Queen Noor of Jordan ’73 talks women, injustice

Women are the key to progress in the Arab world, Woodrow Wilson Award winner Queen Noor of Jordan — formerly Lisa Halaby ’73 — said during Alumni Day on Saturday.

The award is given annually to an alumnus or alumna who embodies the ideals former University President Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, set forth in his speech,"Princeton in the Nation's Service."

With training, education and economic opportunity, women become capable of stabilizing nations and radically increasing GDP, she said. She added that microfinance allows women to play an active role in their communities.

“No strategy that marginalizes women can succeed: To stifle their rights, hamper their work and to deny their contributions not only demeans women but also women’s progress,” she said, adding thatshe noticed in her work that women have extensive experience with reconciliation and nurturing peace.

The primary problems that prevent women in the Arab world from receiving their rights are in fact social and economic, she said. However, these problems are often presented in religious terms, she added.

Addressing a belief that Islam is the reason for misogyny in the Arab world, Queen Noor noted that seventhcentury Islam allowed women political, legal and social rights that were unheard of in other countries. Current practices seen as coercive are not mandated in the Quran but are holdovers from pre-Islamic social culture, she added.

“Women are not simply a special category of problems to be addressed or ignored — they are the key to the solution,” she said.

Queen Noor also addressed the economic and political prospects of Arab youth. A majority of the population in the Arab world — about 60 percent — is under the age of thirty, she said, adding they face one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

State-based tyranny will also continue until a government based on the rule of law is created, she said.

“ISIS or ISIL/Daesh are neither Islamic nor a state,” she said.

The difficulty in addressing extremism is that the majority of the money spent in military and humanitarian aid often lines the pockets of leaders, she explained. The interventions of the United States in Arab countries such as Syria serves only to strengthen militants’ convictions, she added.

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Education and human rights reforms are essential to peace and development, she said, adding that when force must be used, it should be within the confines of international law.

“Missiles may kill terrorists, but good governance kills terrorism,” she said, adding that uprisings that have occurred across the Middle East show promise for the eventual emergence of good governance.

Queen Noor also discussed her time before attending the University and her time at the University.

When she arrived on campus, one of her first aspirations was to join the Peace Corps, she said, adding her experience marching with Martin Luther King Jr. was a defining moment in her life. She pursued a major in architecture and urban planning, which she said exposed her to a number of different ideas and people.

The lecture took place in Richardson Auditorium at 10:30 a.m.