WEF annual meeting: Women participants steal the show
DAVOS: Women’s participation touched record high at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) this year - at 22% compared to 21% in 2018.
They were present at most of the 350 sessions on six critical dialogues, including geopolitics in a multi-conceptual world, the future of the economy, industry systems and tech policy, risk resilience, global institutional reform, and human capital and society.
‘WELL-BEING’ BUDGET
Taking a leaf out of Bhutan’s gross happiness index, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government will replace traditional methods of measuring economic growth and development with a “well-being” budget that promotes the health of the people and the planet.
“What greater threat is there to our well-being than the current threat of climate change?” she pointed out during a session.
‘I LOVE BOLLYWOOD’
“I love Bollywood movies, one day I’m going to make one,” said Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour, who won the WEF’s Crystal Award.
Films were considered immoral and banned in Saudi Arabia when she was a kid, so she grew up secretly watching them at home.
“It made me feel I was part of a bigger world.. . It made me be able to challenge things,” said al-Mansour, who directed her first film using a walkie-talkie from a van.
Saudi Arabia lifted its 35-year ban on film screenings in 2018.
WORLD’S BEST TEACHER
Andria Zafirakou teaches art and textiles at Alperton Community School in the inner-city borough of Brent in London, where an overwhelming 85% students from ethnically-diverse poor immigrant families speak English as an additional language.
Zafirakou, the 2018 winner of the Global Teacher Prize, spoke on making education inclusive by promoting cohesive classrooms.
Education must be inclusive, she said, adding, “There shouldn’t be any barriers preventing children from having access to quality education.”