This House believes the family is a major obstacle to reform in the Arab world
Tuesday May 30 2006
MOTION PASSED
by 51% to 49%
Speakers
Hayfa Matar
Speaking for the motion
Hayfa Matar is about to take up the position of Assistant to the President of the 61st Session of the United Nation's General Assembly in New York. She will be working for Bahraini Royal Court adviser, Shaikha Haya Al Khalifa, who will be the next President of the General Assembly.
Since March of this year, Ms. Matar has been working for the Bahraini Foreign Ministry as Second Secretary, Minster's Office. Before taking up that post, she worked at the Bahraini embassy in the United Kingdom as a researcher to the Ambassador's office. She has also worked as an investment banking analyst, Industrials Group, for J.P Morgan in New York.
Ms. Matar studied physics and economics at the University of Virginia in the USA before moving to the UK to carry out a Masters in Politics of the World Economy at the London School of Economics.
Ibrahim Al-Khulaifi
Speaking against the motion
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khulaifi is a psychologist and expert in the field of education and family psychology. He recently retired as professor at Kuwait University where he taught educational and developmental psychology. For more than six years he served as the first General Secretary for the Supreme Council of Education in Kuwait.
He is currently the Director of the Psychometric Center, a private center in Kuwait which provides consultation and training in the area of behavioral modification. He is a frequent lecturer in his fields of interest on education and psychology and social reform, with special focus on the areas of self development, parenting and ways of raising children, and the author of several books on Educational Psychology. Dr. Al-Khulaifi also appears regularly as a guest on several television channels in the Middle East.
Dr. Al-Khulaifi is the co-founder of several public and private schools in Kuwait and the Middle East and was the CEO of the Institute for Private Education (IPE) for more than 10 years. The institute is considered one of the biggest private educational corporations in the Gulf region.
He is a certified counselor from both the Family Therapy Institute and the Reality Therapy Institute in the United States. He received his M.A. from Michigan State University, and his PhD from Ohio State University.
Mohammad Al Rumaihi
Speaking for the motion
Dr. Mohammad Al Rumaihi is a professor of political sociology at Kuwait University. He has written extensively on the subjects of political sociology, social change in the Arabian Gulf region and the changing culture of the Arab world. He is the author of more than 20 books and more than 200 articles on the subject.
Dr. Al Rumaihi's previous positions include Head of the Department of Sociology and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters at Kuwait University. He was also Editor in Chief of the Kuwaiti magazine Alarabi and General Secretary for the National Council of Culture, Art and Letters of Kuwait. He has been an advisor to private institutions as well as to several committees on education, information, culture and politics within the government of Kuwait. He writes articles for a variety of newspapers throughout the Gulf including Alwasat, Alnahar, Alraya and for Alhayat based in London.
Dr. Al Rumaihi has a PhD in Political Sociology from Durham University, England.
Islah Jad
Speaking against the motion
Dr. Islah Jad is a lecturer on gender issues and politics at the Women's Studies Institute and Cultural Studies Department of BirZeit University in the West Bank. She is also a consultant on gender issues to the United Nations Development Programme and co-author of the UN's Arab Development Report on Women's Empowerment which is due to be published this year.
Dr. Jad has advised several Palestinian government departments on gender rights and awareness. She has written books and papers focused on the role of women in politics, Palestinian women and the relationship between women, Islam and NGOs. Dr. Jad joined BirZeit University in 1983 and is a founding member of their Women's Studies Program. She has been an evaluator for Save the Children Association projects in Gaza and from 1996 to 1998 she was a board member of the Palestinian Commission for Human Rights.
She received her Doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in 2004.
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