By Sarah Sharaan
Sunday 25th of April 8:00 PM last edited Tuesday 27th of April 10:30 AM, Dubai
Women Empowerment Celebration Event is an annual event organised by the International Majlis of Women in the AUE under the supervision of Dr Leslie Vandeputte and Dr Karoline Molaeb. This year some of the students studying in CMMC were asked by Dr Karoline and Dr Leslie to participate in the 2021 Zoom event.
On Sunday 25th of April at 6:00 PM, I conducted a fascinating, educational and eye-opening interview with one of AUE’s most prominent and widely loved doctors, Dr Karoline Molaeb, who is one of the organisations of the Women Empowerment Celebration Event.
Dr Karoline Molaeb is one of the faculty members of the College of Education. She joined AUE Spring 2019 and started off with teaching ‘Communication and Study Skills’, now known as ‘University Life’. Currently, Dr Karoline teaches history courses and political courses. She is passionate about many causes and has made remarkable work on Statelessness in her home country Lebanon with the United Nations. She has achieved outstanding academic credentials in many different fields, including criminal law and international business.
Some of the causes she is very passionate about is women rights, women empowerment, and gender equality. The interview was intended to know more about her part in the women empowerment events she organises, with Dr Leslie Vandeputte, for the International Majlis of Women club at our university. However, it turned out to be much more interesting than that.
Dr Karoline is the head of The Sustainability Club in our university; this particular information is interesting because I did not know we have a sustainability club. For the past two years, Dr Karoline and Dr Leslie have joined forces to create powerful women empowerment events. According to Dr Karoline, The Sustainability Club aims to provide creative solutions to tackle gender inequality. Simultaneously, The International Majlis of Women wants to empower women through notable examples from our society. So now we have two very successful and influential clubs working together to provide us with unique events despite the slight difference in objectives.
Dr Karoline believes that holding events like women empowerment celebrations helps people become more aware of the problems in our society and become more educated about the issues. She also noticed that more male students are interested in topics regarding women; during the interview, she said, “around 60% of the students in my Women and Politics course are men,” adding that when she asked them why they joined the course, they would say that they are working with women and a lot of their family members are women and want to learn more about them in a professional setting.
When I asked her what her driving force was to become a voice for the AUE students and have such immense passion about these topics, she said, “students with great potential give me a reason and the motivation”. The Women Empowerment Celebration in 2021 had many speakers and participants. When asked which was her favourite, she was happy to say that the students’ presentations were great and very educational and the presentation of Dr Mona Al Ali.
I asked Dr Karoline about the things she wants to change in our society as a woman. She talked about wanting to change the perception of women in society and how women are viewed as a child barring individuals without a need of achieving their dreams. She also said, “since the start of the feminist movement, there had been multiple waves; each of the waves had a specific goal.” She also believes that all women have the right to choose what they want to do, whether in their career or in their personal lives; it’s not acceptable for anyone to undermine a woman’s choice no matter what.
We also discussed what misconceptions about feminism she would like to change; she said, “women are not trying to replace or take the place of men”. Finally, to conclude our interview, I asked her if there is any message she’d like to send out to women and girls in our society. Dr Karoline wants all women in society not to give up on their dreams and continue fighting to achieve their goals and aspirations.
