In the Name of Allah the

Most Gracious

The Most Merciful

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 The Roles of Women in
Modern Arab Science
Professor Samira Ibrahim Islam Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology
Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences

Head Drug Monitoring Unit

King Fahd Medical Research Centre

King Abdulaziz University

Jeddah, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia

American Association in the Advancement of Science Annual

Meeting
Washington, DC
17th – 22nd February 2005
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 Acknowledgment
Many thanks to:
The American Achievement in the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual
Meeting for their invitation.

Special thanks to :
All who in one way or another helped
during the making of this presentation.

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 Please note:
• The population diversity of 307 millions
from 22 Arab countries is not easy to
demonstrate.
• At certain points one or more countries
are selected as representatives or used
as examples.
• The term science is used to express all
scientifically and technically based
disciplines.
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 Purpose of the study
To document :
• The advancement of Arab women in the field
of Science and technology.
• The contributions of Arab women to the
development of modem Arab scientific
community.

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Introduction

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The Role of Women in the
Arab World
• High fertility rate reduces Arab women
mobility and chances of gaining
remunerative employment outside the
home.
• Islam advocates and promotes education
for both men and women.

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Opportunities for Women in the
Arab Region

•School Education
•University Education
•Careers and Employment

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 •Schooling in the Arab Region
• Science education begins between the ages of 6 and
7 and is taught as an integrated compulsory subject
to both boys and girls.
• Major science disciplines are studied separately in
the last two or three years of high school.
• The first modern schools for women were opened
in Egypt (1829), Lebanon (1835) and Iraq (1898).
• In other countries like Kuwait, Yemen and Saudi
Arabia, modern education for women is a product of
the 20th century. (Eg 1960 in Saudi Arabia)
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 •Schooling in the Arab Region
However stereotyping may occur due to:
• Misleading perceptions that science and
technology are boys subjects.
• Failure of the curricula to relate science and
technology to reality of both girls as well as
boys.

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 •University Education
• In Egypt women have attended university
since the 1920’s
• Saudi women were admitted to formal
university in 1973
• Six of the eight major universities in Saudi
Arabia teach science. Only one out of these six
does not accept women.
• The percentage of females enrolled in science
and technology university range from 82% in
the UAE in 1999 to 8% in Djibouti.
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 Percentage of females to the total enrolled students in
Science discipline in the Arab universities
Science Engineering Health
%
90
82
80
70 65
60
50 44 45 44 43
39 39 37 40
40 33
30 28
30
20
9
10
1
0
Country Saudi Arabia Egypt UAE Yemen Syria

Year 97/99 98/99 98/99 99/00 00/01

Gender Statistics Program modified from ESCWA Social Statistics Datasets, 2004

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•Careers in S&T for Arab Women
• Female scientists excel in teaching, health and
research.

• Although there is an increasing pool of highly

qualified women scientists in some Arab
countries, few women in universities and
science institutes are holding top positions.

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•Careers in S&T for Arab Women
• More women work in the education sector than
the health sector.
• Reluctance of talented women to enter into a
male dominated working world of scientists.

• Recent survey showing the 50 most powerful

women in the Arab world, identifies only one
that has a science background.

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 Perception of women scientist about their
work and professional opportunities
In Arab Countries, career opportunities for female science
graduates are considerably more limited than those for men.
In Egypt and Saudi Arabia:
• pharmacy and dentistry, more than 40% of the faculty are
women
• In the sciences 25% of the faculty are women
• Department of engineering and technology, less than 10%
However these patterns are similar to those seen in U.S.
universities, where women constitute:
• 50% of health sciences faculty
• 23.8% of biological sciences faculty
• 6.1% of engineering faculty
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Opportunities available in the
Arab Region

1. Research Grants
2. International Awards

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 Researchers in the Arab Region compared
with other countries
4500
4006
4000
3500
3000
2458
2500
2000
1500
876
1000
500 124
0
Arab Region World EU USA
FTE researchers per million population
•Full time equivalent (FTE) research scientists and engineer per million population in
the Arab Region is far lower than the average of the countries of the world.
• According to UNESCO’s report in 2003 expenditure on R&D by Arab countries does
not exceed 10% of that spent by industrialized countries.
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 Research Funds
250 238

200 180

150 141

100

48
50

0
Arab Region World EU USA

GERD per researcher (U$)

•There are relatively few FTE researchers in the Arab region. Even so, because of
the low level of spending on R&D, the GERD (General expenditure for R & D)
(US$) per researcher is still less than the EU, the USA or even the world average.

