The Sky is NOT the Limit:

PGN Roundtable

The Sky is NOT the Limit: The Power of Female Entrepreneurship

Nyenrode University, Breukelen, The Netherlands

June 25-26, 2010

Discussion Proceedings

The Sky is NOT the Limit: The Power of Female Entrepreneurship Friday, June 25 1:30-2:30 LIGHT LUNCH

3:00-5:00

Welcome Session and Introductions

Désirée van Gorp, Director of International Department, Director of International MBA & Associate Professor, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, The Netherlands

Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor, The World Bank

Opening Remarks

Maurits van Rooijen, Rector Magnificus and CEO, Nyenrode University

Key Note Speech

Anousheh Ansari, Co-Founder and Chairman of Prodea Systems, first female private space explorer

5:00-6:00

Networking and Book signing

“My Dream of Stars” by Anousheh Ansari

6:30-8:00 DINNER AND TOUR OF NYENRODE UNIVERSITY

Saturday, June 26 7:30-9:00 BREAKFAST

9:00-9:20

Goals and Format of the Roundtable

Session will present goals and history of PGN, format of the day's discussions and objectives of the Roundtable.

Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor, The World Bank

9:20-10:30

The typography of the PGN countries is diverse and the priorities for action are very different. The two panels will discuss education, which impacts on different types of empowerment, with a particular emphasis on economic empowerment through employment and entrepreneurship.

Panel 1: Skills, Education and Empowerment

Chair: Guity Nashat, Professor, Department of History, University of Illinois

Azadeh Kian, Professor of Sociology & Director of the Center for Gender and Feminist Studies, University of Paris 7-Diderot

Talajeh Livani, Consultant, The World Bank

Marie José Alting von Geusau, Director, Center for International Legal Cooperation

Nargess Tavassolian, PhD candidate at SOAS University of London

Panel 2: Employment and Entrepreneurship

Chair: Maurits van Rooijen, Rector Magnificus, Nyenrode University

Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor, The World Bank

Djamshid Assadi, Prof. of Strat. Marktg, Group Business Management ESC Dijon

Roya Kashefi, Head of Human Rights Committee, Assoc. des Chercheurs Iraniens (ACI)

Banafsheh Rastar, PhD Candidate, Economics & Law at Universite Paris II Pantheon

Azadeh Pourznad, presenting on behalf of The Entrepreneurship Development Foundation for Women and Youth

Rapporteur: Talajeh Livani, Consultant, The World Bank

10:30-11:40

11:40- 11:50 BREAK

11:50-13:00

Empowerment varies from one group to another in each country. The panel focuses on the one hand on economic vulnerability, and on the other hand, on emerging sectors that provide women with new economic opportunities and empowerment.

Chair: Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor, The World Bank

Panel 3: Economic Vulnerability and Social Protection

Parvin Alizadeh, Senior lecturer in Economics at London Metropolitan University

Baquer Namazi, Co-Founder of Hamyaran, Local Development Resource Center

Azita BathaÏe, PhD candidate, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

Daria Nashat, Consultant, Formerly at Stability Pact

Panel 4: Emerging Fields and Issues for Women’s Work and Entrepreneurship

Anna Vanzan, Researcher, PhD in Near Eastern Studies from NYU

Jane Lewisohn, Project Manager, Golha Project of the Iranian Heritage Foundation

Rapporteur: Banafsheh Rastar, Candidate, Economics & Law at Universite Paris II Pantheon 1:00-2:00 LUNCH

2:00- 3:30

The media plays an important role in women's economic empowerment. In an age of knowledge, access to timely information and data can be key determinants of women’s success, as women are not yet as well integrated into networks of power and decision-making. Across countries the media perpetuates gender stereotypes. The panels discuss first the role of the media and then how closer collaboration with European partners advances women's economic empowerment.

Chair: Désirée van Gorp, Director of International Department, Director of International MBA & Associate Professor, Nyenrode University

Panel 5: Role of Media to Exchange Knowledge on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Opportunities

Kelly Golnoush Niknejad, Founder of Tehran Bureau hosted by PBS Frontline

Shahzoda Nazarova, Researcher, writer & multimedia journalist

Panel 6: Cross-Country Collaboration and European Context

Maurits Berger, Professor of Islam in the West at Leiden University

Baquer Namazi, Co-Founder of Hamyaran, Local Development Resource Center

Rapporteur: Azadeh Pourznad, Women’s Policy Journal of Harvard Kennedy School 3:30-3:45 BREAK

3:45-5:00

Closing Remarks & Next Steps

Roundtable will set out priority actions for further work among the participants and outside partners.

