EAA Youth Series: Al Anoud Al Kuwari

I am Al Anoud Al Kuwari, a senior majoring in International Politics at Georgetown University Qatar. I think what defines me as a person is my curiosity, I love learning everything and anything regardless of the subject. Since high school, this curiosity pushed me to read every book that I could get my hands on and try out every project/program that came my way. My constant involvement in everything even became a running joke between my family and friends, where they point at random things and say “Anoud probably helped in that.” At no point though was I passionate about the programmes that I took on, as I was simply interested in acquiring new skills and knowledge. Nor did I work on initiating a project of my own, even though my mind was bursting with ideas. All of that changed when I came across a part time job advertisement for Women of Qatar, and I applied to it thinking that it was simply a new experience to try. Over time the project grew on me, and I became determined to fulfill its goals and vision.

The job that I applied for entailed curating content for a website dedicated to highlighting successful Qatari women, this meant identifying leading female figures in the society, interviewing them, and writing about them. ‘Women of Qatar’ was born out of a need to represent the achievements of Qatari women to the public, a sphere that is mostly dominated by males. This gap in the Qatari cultural discourse is understandable though, as many Qatari women are uncomfortable with media interactions that would put them and their work under the spotlight. That does not mean that women have been completely ostracised by local media; just that they have been under-represented. The repercussions are twofold: hard working women often feel unrecognized (a statement that many of our interviewees has expressed) and young girls lack relatable sources of inspiration. To remedy this discourse appropriately, Women of Qatar documented oral interviews conducted with Qatari women and published them online.