NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, in collaboration with the Brookings Institution, will co-host a public panel today to explore girls’ education both regionally and internationally, at the Intercontinental Hotel Auditorium in Abu Dhabi.
The panel will feature a brief excerpt from Girl Rising, a documentary which depicts nine girls who strive to receive an education and unveils some of the common challenges girls tend to face in schools and at the workforce. Furthermore, the documentary proposes programs to propel female talent and mentorship programs that can serve as a gateway to further encourage female leadership across various professions.
The panel will feature speakers such Tom Yellin, an executive producer of Girl Rising; Maysa Jalbout, a nonresident fellow at the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution; Khuloud Al Nuwais, Chief Sustainability Officer at the Emirates Foundation; and Nicole Lopez Del Carril, an NYU Abu Dhabi fourth-year student and leader of the university’s Women’s Leadership Network.
Del Carril commented: “With a diversity of experiences and specialties on the panel, I hope this conversation may encourage every audience member to utilize their position, talent, and tools to encourage girls’ education and participation in the workforce. It is important to see this issue being addressed through various lenses, to understand how every individual has the capacity to contribute, and to realize that it is not an issue only being discussed behind a desk. Everyone in the audience has a place at the table to contribute to propelling female education and inclusion into the workforce.”
“I believe organized mentorship programs are an important tool that high schools, universities, and corporations can all utilize to encourage and empower women,” she added. “Mentoring allows young women to ask pressing questions about the skills they should build to advance in their chosen fields, strategies to network, and their mentor’s own experience balancing work and family."
Echoing these observations, Maysa Jalbout added: The powerful stories featured in the documentary are a reminder of how far we've come as a region in providing access to girls' education, but also how much further we have to go. The positive reaction to the documentary and the lively debate that followed are an indication of the strong interest in girls' education in the UAE and the region. We would welcome the opportunity to co-host screenings of Girl Rising in other Arab countries."