When will Arab women catch up?

If women ruled the world, there would be no wars, and we would see fat women happy with obesity.

This is a joke. In fact, in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, in Britain Prime Minister Teresa May, and in the United States Hillary Clinton may become president, and a woman may succeeded Ban Ki-moon as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Last year, there were 22 heads of state or government, none of whom were Arabs or Muslims except Sheikha Hasina Wajid in Bangladesh. But among all the women who gave their country, Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka was the first in 1960 and then Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister of India in 1966. I have lived in several Arab countries, but our country has not known any head of state or ministry since its independence in the 20th century. I stayed in London. Margaret Thatcher was elected prime minister in 1979 and interviewed at her headquarters, Downing Street, on the eve of the liberation of Kuwait in 1991.

When I reviewed the figures, I found that Switzerland was the first in the number of women in power. I do not forget Benazir Bhutto, who was twice prime minister in Pakistan and was assassinated in 2007.

I leave history to the historians and go back to this day. I still expect Hillary Clinton to become the first president of the United States, the only remaining superpower in the world, although Lebanon thinks he is competing for first place.

Clinton spoke in 1995, a first lady, at the Fourth United Nations Women’s Conference in Beijing, saying that women’s rights were human rights, and vice versa. In contrast, Merkel’s history does not indicate her focus on the role of women, nor did I find in May such an interest. I finally read that Margaret Thatcher also showed no interest in the role of women in politics.

However, the situation remains encouraging. When Hillary Clinton was appointed secretary of state in Barack Obama’s first administration, there were 25 ambassadors in Washington, including two from Amman and Bahrain. I recall that Bahrain’s ambassador Huda Nunu was Jewish, and the former ambassador to Bahrain in London was Christian, the sister Alice Simeon.

I estimate that less than 60 out of 193 UN member states have seen the rise of a head of state or prime minister, meaning that women have achieved political equality in a third of the world, and again not in any Arab country.

There are a thousand lists and a list of women and their role in this field or that, and I follow the list of “the 100 most powerful women in the world” year after year. The first was Anguilla Merkel, then Hillary Clinton again, Janet Yellin (money and investment) came third, and Malinda Gates fourth. I noticed on the list that many American women are in the top 100 in the technology field, and some are more likely to owe their status to the husband, not to personal creativity or innovation.

In all cases, Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Tolerance in the United Arab Emirates, is 43rd. They have broad knowledge, ability and appreciation of their work in their place. Sister Lubna Al-Olayan from Saudi Arabia is sixty-third and is the daughter of the late Suleiman Al-Olayan, and deserves every honor. She found Raja Issa Al Gurg at the ninety-first place, with two women from the United Arab Emirates in the 100th place.

Arab women are better than Arab men. This is my personal opinion. I am waiting for them to reach the levels of government in our country