Women must unite to build a better future: Sheikha Hessa – ‘Kuwait eager to enhance women’s contribution to dev’

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NEW DELHI, May 17, (KUNA): Chair of the Arab Businesswomen Council (ABC) Sheikha Hessa Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah urged on Monday the womenfolk across the world to unite to build a better future through entrepreneurship and businesses.

In an exclusive interview to the Kuwait News Agency on the sidelines of Women Economic Forum, inaugurated in Indian capital New Delhi, Sheikha Hessa underlined the importance of building relations with women from different parts of the world.

This forum would present the best opportunity to share the experiences, wealth and expertise to empower women, she said.

Sheikh Hessa added that the Women Economic Forum and similar platforms would be useful to unite the women, which in turn would result in overall development of the societies.

She also hailed the increasing number of Indian women entrepreneurs and CEOs while expressing satisfaction that the Forum presented a good opportunity to learn from the experiences of other women entrepreneurs from India and other countries.

The Chairperson of Arab Businesswomen Council also hailed the increasing number of Arab women entrepreneurs and businesswomen.

She underlined that Kuwaiti government has provided enough support and established a fund exclusively to promote business endeavors.

This in turn has produced a number of excellent businesswomen and helped to empower them and their families substantially.

The event was attended by a number of leading women entrepreneurs from across India and other countries. Many of the participants shared their experiences of successfully establishing their businesses and how such efforts have helped to empower themselves and their fellow beings.

Sheikha Hessa also hopes that all the countries should organize such events and expressed her wish that a Women Economic Forum would be held in Kuwait.

On his part, Indian Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu said in his inaugural speech in the presence of Sheikha Hessa as guest of honor that women empowerment cannot be achieved without making them strong financially.

He also underlined that the Indian civilization has always held woman highly respected.

Meanwhile, a senior official at the Supreme Council for Planning and Development stressed Kuwait’s eagerness to empower women and enhance their contributions to state development.

Aisha Al-Roudhan made the statement at the conclusion of the celebration marking the Kuwaiti Women’s Day which came to a close late Monday through focusing on women’s achievements in the fields of education and health.

The celebration’s closing session reviewed keenness of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on granting women all rights in different fields.

She stated that the first formal government-built girls school was Al-Wusta (or middle in English) school that began teaching in 1937.

But the idea of education for females was not accepted at that time, and so the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah wanted to change this concept by sending his two daughters to the school, she clarified.

She added that the first scholarships granted for women were in 1957.

Meanwhile, Dr Yassmin Al-Abd Al-Ghafour, a senior official at Ministry of Health, reviewed a working paper on achievements of women in this sector.

She said that roughly 49.8 percent of the Kuwaiti doctors are women, noting that 30.3 percent of them have PhD certificates and 9.9 percent have master’s degrees.

She affirmed keenness of Kuwaiti women on developing the society through their participation in several fields, mainly health, and on coping with the latest developments in this sector.

The ministry has been exerting tremendous efforts to combat breast and cervical cancer, the most two dangerous, she said, indicating that one in every eight women is suffering from breast cancer.

The celebration marking the Kuwaiti Women’s Day was held earlier today under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

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