweetness and mystique. The most beautiful thing in a woman is mystery.
Q: Other than clothes, do you design accessories and jewelry?
A: I have loved silver ever since I was a child. When I grew up, my mother refused to let me wear silver jewelry because I was from a family which believed I should always wear gold. I bought silver pieces, especially old ones with symbols that do not exist in gold jewelry. I began collecting silver pieces from Arabian cities. Sometimes I design my own silver pieces to go with a dress. At the beginning, customers refused to accept these pieces, thinking they were old or because they preferred gold. Later, customers began asking me for the right piece for their dress. The most important thing is to put the right piece with the dress, a piece that has meaning.
Q: Arab design is very poor in terms of color but you use colors generously and your designs are extremely colorful.
A: I got the idea of using a lot of color from the bedouin who use contrasting colors in their dress. They use the natural colors surrounding them.
Q: Are there specific colors that Arab women prefer?
A: Arab women love colors in general. They love bright colors so I would say red and yellow.
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After graduating from the mass communication department of Cairo University, Heba Seraq-Eddin couldn't find a job. Potential employers turned her down, she says, because of her veil. Heba wears the niqab, the black fabric that covers her whole face, except for the eyes.
"I used to tell them I won't appear on camera, my niqab won't be visible," recalls Serag-Eddin, trained as a director and camera operator. But there were no job offers and she felt that the networks rejected the very concept of the niqab in the workplace.
Then she came across an ad for a new TV channel called Maria, run exclusively by niqab-clad women. She was hired right away.
Maria, the first channel of its kind anywhere, kicked off with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on July 20. Until it gets more funding and staff, it's a daily four-hour broadcast on its mother channel, Al-Omma, an independent channel seen in the Middle East.
In an apartment in the eastern Cairo district of Abasya, the female volunteers of Maria share two studios with Al-Omma's staff. Men occasionally help move the colored wooden panels on set and perform other technical chores. And Islam Abdallah, Al-Omma's executive director, steps in to offer advice on how to talk to the camera.
While new hires are being trained, the station is using the skills of other women who favor the hijab -- the veil that's more like a head scarf -- to help. But the objective is to depend solely on niqab-clad women. So far, they all work as volunteers.
"I felt that we finally have a place in society after being marginalized. As women wearing niqab, we had no rights, and no one to talk about us. Through Maria, we'll find people like us talking about us, with no discrimination," Seraq-Eddin says.
The niqab has sparked many debates about discrimination over the years. Public universities' ban of them during exams or in dormitories were the subject of numerous court battles and were condemned by advocacy groups. Women often complain of an unwelcoming job market with an unwritten discrimination.
Maria director Alaa Abdallah says that being part of the TV project showed her and other team members that they did, indeed, have the skills for the job.
"We are trying to create a better society after the earthquake of freedom that was January 25," Alaa Abdallah explains. She says Egypt's intellectuals should support her right to speak up and her right to give a marginalized segment of society a voice.
One of those intellectuals is not convinced. The network taps into the rhetoric of women's empowerment, says Adel Iskandar, media scholar at Georgetown University, but there is a "very strong case to be made that it's a gimmick."
Others are worried that the rise of political Islam in Egypt will radicalize the society. They argue that a TV network that features only women with covered faces is a "U-turn" on the path of the so-called Arab uprising.
Alaa Abdallah says she avidly supports freedom of expression, but wouldn't grant her critics the same leeway she demands. "I stand by freedom of expression as long as it isn't hostile to Islam," she says, arguing that "secular and liberal" channels are "destructive" in the way they are promoting ideas that would reshape society.
Abu Islam Abdallah, Alaa's father and the owner of Al-Omma, believes he's restoring the balance. By stressing the niqab, he believes he evens out what he describes as the "racism" against these women.
He describes as heretic the type of democratic system that allows women "to dress immodestly, work as dancers and even be members of Parliament." That's "pandemonium," he says.
Al-Omma -- which means the nation -- is full of "anti-Christianization" rhetoric. There is less of that on Maria, named for the woman thought to have been the prophet Mohammed's Coptic wife. Its female-oriented, cultural programming "within a religious framework," as Alaa Abdallah describes it, might even have greater potential than Al-Omma and its donation-based funding model.
Maria caters to a niche market untapped even by ultraconservative channels, according to Iskandar. But normalizing the appearance of women covered from head to toe in black could be a double-edged sword. "It takes away from their mystique, their exoticism," he argues.
Others believe Maria might end up isolating the niqab "community" and only underline the controversy over the full veil.
Either way, the biggest challenge, according to Iskandar, will be to overcome what may be visually dull presentation with creative content.
