Team of project “Developing Intercultural Competencies for Female Engineers” held a panel discussion on the challenges facing female engineers in the engineering profession, funded by Culture for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace (CUSP), and implemented in partnership between engineers at Northumbria University and Islamic University of Gaza .
The panel discussion was conducted electronically via Google Meet application, in the presence of: Engineer Ms. Amani Al-Maqadma – the project manager, Prof. Dr. Hatem Al-Aydi – a member of the project team, and a group of male and female academicians from various disciplines in the faculty of Engineering in the two universities.
Ms. Al-Maqadma welcomed the attendees, introduced the project and its objectives, and indicated that the panel discussion is the first of the activities implemented in this project, which aims to increase intercultural awareness among engineering faculties in the north and south of the world, discuss the challenges facing females in the engineering profession, exchange personal experiences, and addressing the common issues facing women and placing them at the required level in the fields of engineering.
Next, both teams started the panel discussion separately.
Prof. Al-Aydi explained the technique of the story-telling circle in which they exchange stories about the challenges and risks they face in the engineering profession. He then opened a discussion panel between male and female academicians by asking them questions and then taking notes.
After completing the panel discussion between male and female academicians in each university, both participants from the two universities networked and communicated, and discussed the most important challenges they face in teaching within the Faculty of Engineering.
The panel discussion concluded that there are common challenges for male and female academicians in engineering faculties in Gaza, Palestine, and Newcastle, Britain, especially with regard to the difficulty resulting from gender differences and the different roles of women. However, these challenges differ in their details due to the different surrounding environment in Gaza than in Newcastle, Britain.
It is worth noting that another panel discussion is held in May 2022 to complete work on studying challenges and mechanisms for improving multicultural capacities and abilities of female academicians.
