The Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) is hosting a conference entitled “Women and the Sustainable Built Environment: Qatar Prospects.” The event features female architects and engineers and hopes to discuss problems and solutions regarding the built-environment as well as to promote the growing influence of women in the field. Speakers include Kathryn Findlay who founded Ushida Findlay, Rania Khalil, Holley Chant, Paula Boast and Anna Grichting. As a result, the conference will combine diverse experiences ranging from Japan, Egypt, and the United Kingdom, to the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Mohamed Jaber, Head of Education Committee, QGBC said “We are sure that our host of speakers will inspire more women to join the engineering and design streams and be part of building Qatar's future sustainably. At QGBC we aim to foster an environment where the conversation of sustainability grows to envelop the entire engineering community.” According to a United Nations report, women in Qatar have participated more in the labor force in recent years. The labor force participation rate for Qatari and non-Qatari women grew from 35.2 percent in 1997 to 37.6 percent in 2001. The figure for Qatari women only, grew from 22.3 percent to 27.5 percent over the same time frame. Yet female employment continues to be concentrated in occupations such as teaching (56 percent) and clerical work (26 percent). The report notes that almost all women are employed in the service sector and only a small number work in other sectors, especially industry, business and finance. As such, this initiative by QGBC could promote diversification of female employment in the country. The conference will take place at Qatar Foundation Student Center, Education City in Doha over the course of one day. It will be a collaboration between QGBC, Qatar University, NAWIC and the Royal Institute of British Architects-Gulf Chapter (RIBA). The conference hopes to attract students, design professionals, construction consultants, commissioning bodies, clients, advisors, and architectural enthusiasts. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/2HNzd Tags: Architects, Building, Engineers, Going Green, Women Section: Going Green, Latest News, Qatar, Women