Chair: Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor, The World Bank

5:00-6:30

Special Program (Optional)

Screening of “The Glass House”

Documentary about Program to Empower Young Disadvantaged Iranian Women, Omid Foundation

6:30-7:30

Free Time 7:30- 10:00 CLOSING DINNER

PGN Roundtable

The Sky is NOT the Limit: The Power of Female Entrepreneurship

June 25-27, 2010

Proceedings

Thirty scholars, experts, and practitioners travelled from across Europe to attend the first European Roundtable of the Persian-speaking and Persianate-societies Gender Network (PGN), held at Nyenrode Business University in Breukelen, the Netherlands. Jointly hosted by the Tunis-based Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), The World Bank, and International Department of Nyenrode Business University, the Roundtable explored the power and potential of female entrepreneurship and leadership.

PGN focuses on women’s economic empowerment in the three Persian-speaking countries—Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. Its mission is to establish a link and be a focal point among practitioners, researchers, academicians, civil society, policy makers, and advocates in these fields, so that they can capitalize on their collective knowledge and synergize each other’s work and efforts. The Network was established with funding from the World Bank in 2004 and is administered by CAWTAR.

The purpose of the June Roundtable at Nyenrode was to develop the Network in Europe. PGN previously held two similar events at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government (Cambridge, USA), which identified issues related to women’s employment, self-employment, and entrepreneurship as priority areas for PGN’s work program.

The Nyenrode Roundtable addressed the economic potential and challenges of women in the three PGN countries and drew on the research and experience of representatives from the expatriate communities and their European counterparts. Participants acknowledged the diversity of the three countries but also highlighted their common features that are relevant to women’s status and opportunities. They pointed to the impact of education and skill-building on women’s economic empowerment, particularly through employment and entrepreneurship. They discussed the possible economic vulnerabilities of women in PGN countries and identified emerging sectors that provide women with new economic opportunities. Additionally, they highlighted the critical role of the media and communications tools in expanding women’s economic knowledge and awareness, access to networks, and showcasing of successful role models. Lastly, the event emphasized the importance of across borders collaboration.

Opening Session

Mrs. Nadereh Chamlou (Senior Advisor, The World Bank) and Dr. Desiree van Gorp (Professor and Director of the International Department, Nyenrode Business University), welcomed the participants. Dr. van Gorp stressed the importance of gender topics for Nyenrode, which intends to expand gender-related themes within the business education.

Dr. Maurits van Rooijen (Rector Magnificus and CEO, Nyenrode Business University) described the mission of Nyenrode and the importance of leadership and entrepreneurship in a changing world. He highlighted that diverse, multicultural teams do better than monocultural teams. And, in the long run societies that embrace religious, gender, racial and other types of diversities outperform closed and monocultural ones. Research shows that this applies to businesses, organizations, and entire nations. Though badly governed multicultural environments can be dysfunctional, and there is always the temptation to fall back into a monocultural comfort zone, leadership is the defining factor in reaping the benefits from diversity and multiculturalism.

Development of leadership has been a central mission of Nyenrode since its establishment in 1946, when the post-World War II business leaders decided that a new generation of entrepreneurs, businesspeople and leaders were needed to meet the needs of a new era and new ideals. Over decades the concept of leadership has evolved at Nyenrode, recognizing that leadership education goes beyond the mere acquisition of technical knowledge and analytical skills, but includes what is called ―contextual intelligence.‖

In the 1970s Nyenrode opened its doors to women and continues to be an important center for the development of women’s leadership in the business sector. In 2010, Nyenrode established two scholarships for students from the Middle East to pursue and international MBA degree. It is keen to award these to high-potential women.

Mrs. Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-born self-made serial entrepreneur and the first female self-funded private space explorer, was the keynote speaker. Mrs. Ansari has earned a place in history as the fourth private explorer ever to visit space, the first Iranian-born and first Muslim woman astronaut. Mrs. Ansari is the founder of Prodea Systems, a company whose vision is to simplify people’s complex digital lifestyles and facilitate easy interactions within their communities through creative solutions for media industry, service providers, and households.

Mrs. Ansari shared her personal story of being born and raised in the city of Mashhad in Eastern Iran before immigrating to the United States at the age of 16. As a child, she had always dreamed of space travel—an unrealistic dream for a woman from her origin, as the space programs are mainly government driven. Her key message for the members of the audience, and especially the women members, was to make sure to have dreams and

goals, and even stretch goals, to pursue related interests, and, most importantly, not to shy away from talking about them with people one meets. She said that sharing her interests with people she met was instrumental in guiding her step by step in the direction and to people that helped her to fulfill her dream.

