November 8th, 2016: Students, faculty and staff at Canadian University Dubai (CUD) have been celebrating the power of women and girls at TEDxDeiraWomen, an independently organized event sponsored by the University and hosted by Dubai Chamber.
Under the theme ‘It’s About Time’, the gathering was held to coincide with the global TEDWomen conference that took place in San Francisco from October 26th-28th. TEDWomen is a three-day event that brings together a global community to discuss and celebrate the power of women and girls.
TEDxDeiraWomen is a gender-neutral initiative, encouraging both female and male participants to engage and to bring forward a balanced and open debate. The motivation behind the event was to provide a platform for those men and women who are making positive changes to share their experiences and give the audience an opportunity to learn as well as exchange ideas.
Emcee for the day’s program of debat was Sustain Leadership co-founder, Hanane Benkhallouk. The CUD delegation first heard from keynote speaker, Consul Gwendolyn ‘Wendy’ Green, from the United States Consulate General in Dubai.
Proceedings continued with a sequence of thought-provoking talks by nine speakers, some of whom came in from as far as Tokyo, New York and London. Talks were split up into three sessions and topics under discussion included battling depression, living up to societal expectations, the impact of role models, changing mental perceptions, male privilege, relationships, healing childhood wounds and risk.
The audience in attendance was equally as diverse as the speakers themselves, ranging from diplomats to students. The event was highly interactive and provided the opportunity for participants to exchange ideas and to review the topics that were being explored by the speakers, further adding to the overall discussion.
The day was organized by a group of passionate volunteers who strongly believe in TED’s mission and wanted to showcase talent from the region and beyond to further contribute to the global dialogue. CUD is proud to have taken part in such a positive social initiative.
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