The Contribution of Women to Intellectual Thought and Science in the Arab World

All over the world, women tend to be underrepresented in intellectual circles and in many academic fields, especially at the highest rungs of academia. This is particularly so at all levels of science and technology, and especially in areas such as physics and engineering. In a Jan. 24, 2011 lecture hosted by the Gender and Public Policy Program at the Dubai School of Government, Dr. Rafia Ghubash pointed to some trends in women’s representation at different levels of academia in both Arab and non-Arab countries to demonstrate that it is not only women in the Arab world who have been held back in academia by patriarchal attitudes towards their academic and intellectual endeavors.