7th Woibex Women in Business Conference and 4th Middle East Women's Achievement Awards Ceremony held on March 8th, International Women's Day.

The forum held annually on occasion of the International Women's Day assembled about 200 professionals including women government and business professionals, entrepreneurs from the Middle East.

Mrs. Miet Smet, Minister of State for Belgium was the chief guest and also delivered the keynote address. The Business conference aims to raise awareness amongst the women professionals on the importance of leadership and updated skills and information to effectively manage their business and professional careers.

Dr. Elizabeth Lawley, Professor of Rochester Institute of Technology, USA, Dr. Elise Collins Shields, Director, Common Well Institute USA, Ms. Sabra Brock, President, The Training Advantage New York, USA, Ms. Sarah Al Ayed, VP Saudi Arabian Creative Communications Services, KSA, Dr. Salwa Al Jasser, Professor, Kuwait University, Ms. Taghreed Haider, Public Information Associate, UNDP and Ms. Najat Najat Al Saeed, e-publishing expert, Saudi Research & Publishing Company were the other speakers at the conference.

The annual women's conference focuses on women empowerment through innovation and entrepreneurship. It is unique in that it will facilitate face-to-face interaction between diverse professionals from the Middle East industry and government sectors who do not normally come together. This forum draws the world's attention to the realities in the day-to-day life of women at work. Additionally, it provides a platform for professionals to articulate their concerns, share experiences and ideas on the future.

The Middle East Women's Achievement Awards are presented to women achievers from the region. The awards categories are Woman of the Year, Best Social Contribution, Best Business Professional, Best Management Professional, Best Contribution in Information Technology, Best Middle East Women Entrepreneur, and Best Women Contribution in Regional Business & Trade Development. The awardees are selected after an open online voting process at www.woibex.com.

Ali Al Kamali, chief organizer of the women's conference and awards said: "Women have been very successful in their professional careers in both government and private sectors of the region, holding a large number of staff and committee posts."

"This conference provides the opportunity to share and learn from the experiences of others and pick up new skills. It is also crucial in building confidence and creating new networks. This is an excellent way to recognize the achievements of women in business and support their continuing development."

While delivering the UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan's, International Women's Day Message, Ms. Taghreed Haider, Public Information Associate, UNDP observed that gender empowerment is a critical aspect of human development. This was reaffirmed by the inclusion of gender equality and women empowerment as one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Those goals were agreed upon by Head of states and governments gathered at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, in September 2000.

She added "In the UAE, the political leadership believes that the carrying out of a comprehensive economic and social development requires the participation of both men and women. Full education rights are provided to UAE women and these in turn, will make it possible for women to exercise their right to participate in various sectors of the economy."

Dr. Salwa Al Jassar, Associate Professor, School of Education, Kuwait University who spoke on the topic, "Women as a Leader", said "Change is the most important goal for powerful and successful business and management. Leaders all over the world work hard in order to achieve a positive attitude for change. A women as a leader works very hard to give herself a positive attitude toward her work and struggles greatly for a better career."

Ms. Sabra Brock, President of the Training Advantage, New York, US spoke at the session 'How Male and Female Leaders Approach the Changing Demands of Business'. Classifying leadership styles as Cultivation, Outreach, Power Use, Intuitiveness and Communication, she compared the leadership styles of men and women and found that under cultivation leadership style, most women more easily nurture and tune into others' emotions and men naturally focus on getting the job done with less regard to human cost than most women.

While women leaders are more likely to build relationships for human value, Male leaders focus them to specific task. Most men mentor to extend their values, and women to cultivate others. Most men prefer explicit reporting lines and clear hierarchy while their female counterparts prefer a style, which is more fluid. Women are more likely to share credit, men to take credit. Most women can tune into meaning behind numbers, facts, and behaviors. Men tend to see patterns in numbers and can ignore specific situations and people.

Sabra Brock, a successful leadership and training consultant from the US, concluded her presentation advising Middle East women professionals to make themselves more visible in the leadership positions by using their own natural female strengths, training for change and making a plan and asking for it.

