UNESCO Panel: Where are the Women?

World Teachers’ Day 2018

The Right to Education Means the Right to a Qualified Teacher

UNESCO Panel

“Where are the Women: Exploring the gendered distribution of female teachers and students in TVET”

2:00-3:30pm, October 7, 2018

College of the North Atlantic- Qatar, Building 5, Room 5.166

World Teachers’ Day 2018 Theme

This year, the theme of WTD is “The right to education means the right to a qualified teacher.” It has been chosen to remind the global community that the right to education cannot be achieved without the right to trained and qualified teachers. Education transforms lives: it is the driver of economic and social development; it promotes peace, tolerance, and social inclusion; and it is key to eradicating poverty and achieving personal fulfillment. Teachers are the means through which education is transmitted and without them, the goal of universal primary and secondary education, a fundamental right, cannot be met.

Panel Abstract

In Qatar, a complex picture is emerging in higher education. More females are enrolled in university courses than males, and they generally achieve higher results. However, those men who do attend university are more likely to major in fields that are most in demand for Qatar’s future economy, and which attract higher salaries (civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering, other applied sciences). On the other hand, more males than females are enrolled in TVET, but females are still concentrated in health and social services, public administration and clerical fields. In other words, “many women attend higher education and receive degrees in fields which are not consistent with the economic ambitions of Qatar to grow technology and innovation-driven industries” (UNESCO 2015: 110).

UNESCO Doha has convened a panel of esteemed experts and specialists to explore the reasons behind the gendered distribution of female teachers and students in technical and vocational fields in Qatar. Each panellist will present for 15 minutes, followed by a panel discussion, and Q&A with the audience. We look forward to seeing you there.

Panelists

Panelist 1: Ms Effrosyni Parampota, Senior Officer, Qatar Career Development Center, Qatar Foundation

Panelist 2: Ms Basma M. Hamdy, Associate Professor, Graphic Design, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar

Panelist 3: Dr Noora Jabor Al-Thani, Team Leader of Al-Bairaq, Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University

Panelist 4 and Chair: Dr Caitlin Sparks, Education Programme Assistant, UNESCO Office for the Arab States of the Gulf and Yemen