SHeroes: Arab influencers at Expo

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Young, Muslim, creative, successful. Arab women use media to connect, shatter stereotypes, and gender gap. At the Women’s Pavilion, at Expo 2020 Dubai, proposing winning stories Arab women are bearers of positive instances, help sweep away prejudices about Islam, and foster a prospect of growth and development. They are the so-called “Super SHeroes”, or female superheroes, capable with their exemplary work of spreading an image of being a woman in the Arab world unhinging preconceived ideas and encouraging a constructive dialogue between East and West to better face future challenges. Social media is an extraordinary vehicle of connection and also an extremely powerful communication tool, Muna AbuSulayman, Nicole Al Rais, and Tima Shomali greatly handle them with a big drive.

The heroines I met in this debate are all socially engaged, remarkable communicators, and boast a large media following on different platforms. They are famous, influential, brilliant, despite moving in our contemporary society characterised by a deep gender divide creating disparity, inequality, discrimination. Thanks to their example they contribute to change the world, creating a support network, a collaborative atmosphere, a cultural humus in which to see the flourishing of new generations of empowered women who will increasingly be able to conquer power in a society that still prevents women from having the same opportunities as men. They made it, but this transformation process is far from being complete. Let’s find out more about the three protagonists and the topics emerged from the Women’s Pavilion initiative, which focuses on the value of digitisation and connection as universal human right capable of making positive change in society. 

Three Super SHeroes

Muna Abusulayman, born in the United States but with Saudi citizenship, is a MBC icon, the Saudi satellite and streaming TV. Muna has become a well-known show-woman in the Arab world, with a several-million audience ranging from the Middle East to North Africa, with the tv programme ‘Kalam Nawaem’, a format that faced taboos and topics of social relevance with soft tones. Today she is also entrepreneur in the philanthropic sector. Nicole Al Rais is a TikTok star, where she mainly speaks of herself and her life tightening her relationships with followers through comments. Nicole is Californian, but her studies brought her to many different cities around the world including New York, San Francisco, Boston, where she met the man who became her husband, the Emirati Ahmed Al Rais, Barcelona, ​​Rome and Cusco. With a master’s degree in applied social research at Paris Sorbonne University of Abu Dhabi, Nicole is an influencer on Tiktok, with 71 thousand followers and over 1.7 million likes and her contents create an engagement with fans always characterised by high social value. Tima Shomali is a Jordanian director, producer, writer, screenwriter and actress, who has been compared to Tina Fey in the Arab world at the Women in the World Summit in New York. She boasts a degree in Business Administration and Finance at the University of Jordan and a specialisation at the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts where she graduated in Production and screenwriting. Her comedies and TV series have attracted millions of viewers. Her latest project, the Netflix series ‘AlRawabi School for Girls’ addresses issues such as revenge and bullying from the perspective of an Arab girls’ school, making the story accessible to a global audience like that of the American streaming-on-demand platform that reaches 190 countries.

Dialogue plants seeds and promotes change

“We really had this idea of diversity and inclusion from the very beginning -says Muna AbuSulayman of her TV program ‘Kalam Nawaem’, connected remotely from Saudi Arabia– The idea of putting people who have different lifestyles, different ways of thinking together and discussing what, at the time, were very taboo issues that nobody talked about”. The format was based on that of ABC‘s American ‘The View’ in which women of different ages, ideas and backgrounds hosted together a talk show of social relevance.

“We wanted people to solve real problems that they were facing. The show was really about helping empower families to develop a way of life that is modern and in line with their personal values” says Muna AbuSulayman, highlighting how difficult it is to clear the prejudice linked to the role of women in the Arab world and Islam. From the audience someone talks about her first-hand experience of preconceived notions when talking about the hijab: “They always think about the stereotype of the oppressed woman” says a girl from the audience, or “They tend to think the woman wearing it might a potential terrorist” adds Muna AbuSulayman with a bit of bitter irony. 

When cinema is at the service of women’s empowerment

Tima Shomali feels the same way. In her Netflix series ‘AlRawabi School for Girls’ she tries to demonstrate how beautiful and constructive it is when two women forget the politics between them and are there together in the moment, sticking up for each other.

“We are all responsible for the stories we share and the content we are creating, because it makes so much impact” underlines Tima Shomali who tells me: “I always love talking about my role as a film director, about how to give more opportunities to women in front and behind the camera, directing and making them conquer positions including writing, screenwriting, directing, producing, and even in more technical fields such as camera operators and specialised sound technicians. From my side, I do my best to encourage all this, giving opportunities to women in my crews”.

