UDST organized a full day of activities to celebrate International Women’s Day. A panel discussion led by the University’s Applied Research and Innovation and supported by QAPCO entitled “#BreakTheBias: Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” took place in the presence of prominent women from the Qatari community: Ms. Fatima Al Saadi, Capability Building Manager at Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO); Nada Mir, national team golf player and UDST student; Amal Dahawi Al-Shamari, Strategic Planning Manager for Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO); Fathea Salama, Director of Pharmacy at Sidra medicine. The discussion was moderated by Wadha Salem Alathba, a communication expert and an influential life coach.
The panelists shared their experiences about women empowerment and the confidence to lead in a field primarily dominated by men. They also discussed the importance of education in creating assertive women and how perseverance can play a major role in the road to success.
On this occasion, Dr. Salem Al-Naemi, UDST’s President said: “University of Doha for Science and Technology supports the core values International Women's Day represents. This event is an opportunity to shed light on the problems that women across the world face, whether at work or in everyday life. It is our duty as an educational institution to support women and help build future leaders that close the gender gap and work towards equality in their organizations. I wish to thank every woman in UDST’s community and all women who are forging their way through and making a difference despite all challenges”
The University’s Student Engagement department organized a women’s market, where female entrepreneurs – many of whom are UDST students and alumni – from across the country were able to showcase their work and interact with the UDST community during a special “Meet and Greet”. The University hosted a number of organisations that support women in Qatar such as: “Wifaq”, the family consulting center and “Aman”, the center that aims at protecting and rehabilitating women and children who are victims of violence or breakup and reintegrating them into society, “Qatar Women Engineers Association "Qwea" under the umbrella of Qatar Society of Engineers; Al Dana Girls Center, Women of Qatar, Doha Girls Center affiliated to Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The celebration kept going into the afternoon with a female only deadlift competition. The latter is supported by UDST’s Sport and Wellness division, where students are trained to be able to deadlift more than their body weight or even pull a truck. Such a competition reflects the efforts that the University deploys to break biases, build the female students’ confidence so they can become leaders amongst not only their peers but also serve as champions in the Country. The day was concluded with a female only event led by the Student Engagement department – Her: a celebration of the female UDST community.
