1St Panel Of Young Muslim Women Summit Held

The first day of the Young Muslim Women Summit was held online on Tuesday.

The three-day summit organized by the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) is hosting successful Muslim women from around the world under the theme "Women as the Emerging  Power of the 21st Century".

The first panel of the summit focused on enhancing the participation and leadership roles of young women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life.

The panel -- titled "The female leadership in a highly competitive world in post-Covid era" – was moderated by Ayca Aydogdu, news presenter at the TRT World.

It explored the effects of the pandemic on female leadership and lessons learned.

The panel hosted Yavuz Selim Kiran, Turkish deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzheppar, deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, Merve Kavakci, Turkey's ambassador to Malaysia, and Linda Rama, an economist and spouse of the prime minister of Albania.

It also featured Taha Ayhan, president of ICYF, Aisha Yesufu, co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, and Melek El Nimer, founder of the Unite Lebanon Youth Project.

Rima Sultani Rimu, a member of Young Women Leaders for Peace, could not join the program due to technical difficulties but she sent a video message.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the summit, Aydogdu said: "The aim here today, women as the emerging power of the 21st century will enrich discussions and interaction amongst successful women of different cultural backgrounds to take part in global and local actions and solutions to socio economic problems as challenges."

Yesufu said that COVID-19 has shown us that indeed women have what it takes to be leaders in the world.

"COVID-19 has shown that the women have a role to play. And it is time for us to take our position and stop asking for permission," Yeusufu added.

Speaking on increasing violence against women during the pandemic, Kavakci underlined the importance of education.

"To fight violence, we have to fight ignorance. And we can only eliminate ignorance with knowledge," Kavakci said.

El Nimer also stressed the importance of education for women.

"So you need to educate women to be able to stand on their own feet. And to speak for themselves, and to stand up against anybody who is trying to violate them in any way," she stated.

In his closing remarks, Yavuz Selim Kiran noted that the pandemic has a negative impact on job security for women.

"We must act together to improve employment opportunities. In order to do that effective planning and political leadership are essential," Kiran said.

The program ended with a mini virtual piano concert by Busra Kayikci, pianist and composer.​​​​​​​ -