But there’s a lot more, it is also important to have a female point of view in the characters’ storytelling, Tima explains to me: “In terms of screenplay, for me it is also important how we write female characters, the storytelling perspective. They need to be significant characters not in terms of quantity, but quality of script”. This is why the female point of view is so crucial helping demolish preconceived notions and misguided view.

Using TikTok to fight against stereotypes about Islam and gender gap

Expanding on one of her TikTok videos the debate focused on social media, analysing such a direct platform as TikTok of which Nicole Al Rais is a master, showing her personality without filters: “I open up about my life because I want people to be able to connect with me and I also connect with the people in my comments, and we have really, really good conversations” says Nicole who also underlines: “One of the most frequent questions I get asked is whether I converted to Islam for my husband, and it’s a bit painful because it minimises my personal experience with God and attributes it to another person. And on top of that, it builds into the narrative that Islam itself is oppressive; not how people manipulate it”.

On prejudices affecting every possible dialogue Nicole tells me: “I think that women, as well as Muslims, have the right to express themselves in an authentic way. We Muslim women are not some kind of monolith, we have so many differences, we think differently, we attach different ideas, because we are different, we are all different. So I think that one of the most empowering things for women, as well as Muslims, as well as really anyone, is to be able to express theirselves without feeling ashamed, because it opens you up to learn and grow from there”. Social media, that Nicole masters perfectly, is becoming an important tool for conveying messages of inclusivity, dialogue, respect for differences. “I think it’s really helpful to follow different voices on social media and hear it from different perspectives -concludes Nicole- We’re still blessed to be able to have access to different groups that I would never have access to before as well as express our own unique perspective that is also very valid”. 

Nothing is given for granted, it must be conquered

The exhortation coming directly from Maher Nasser, Director of of Outreach in the United Nations Department of Global Communications and the Commissioner-General of the United Nations at Expo 2020 in Dubai, seems to be a programmatic manifesto towards achieving gender equality: “Whether it’s through religion, economy or culture, it’s a tool. We live in a paternalistic society, not just in the Arab world, the world itself is a paternalistic society, and power is not given. It is taken. Today, communications and media are the tools that we can use, and you have excelled in that. And I think this is the area where women need to really focus on: don’t wait for men to give you the power. You have to fight for it. You have to take it, and we men, who believe in you, have to stand with you.”

Two very young female pilots write the future

There’s a large audience at the Women’s Pavilion, despite restrictions, strict safety measures, and social distancing imposed by Covid. Among the many young women, two Muslim girls in their early twenties, wearing hijabs and abayas, stand out. They get everyone’s attention: they are both flying Oman Air planes. They are two young Omani girls willing to share their story. Both have an adventurous and not very feminine job: they fly jets, still regarded, at least in the popular imagination, as a male job. They are the pride of Arab women, they are symbolic of a generation of courageous, nonconformist, adventure enthusiast young women, opening the way for many other girls.

Talking helps to understand each other

“My story started a long time ago. At the beginning even my mother did not feel like supporting my choice of learning how to fly a plane, because it was not even conceivable in an Arab country that a woman could do such a job –Manal Al Balushi tells me- But in the end, my mom accepted that this was what I really wanted and allowed me to complete my training. She is now my strongest supporter”. In her Instagram profile, her nickname is ‘pilotmanal’, emphasising her status as a jet pilot: “I was the first woman to fly a commercial flight when I was just 21, carrying passengers from one destination to another in Oman. It was a sensational event for my company, Oman Air. An extraordinary result for my country, for women, for myself. There aren’t many women flying jets in Oman” she tells me smiling. Her friend and colleague has a very similar story, made of initial distrust and ostracism. Dialogue heals any conflict and defuses hostility.

An electronic engineer against the tide

Talking, explaining, opening up, sharing feelings is the only way to mutual understanding. Balqees Beloshi knows it well and tells me: “My story is quite similar. Flying planes wasn’t exactly my dream, also because I didn’t think it was even possible for a woman. I didn’t think it was a conceivable option. So I studied what my parents thought was best for me”. She chooses engineering at university becoming an electronic engineer. But then she starts feeling like she didn’t belong, that engineering wasn’t exactly what she wanted to do in her life. “I felt I did not belong to that environment”. That’s how she started researching until she found the chance at Oman Air. “I come from a very conservative Omani family and at the very beginning all my family was shocked -Balqees tells me- Opening up was very helpful. We talked and I made them understand my reasons and in the end they gave me their approval. So here we are, two young female pilots from Oman Air”. And a new page, which leads to a future where people will no longer be surprised seeing two very young women flying jets, has been written.