Amazing women in Qatar - and Robert Kennedy College dissertation

You men out there might want to skip this post because I'm going to spend some time talking about the amazing and inspirational women I have met whilst I have been in Qatar. 

The reason I have been prompted to spend time thinking about this is because I am nearing the point of deciding on the subject of my Master's Degree dissertation research and I am very interested in the topic of how Qatari women leaders are making great strides here in the country, nationally and internationally. I would very much like to leave a legacy behind me that is of use to some of the younger women I have had the pleasure of meeting through my work and social activities in encouraging them to keep battling away at the barriers and obstacles they face to progress in their careers.

I have had several women batting for me as I have progressed through my own career who deserve a mention - my Mum, who is a tower of strength, still learning at 87 and supportive of whatever I do; my daughter who has her own degree, thriving career and has encouraged me all the way in new endeavours including working overseas at a very mature age; my good friend Judy, who was a staunch supporter when I began my serious studies at the age of 35 and kept telling me I could do it and would not let me give up; my many colleagues at NIACE who were a wonderful resource and support through the six years I was there - I learnt so much from them.

Now I am learning again from a new group of friends and colleagues who continue to stagger me with their hospitality, friendship, support and courage to come to a strange country, often following their husbands and uprooting their children, looking for work but taking it all in their stride. I have met more women in eighteen months, from so many different nationalities, cultural backgrounds, business sectors than I met in an entire lifetime in the UK. Add to this, my new friends and colleagues, also female, from the RKC Master's course, also from international backgrounds, and the circle expands again - Maria - Brigita - Sandrine - Marcela - Ines - Sarah - I could go on and on.

Back to Qatar - as part of my work, I have met many young Qatari women who are trying to progress in their careers. Many of them are working in the public sector - ie the Ministries, as this is considered a safe option for them. Many more are attempting the entrepreneurship route - this is being well supported by many women's organisations at the moment and a lot of public and private resource is going into their networks, training, encouraging them to branch out and overcome the bureacracy of setting up a business here.There are many barriers to doing so, not least the need for finance, sponsorship, premises and approval of their family, husband, father etc.

There are many fantastic Qatari women with wonderful ideas - in the world of fashion, industry, sport and many more sectors.For the first time ever, they have sent girls to the London 2012 Olympics. They are making a name for themselves on the Arab Business Women's List 2012. Our own ictQATAR Secretary General, Dr Hessa Al Jabar, is no 30.

They have a fantastic role model in Sheikha Moza Bint Nassar, the wife of the Emir of Qatar - she is seen frequently in the world press and has become something of a fashion icon, in much the same way as Princess Diana did in the UK. However, she is more than that - she believes strongly in the leadership role of Qatari women and wastes no opportunity to promote it. She has been the inspiration for many I have spoken to.

One of the barriers the young Qatari women here face is that they have qualifications but not experience. If they are lucky enough to be allowed by their families to study abroad and gain degrees, they come back to jobs where they are in senior positions without the experience they need. This is where ex-patriates have a value to help and support them. This is called Qatarization but sadly, the numbers do not stack up - the current population of 1.7m only includes 30-40% Qataris and not all of these are in the workforce. The rest of the workforce comprises ex-patriates and the largest majority of these are low skilled migrant workers. It will be a long time before the Qataris are in sufficient numbers to reduce their dependency on foreign workers.

Neverthless it is a privilege to work with the Qatari women here. They are proud, intelligent, confident and determined to succeed.

Eid Al Fitr holiday in Sri Lanka

Following the Ramadan holy month, all Government employees are lucky enough to get a paid holiday of at least seven days from work, which starts immediately after the end of Ramadan and fasting has stopped. However, because the exact first day of EID cannot be predicted until the moon has been sighted, we are not given our actual holiday dates in advance. Therefore we dare not book a long break.

We risked booking a short break to Sri Lanka, guessing at the most likely days I would be off work.We decided to travel to Galle in the south of the island, having flown to the main capital of Colombo and we were collected from the airport by our host, Widushan, the owner of the Lace Rock Beach Cabanas, where we were staying at Ahangama.

Our journey from the airport was a long one, as we had arrived during rush hour and the traffic in Colombo was dreadful, and there is no bypass around the city. A new expressway connects the outskirts of Colombo and Galle but it took us nearly two hours to get to it because of the heavy traffic. Colin, who is already a nervous passenger, was beginning to realise that the traffic in Qatar was light compared to the behaviour of the buses, Tuc Tucs, motor cycles, lorries and cars on the streets of Sri Lanka. There are no rules or sense to the behaviours, just horn blowing and then go for it. The buses seemed to rule the road.

