Muna Saeed Wins an Award for Best Research Paper on Women and Gender Studies

Having a well organized visionary plan to instill gender equity education back home in Yemen, Muna Saeed, an LAU MEPI TLG studying a Masters in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, was focusing on academic rigor and social activism until she discovers within her a writing talent to use as a new tool to speak out against women suppression and deprivation from their basic rights, and propose creative approaches  to advocate for women’s rights and ensure the safety and security of women in Yemen.

Saeed challenged herself and participated in “Mary Turner Lane Award”, a student paper competition organized by ‘The Arab Institute For Women’(AiW). Saeed’s paper entitled ‘Gender, Islam and International Frame-Works in Yemen’ explores the intersection of Islam and International Frame Works that aims to work on gender development projects in the context of contemporary Yemen. Saeed chose to discuss the phenomenon of child Marriage as a discourse and explore whether aligning the views of international frameworks with Islam and introducing them to the Yemeni society is advantageous to Yemeni women and guarantees their peace and security.

Saeed’s paper caught the attention of AiW’s selection committee, as Saeed went beyond illustrating the current situation in Yemen; she had her own interpretation to the proposed reforms -based on her research -and highlighted the loopholes that prevent those reforms from being implemented in the Arab countries context in general and the Yemeni context in particular.

Saeed was awarded by AiW’s selection committee and received a certificate of appreciation and got the opportunity of having her paper published in AiW’s interdisciplinary journal ‘Al-Raida’.

Saeed attributes this success to her parents who constantly encourage her to challenge herself and cease every opportunity that make her academic path flourish further. Saeed is also thankful for LAU MEPI Program who believed in her capabilities and equipped her with the necessary tools and empowered her to take further initiatives laying the cornerstone for policy change regarding women’s rights in Yemen.