Mrs. Ansari talked about the Ansari X prize, which offers US$10 million to the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. The prize is modeled after early 20th-century Orteig Prize, offered by the entrepreneur Raymond Orteig and won by Charles Lindbergh to make the historic cross Atlantic flight. This step launched commercial air travel and revolutionized the world we live in today. The Ansari X Prize aims to spur the development of low-cost spaceflights. Mrs. Ansari explained that the reason behind the sponsorship is that space provides vast opportunities to meet some of the key challenges faced on earth, for instance use of certain production processes that may contribute to global warming on earth. The high cost of space travel, puts these opportunities out of reach. She sees her role as an entrepreneur to be that of causing to transforming science into technologies for commercial use, so these can then transform our everyday lives and advance humankind.

She also touched on a spiritual impression that her space travel had left with her. From space, the planet looks peaceful with no borders or demarcations to separate people and justify wars and disputes–a small and only place for mankind to live, and how important it is to live peacefully and equitably. And, this is another message and mission she wants to work on.

The Roundtable proceeded with six panels to discuss the opportunities and obstacles of entrepreneurship for women in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and the relevant expatriate communities abroad.

Panel 1: Skills, Education, and Empowerment

Chaired by Dr. Guity Nashat (Professor of History, University of Illinois), the first panel focused on available data and information on the status of women and gender equality in the three Persian-speaking countries. Dr. Nashat highlighted that while women have made great progress on human capital fronts, the low growth of these economies, and particularly so in labor intensive sectors, such as manufacturing, impacts overall job growth and the demand for women workers, in particular. Traditionally, though, women have been economically active and worked throughout the ages. They were extensively engaged in trade, in the production of tradable goods (such as agricultural products, spices, jewelry, textiles, carpets, etc), and in provision of services across professions, particularly to other women. The tradition of women entrepreneurs, businesswomen, and even women investors is deeply rooted in Islamic societies and the cultures of the region,

which is well documented in historical texts. As such, women have always played a critical role in the economies of their societies, a back-bone so to say, and the issue of women’s work beyond the home is not a recent phenomenon. This said, today’s women have acquired new competencies and skills, which are important for long terms economic diversification and international competitiveness, and efforts must be made to integrate them more effectively into economic policies and activities.

 Professor Azadeh Kian (University of Paris 7-Diderot), shared the latest findings of her research on intra-regional gender disparities in Iran (these findings will be released shortly). She documented the progress made in various education and health indicators including female literacy, fertility, and marriage patterns and pointed out the differences that persist among ethnic groups in rates of progress on these indicators. The challenge now is how to integrate the hard-to-reach groups and the hard-to-reach regions into this process of development.

 Ms. Talajeh Livani (The World Bank, Middle East, and North Africa Region) presented the latest gender equality statistics for Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, comparing these with various developing-country and world averages in the areas of women’s health, education, and economic and political participation. Each of the three Persian-speaking countries shows strengths in different areas. In Iran, for instance, women have made considerable progress in health and education; in Afghanistan, the progress has been noteworthy on the political front, with one of the elected women parliamentarians in the world; and in Tajikistan, women’s labor force participation is the highest among the three. Hence the three countries exhibit vast differences and have considerable scope for learning from each other.

 Ms. Marie Jose Alting von Geusau (Director, Center for International Legal Cooperation) addressed the question of whether laws change societal attitudes, or whether societal attitudes demand a change in law. She stressed that cross-country experience has highlighted that both go hand in hand, with improvements in human capacity and institutions being necessary to achieve sustainable improvements in attitudes. She argued that the enactment of non-discriminatory laws can constitute substantial steps towards gender equality, but that these laws must then be appropriately implemented, and need to be accompanied by significant deliberate interventions and programs to change attitudes—particularly when concerning the role of women in society.

 Ms. Nargess Tavassolian (PhD candidate, SOAS-University of London) discussed the role of the dowry as an economic tool for women. The dowry is an agreed financial amount that a woman receives from her husband at the time of marriage, as stipulated in the marriage contract. The amount is negotiated and can be demanded by the woman at any time during the marriage, but it certainly must be paid to the woman at the time of divorce. The dowry provides women with leverage within marriage and some financial security after the marriage.

Research also shows that women are taking this facility more seriously. Unlike earlier generations of women who set notional and symbolic amounts and asked for the dowry only upon divorce, an increasing number of women ―cash in‖ the dowry during the marriage and use it as seed money to invest and/or set up independent income earning activities.

