Emirates Today, November 25, 2011

 

As part of the UAE’s celebrations of the 40th National Day of the Union, Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, President of the General Women’s Union, Supreme President of the Family Development Foundation and Supreme President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, was honored by receiving the “Model Woman” Medal in appreciation of her history and her role and the great achievements made by Her Highness to empower Emirati women and the distinguished role that Her Highness plays in empowering and caring for women’s affairs and issues in various fields.
The honoring of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak came at a ceremony held by the Arab Producers Union of the League of Arab States in cooperation with the White Hands campaign, the day before yesterday, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Yas Island.
Mariam Al-Rumaithi, Director General of the Family Development Foundation, received the “Model Woman Medal”, which is the highest honor granted by the Union to a female figure from the Arab Women’s Media Ambassador, Rehab Zain Al-Din, on behalf of the “Mother of the Emirates “, in the presence of a crowd of women’s and social action leaders and officials in the country.
The Minister of State, Dr. Maitha Al Shamsi, indicated in a speech that was included in a documentary film on the honoring that was shown during the ceremony, that Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak was not only the mother of the Emirates, but she was and still is the mother of the Islamic and Arab worlds, for she feels the pain of any mother in both worlds and is very keen to follow the march of women and their issues everywhere.
She explained that Her Highness Sheikha Fatima’s humanitarian sense goes beyond the borders of geography and the borders of nations to reach the person himself anywhere in the world, and can be closely monitored in Her Highness’s many initiatives to advance the reality of women, through international, Arab and Gulf organizations and through her firm positions in supporting and backing Arab and Muslim women to reach their rights.
The ceremony witnessed the honoring of institutions supporting women in general and Emirati women, such as the General Women’s Union in Abu Dhabi, the Family Development Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council, the Marriage Fund, the Dubai Women’s Renaissance Society, the Dubai Women’s Foundation, the Dubai Business Women Council, the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, and the Women’s Association in Sharjah, the Emirates Businesswomen Council, the Umm Al-Mu’minin Women’s Association in Ajman, the Women’s Renaissance Association in Ras Al Khaimah, the Women’s Association in Umm Al Quwain, and the Dibba Society for Culture, Arts and theater in Fujairah. , The ceremony also included the screening of short documentaries about Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the Model Woman Program, and the White Hands Drama.
The Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Producers, Dr. Mustafa Salama, said, “Today we celebrate this achievement, and we honor the mother of the Emirates, the lady of uninterrupted giving. We present her the Model Woman Medal, in our name and on behalf of every Emirati woman, every Arab woman, and all the women of the earth, as an expression of our great gratitude and recognition of her grace and her pure white hands that have always been tender and nurturing for every achievement, and to achieve the great dream of standing at this historic station, which culminates Work for women by honoring Her Highness and honoring the model Emirati woman.”
While the White Hands Ambassador, Rehab Zain Al-Din, pointed to the great achievements of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, and how Her Highness was and still is a good role model for Arab and Emirati women. She added: “The White Hands campaign, with the encouragement of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima, and the sponsorship of the League of Arab States and the Union of Arab Producers, was able to achieving a large number of achievements, foremost of which is the Model Woman Program, which has become a title for Arab women’s excellence, and a gateway to recording their continuous successes, and had achieved success and with the testimony of all that made it become the first Arab program to dedicate and intensify talk about positive aspects with the aim of urging Arab women to follow the example of the model woman, in all fields.
Arab woman has no better role model than Sheikha Fatima to follow her example, follow her path, and learn from her long and giving path, not only because she is the mother of the Emirates, but also because of the many achievements of Her Highness, and her continuous giving extends in every heart of a woman who once sought excellence and exemplification.
It is noteworthy that the White Hands campaign is the first media initiative of its kind in the Arab world and the world launched by the Union of Arab Producers for Television Works during the Arab Producers Forum held at the League of Arab States – December 2008 under the auspices of the League of Arab States and where it is the largest media campaign that invests in audio-visual and print media and sheds light on women’s issues in the Arab world