Quoting a recent report from the Boston Globe, Ms. Elise Collins Shields, Director of Common Well Institute, an Arizona, US based organization working towards worldwide women's empowerment said, "The reality is as the senior job pyramid narrows in any organization, skill talent, experience, accomplishments, etc. have little to do with why women are not landing the very top jobs. It is directly related to the prejudice that men have honed to convert the proverbial "glass ceiling" into a "steel reinforced ceiling."

About the status of women's leadership in the Arab community, Ms. Shields said, "The most obvious of these gaps is that Arab women remain marginalized and underutilized in all arenas, notably in terms of their economic, intellectual and leadership potential. Women suffer from extraordinary opportunity deficits, evident in employment status, wages, gender-based occupational segregation and other barriers. Politics and regulations that can liberate half of the population of Arab countries will have a positive impact on economic growth and social cohesion."

Advising the attending women delegates to adapt their style to men, exceed expectations, seek out challenging assignments to prove themselves and Work twice as hard as male counterparts, Ms. Elise spoke of motherhood as the best training ground for leadership, she said, "One of the best training grounds for leadership is motherhood ... if you can manage a group of small children, you can manage a group of bureaucrats. It's almost the same process."

She closed her speech quoting the renowned English poet, Mathew Arnold, "If ever the world sees a time when women shall come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a power such as the world has never known."

Ms. Elizabeth Lane Lawley, senior professor of IT at the Rochester Institute of Technology, US, spoke on the topic "Using Technology for Business Success". Elaborating on the various opportunities available with technology she said, "Computer tools can help you research, strategize, and plan. Online resources give you access to a wealth of information. Tools focused on creativity and connections allow you to brainstorm more effectively".

Highlighting the growing reliance on technology and how it can ensure business success, Ms. Lawley said, technology tools can be broadly classified as personal tools and enterprise tools. Business and productivity software, and communication tools like email and internet belong to the first category while company accounting & databases, and content management belong to the enterprise category.

Ms. Lawley concluded her presentation advising women professionals to keep up their efforts to stay aware of new technology developments and to develop a plan that can leverage online tools to build brand identity and trust and also incorporate social components into your web sites and online tools to give it a human touch which is very vital.

Ms. Sarah Al Ayed, Vice President, Saudi Arabian Creative Communications Services spoke on the topic, "Effective Communications & Respecting the Local Climate".

The 'Middle East Achievement Awards for Women',
The 4th Middle East Women's Achievement Awards was presented at a well attended ceremony today at the Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai UAE. Now into its second y the awards have witnessed a tremendous response from Middle East women professionals.

Mrs. Miet Smet, Minister of State, Belgium was the chief guest and presented the awards in the presence of more than 200 senior representatives from various Embassies, Government departments, Business Organizations, Media and etc...
The 'Middle East Women's Achievement Awards', was instituted to recognize the entrepreneurial zeal of women in Middle East. The awards recognize and encourage the grit and determination of these women, who have conquered the odds and have reached challenging positions in diverse areas like Business, Government, Industry, Education and other relevant fields. The awards ceremony and the following honorary dinner will be attended by the distinguished guests from all over the Middle East.

Announcing the winners, Mr. Ali Al Kamali, Chairman of the Women's Awards Organizing Committee said "Women are relatively quiet contributors to the economy. Women in the Middle East have made notable contributions to practically all areas of knowledge and practice in business and management. The awards will help focus on women as key players in the region's economic growth and will highlight their contributions and bring out constructive recommendations to better their participation in key areas of economic activity".

The awards are presented in the following categories; woman of the year, best media professional, best woman entrepreneur, best woman business professional, best woman contribution to education etc.

Woman of the Year
DR. IBTISAM AL KATBI, UAE UNIVERSITY
Best Woman Media Professional
MS. RASHA OWAIS, DIT GROUP - FORBES ARABIA
Best Middle East Woman Entrepreneur
MRS. SARAH A. AL-DUWAISAN, MINISTRY OF PLANNING, KUWAIT
Best Woman Business Professional
MS. MARIYAM AL NOORI, INTRA FLORA, UAE
Best Woman Contribution to Education
DR. NOORA SALEH AL SHAMLAN, AL IMAM MOHD. BIN SAUD UNIVERSITY, KSA