Panel 10 Self-development and Education Promoting the Hidden Power of Feminine and Masculine

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• published: 28 Mar 2016
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Dr. Moshira Hassan: The role of academic field courses in the personal and professional development of young women Well-designed academic field trips are of such great benefit to the professional and personal development of young women that they should be made mandatory at multiple stages during their education. Courses in environmental and marine biology taught at the American University in Cairo are presented. One course in particular on the diversity of life taught for 7 consecutive years is presented as a case study. The course, which includes a 5-day immersive field trip to Sinai, highlights how certain activities can have a life-changing impact on young women. Students faced new challenges: during the trips they constantly needed to connect theory with real life, to learn at a very high pace, and to apply themselves physically. Doing this in nature opened their eyes to the diversity and beauty of life and of their own country, while instilling a sense of responsibility toward their environment. The timing of these activities is crucial. Strengthening and empowering girls and women is often an uphill battle. If positive messages are not continuously reinforced, girls can easily be left behind as they move from one life stage to the next. But those who do not carry what they gained in capacity and self-esteem from one phase in their lives to the next can still be shown that they can reconcile their new lives (as new university students, graduates, wives or mothers) without sacrificing their voices, dreams or sense of agency. The first year of university is often the first time girls are afforded the space to learn and explore with a measure of independence. Intersecting at this point is crucial to pave the way and open doors rather than to limit options. Bringing young women outside of their comfort zone and outside of the classroom is a key means of accomplishing this. It is the author’s belief that intervening in this way is essential to creating strong, capable and responsible women. If this form of learning is not mandatory, a large proportion of girls will find ways of remaining within the confines they set for themselves or that were set for them by others. About the Speaker: Moshira Hassan is a marine ecologist with over 20 years of experience in the Arabian region, Asia, and the Caribbean specializing in coral reefs and conservation. She has worked in education and capacity building in the widest sense using hands-on experiential learning, modern technologies as well as classical teaching methods. She taught people from a wide range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds ranging from laypeople to illiterate fishermen, university students and professionals. She was an associate professor at the American University in Cairo from 2002 until 2009 where she taught biology, marine ecology and environmental science and is currently teaching at the FreieUniversitaet in Berlin. She is the VP and co-founder of the German branch of Reef Check, an international NGO concerned with the assessment of coral reefs worldwide and one of the coordinators in Egypt. She was elected by Greenpeace as 'one of 100 heroes of the last 100 years' in 2000.