Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees and Supervisor General of Effat University, Jeddah, attended the two-day conference on “Women in Business International Forum: The Role of Women 12 years on,” held at BEER Conference Center, London. Princess Loulwa delivered a keynote address at the welcoming session on Tuesday, which was attended by more than 100 prominent women engaged in business and politics and NGOs, government and nongovernmental organizations and moderated by Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, Vice-President of Middle East Association. There were ten other Saudi delegates at the conference. Congratulating the ‘Women in Business Initiative' on its 12th anniversary for their achievements, Princess Loulwa focussed, first, on two factors which contributed to women's vulnerability during this economic downturn. “The first is the continued marginalization of women's status in most of the world. This is reflected in the recent statistics issued by the WTO that show that women own only one percent of the world's wealth, have a 10 percent share in global income and occupy 14 percent of leadership positions in the private and public sector. Of the 1.4 billion people living on less than $1 a day, 70 percent are females. Women do two-thirds of the world's work, but earn only 10 percent of the income. Women produce half of the world's food, but own just one percent of its land. Approximately, two-thirds of the 900 million adults worldwide who are illiterate are women. These statistics show that women are more likely than men to be in vulnerable jobs, under-employed or even jobless,” she said. “The second factor is the marginalization of women's voices in discussions that affect the policies dealing with this crisis. Most governments are focusing on banks and other financial giants, while ignoring children's and women's voices in general; and business women in particular. Both of these issues hinder women's abilities to effectively participate in solving economic problems and actively discourage them from tapping their financial wealth,” Princess Loulwa explained. She also spoke about empowering women, saying, “Empowering women economically provides the primary means of lifting entire families, communities, and countries out of poverty; because women in both rich and poor countries are more likely to prioritize spending their income on food, education, and healthcare for their children – subsequently giving families a permanent escape from poverty.” Princess Loulwa added, “The empowerment of women is not necessarily dependent on the geographical or socio-economic status of each nation. Rather, it is a reflection of a nation's vision and its progressive perception of women in leadership positions.” The leader of the Saudi delegation at the International Conference at London, Princess Loulwa cited the example of Saudi Arabia. She said, “There has been a steady but slow increase in Saudi woman's entrepreneurship.