 Participants in the floor discussion remarked on aspects of women’s increasing empowerment, such as the link between female education and labor force participation as well as the changing role and authority of young females within families, noting that the younger generation is much more informed and assertive than previous generations.

Panel 2: Employment and Entrepreneurship

The second panel, chaired by Dr. Maurits van Rooijen, highlighted the findings of several studies on women’s employment and entrepreneurship in the region.

 Mrs. Nadereh Chamlou presented findings from a study on women’s entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that provides lessons relevant for the Persian-speaking countries even though they do not explicitly featured in the study. The study highlighted that women’s entrepreneurship in MENA is more prevalent than expected and that female-owned firms are as large, as old, as sophisticated, and as diverse as male-owned firms. They also hire on average more women, and particularly so in professional and managerial jobs. As such, women’s entrepreneurship is an effective tool for creating economic opportunities for women. On average, women entrepreneurs face more barriers than male entrepreneurs, but not necessarily in the areas commonly expected, such as access to and cost of finance. The study shows that laws and regulations in the business environment are largely gender-neutral, but societal and legal institutions outside the business act as greater barriers.

 Dr. Djamshid Assadi (Group Business Management, ESC Dijon) posed the question of whether improving the elements of empowerment, such as education and jobs, would by itself bring about empowerment. Discussing his research findings on women’s employment in Iran, he argued that the official statistics do not represent women’s overall employment, and that informal sector employment accounts for a significant portion of women’s work. He argued that progress in various development indicators such as women’s education must be followed by legal and political reform to ensure that progress towards women’s empowerment is not ―caged in.‖

 Ms. Roya Kashefi (Head of the Human Rights Committee, Association des Chercheurs Iraniens—ACI) presented an overview of legal and cultural obstacles to women’s employment and entrepreneurship. Based on the findings of a recent

Internet survey carried out by ACI, Ms. Kashefi pointed out the importance of financial independence and job security for women in the 20-29 year cohort in Iran. She stressed that Iran’s population structure creates an urgency to address policies and attitudes, because maintaining the status quo would undermine economic security for families. Ms. Kashefi also stressed that based on studies and evidence, Iranian traditions and culture were accepting of and welcoming societal change and transformation, and are not opposed to women’s equality and equitable access to opportunities.

 Ms. Banafsheh Rastar (PhD candidate in Economics and Law, Universite de Paris II- Pantheon) reported on research concerning women’s employment in Iran, giving information by region and sector. Agriculture and carpet weaving are the major sectors for women’s work in rural areas while the education sector accounts for a larger share of women’s employment in urban areas.

 Ms. Azadeh Pourzand (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University) presented the findings of a report on women entrepreneurs in Iran that was prepared jointly by Mrs. Firouzeh Saber (founder of Enterprise Development Foundation for Women and Youth), one of the pioneers on women’s entrepreneurship. Mrs. Saber’s report presents case studies of successful self-made women entrepreneurs in diverse sectors. It highlights various individual, educational, organizational, and environmental obstacles and opportunities faced by women entrepreneurs and ways and procedures they applied to overcome hurdles. A common thread through their stories is that the support from their families, particularly spouses, was essential to their success. The report further outlines the areas and process of capacity building for women entrepreneurs and highlights the need to establish support networks both domestically and internationally.

 Participants in the floor discussion raised questions on the methodologies/classifications of women-owned enterprises used in the World Bank’s enterprise surveys, the estimated share of the informal sector in women’s employment, and the interplay between top-down and bottom-up forces and players in women’s economic empowerment.

Panel 3: Economic Vulnerability and Social Protection

The third panel, chaired by Mrs. Nadereh Chamlou, focused on developing an understanding of the economic vulnerabilities of women in Persian-speaking countries. The panel also focused on ways to plan and provide effective social protection mechanisms, with the ultimate goal of facilitating women’s economic empowerment.

 Dr. Parvin Alizadeh (Senior Lecturer in Economics, London Metropolitan University) spoke about the development of social protection and resources

available to disadvantaged and marginalized women. She traced the growth of state expenditures on social security. Various public and quasi-public organizations in Iran have put in place considerable social protection schemes that provide specific benefits to widows and female headed households.