We arrived at our destination quite late and in the dark and went straight to bed - we had been travelling for quite a while. We got up the next morning to the most fantastic view - our cabana was about fifty yards from the beach and the sea. The surf was up and the waves were crashing but a very relaxing sight.

We spent a quiet first day with a couple of short local trips to Galle, where we visited the old fort, a local turtle farm and a walk down to a nearby beach. Galle is a very pretty tourist town with some typical tourist restaurants, tea shops and souvenirs to purchase. The currency was very strange, with about two hundred Rupees to an English Pound, which made it very difficult to calculate.

Our hosts at the cabana were very hospitable and could not do enough for us - Siri the houseboy seemed to take a liking to Colin and they had a pact that he would bring him an hourly beer - this was accomplished even though they did not have a common language.

We had a couple of bouts of Monsoon rain, one in the night and we woke that morning to find the rain coming in under the door and pools of water on the bedroom floor. However, an hour later the sun was out and everything had dried up.

On another day, we had two exciting trips to a Government funded spice and herbal garden and a tea plantation. The tea plantation was fantastic - they cultivated eleven or more different varieties of black tea, rubber, had a shop and also gave you the chance to have a cup of tea in the owner's plantation house. This was just as you would expect a rain forest to be like - damp and steamy but very well maintained.

 

Our accommodation was clean and simple but very basic - the only downside being the ants in the bathroom which we seemed unable to cure. Our hosts were a lovely family and we had the pleasure of being invited to their home for a family meal to celebrate the daughter's birthday. It was an honour to be a part of seeing a real Sri Lankan family's home life.

 

Before long our five days were up and we had the long journey back to the airport in Colombo. We will definitely go back to Sri Lanka again - there is a lot more to see in the north of the country.

 

Robert Kennedy College - post residency thoughts

A few thoughts on post-residency gloom, now that I am back at week after a glorious week in Zurich with new friends and colleagues.

We worked hard and played hard and were very fortunate to be based in the amazing venue of the Old Smith's Guild in the heart of the city center, close to the Niederhof shops and many cafes and restaurants, all of which we took full advantage of during our breaks and after we finished for the day. Needless to say, we conducted our daily debriefing sessions in the cafe by the river, aptly named the Rathaus cafe, as it was just next door and a stone's throw from our venue. We engaged in lively discussion about the day's learning, washed down by an odd glass of wine or beer and basked in the evening sunshine.

You may have seen the photos posted by many of us on the Facebook page for the group but just in case not, you can see one below of the amazing scenery and our lively group at the cafe.

We all benefited from the expertise and knowledge of our tutors for the week, a mixture from both YSJ and RKC, but led by George and Irene. We added to that, our own blend of international experience which appeared to be very wide ranging and everyone was generous with their contributions to the discussions.

I for one, am sure that it will be of great benefit to me when I come to start my dissertation module in the next few months.

Robert Kennedy College - residency continues

We are settling into the pace of the residency and gelling as a group and I am certainly beginning to realise how valuable the experience is, both as a learning tool for completing the MALIC course and gaining the qualification, but also refreshing my research skills.

Additionally and probably very high at the top of the list of pluses from the week, the opportunity to make new friends and colleagues from the group here and finally meet our tutors face to face - all of whom have only been a very small picture on the forums to date.

We have worked hard each day so far but enjoyed some great evenings relaxing at the end of each day, choosing a different venue from amongst the many fascinating places in Zurich city center. I personally have fallen in love with Zurich and have enjoyed the opportunity to practice some of my A Level German.

A lot of thought has gone into the planning of the agenda for the residency but we have appreciated the opportunity to add to this and a prompt response has been made when we have raised any issues or concerns. For example, some of us have experienced issues with library access etc and I found it extremely useful today to have the journals demonstrated - this will be vital for our dissertation literature reviews.

We are all looking forward to the dinner tomorrow night and in particular the after dinner speech!

Robert Kennedy College - first day of the Zurich residency

Well here we are - I'm writing this a day late at the request of all my new friends - I hope I can call you all that! We had a great first day yesterday and really enjoyed our get together and meeting some of the tutors face to face after only having online encounters to date.

We are very lucky to be doing our residency in a fantastic old building in the middle of the historic part of Zurich, rather than the Technopark, which just by co-incidence happens to be very close to all the cool bars and restaurants for when we finish for the day and need to have our debriefing session.

Bert is our official photographer so I will put up some pictures as well.

More later!