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Research Grants in the Arab Region
Some national research institutes that provide
research grants in the Arab region:
1. King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology
(KACST) in Saudi Arabia.
2. Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of
Sciences. (KFAS)
3. The National Board for Scientific Research
(NBSR) in Libya.

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KACST funded research in the year 2002

Grant Establish No. of Principal %

type ment projects investigators Female
date
Male Female

National 1981 13 13 0 0

Grand 1979 68 66 2 2.9

Small 1996 118 103 15 12.7

Grad. 1991 131 59 72 55

Students

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 International Awards
1. Nobel Prize
-Out of the 773 Laureates, 34 are women (4.4%)
-Of these women 17.6% are in science

2. King Faisal International Prize

-Out of the 152 Laureates, 4 are women (2.6 %)
-Of these women one is a scientist.

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 Ongoing Efforts to Encourage
Women in S&T
- Individual support by powerful women.
- L’Oreal/ UNESCO “For Women in Science”
- School student mentoring programs of girls.

The experience in Saudi Arabia:

1. Postgraduate Degrees
2. Joint Supervision Programs
3. International Research Collaboration
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 Individual Support by Powerful
Women
1. Queen Rania of Jordan
2. Sheikha Sabeeka Al Khalifa of Bahrain
3. HH Princess Al Jawhara of Saudi Arabia
- Nursing Award
- Science Award
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Genetics
and Inherited Diseases in Bahrain

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L’Oreal/ UNESCO “For Women in
Science”
• Out of the 29 female laureates, 2
were Arabs.

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The Experience in
Saudi Arabia:

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 Postgraduate degrees granted
by Universities
• In the year 1999-2000, 372 graduates were
granted Master Degree in Science subjects
of which 39% were women. Ph.D. Degrees
were granted to 52 graduates of which 79%
were women.

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 Joint Supervision Programs
Specialization Number Percentages
Science 13 40.6 %
Medicine 8 25.0 %
Economics 6 18.7 %
Educational 1 3.1 %
Development
Humanities 3 9.5 %
Home Economics 1 3.1 %
Total (1990-2004) 32 100 %
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International Research Collaboration

• A research project was established with

the L’Oreal Research Centre related to a
“Skin & Menopause” study.

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New Developments and Opportunities
in Science and Technology

-Regional Organizations for Women in

Science
-International Organizations for Women in
Science
-E-learning and tele-medicine
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 •Regional Organizations for Women
in Science
• Saudi Science club, which has formed a
women’s division to support pre-university
science students.

• Arab Science and Technology Foundation

(ASTF - Sharja, U.A.E.) recently formed the
women’s committee in support of women
members.

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International Organizations for Women
in Science
International organizations whose members are
mainly women in science:
1. Arab Network for Women in Science & Technology
(ANWST), Dubai UAE
2. International Network of Women Engineers and Scientist
(INWES)
International Organizations that support women
in science:
1. ESCWA
2. UNESCO
3. STMRN

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Proposed Future Developments Regarding
Women’s Career in Science and
Technology

-Overcoming the Language barrier

-Database for Arab women specialized in S & T
-Collaborative research between the Arab region
and countries across the Atlantic.

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 Summary
 In higher education all females have the same
opportunities as males in most fields of science and
health.
 Limited top job opportunities for females .
 Efforts to encourage women in S&T is ongoing,
such as mentoring programs and joint supervision
programs.
 New developments, such as E-learning help
provide opportunities to a greater number of
women.
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