 Mr. Baquer Namazi (Co-founder of the Iranian nongovernmental organization Hamyaran) spoke about the importance of using innovative tools to efficiently fight poverty with an emphasis on women’s economic empowerment. There is a growing body of experiences from low and middle income countries, which provide practical and innovative interventions on issues of gender and poverty. This cross-country experience would be useful in rethinking approaches. He emphasized that PGN can make valuable contributions to pro-poor initiatives by leading CSOs by (a) working closely with policy makers and practitioners on the broad theme of placing research at the service of poor and deprived women, and (b) bringing a sharp gender focus to action programs that are evolving.

 Ms. Azita Bathaïe (PhD candidate, Paris West University, Nanterre La Défense) explained the findings of her PhD dissertation regarding the migration of Afghans from the frontier of Iran towards Europe. She described the informal networks, based on family relationships and friendships, that Afghan migrants form to support one another. Within these networks and relationships, the support of brothers to sisters, particularly in funding their education, is an interesting and increasingly important factor, which highlights a cultural change in the way brothers see their intra-household role – moving from protecting and controlling sister’s ―honor‖ to championing and facilitating their sister’s opportunities.

 Ms. Daria Nashat (former consultant with Stability Pact) spoke about the experiences of refugees and minority groups in the former Yugoslavia and the lessons these yielded for refugee communities within and from Persian-speaking countries. She divided these lessons into three categories: (1) empowerment through women’s self-advocacy, (2) empowerment through women’s access to property and productive tools, and (3) empowerment through strategic regional cooperation in which women’s issues are integrated into the agenda. She also commented that there were no differences observed between Muslim and non-Muslim refugee communities in the former Yugoslavia.

The floor discussion generated further questions about various aspects of economic vulnerability, social protection types and delivery channels, and prospects for improving and developing these mechanisms. A question was asked whether there was a difference in provision of social protection to female headed households, differentiating whether it was headed by a widow or a divorced/single woman. Research from other MENA countries shows that social protection schemes see families of widowed women as more deserving of public support, than families of

women who never married, divorced or were divorced—implicitly reflecting a gendered value system that the latter should/could be under the protection of a man.

Panel 4: Emerging Fields and Issues for Women’s Work and Entrepreneurship

The fourth panel, chaired by Nadereh Chamlou, discussed the rise of literature and the arts as an important and growing area for women’s self-employment and entrepreneurship.

 Dr. Anna Vanzan (Expert in contemporary fiction produced by Iranian women) presented her research about the state of women’s publishing in Iran. Her survey shows that women publishers do not feel professionally discriminated against on the basis of their sex. Exploring the correlation between women publishers and women’s empowerment, the research shows that women publishers have catered to the growing women’s readership caused by expanding literacy across all classes and raising women’s education attainment. They are on the frontline of articulating female voices from across social classes, values, and experiences. The research suggests women publishers are engaged in works that shape culture, role models of women within the indigenous, and well rooted in local culture and society. Concurrent with this progress, women have also been in the wholesale and retail side of the book business. The size of the market, the increase in outlets, and the lowering of publishing costs has also given rise to a growing of women authors, poets, translators that generate the much needed content.

 Jane Lewisohn (Project Manager, Golha Project of the Iranian Heritage Foundation) spoke about the impressive project she has conducted in past years to catalogue Persian classical music. As one of the world’s experts on Iranian music arts, she gave an overview of the historical difficulties and opportunities of Iranian female performing artists in performing and presenting their work both historically and today. Despite the difficulties and challenges, women have been active and made some of the most enduring contributions to the arts and cultural scene. In recent decades, women have made considerable inroads into sectors, which were previously male dominated, such as composing, song writing, and producing.

 The floor discussion further elaborated on, for instance, the progress made in other art forms such as painting, sculpture, and photography, and cinematography, in which Iranian and Afghan women artists have emerged in large numbers, leading to a sizeable and profitable sector which reaches out to international audiences.

Panel 5: Role of Media to Exchange Knowledge on Women’s Economic Empowerment

The fifth panel, chaired by Professor Desiree van Gorp, focused on the role of the media in portraying women and their economic progress.

 Ms. Kelly Golnoush Niknejad (Founder, Tehran Bureau) discussed the creation and development of Tehran Bureau as a primary source for news on recent developments in Iran. Within this service, special attention is paid to highlighting the progress of women in all social and economic spheres in order to create greater awareness of possibilities, exchange of experiences, and role models. In addition to the task of greater information exchange, women have progressed in various aspects of journalism, ranging from reporting, anchoring, to the business side of the news – being often at the forefront of experimenting with new technologies and reporting techniques.

 Ms. Shahzoda Nazarova (researcher, writer, and multimedia journalist) discussed the role of mobile systems in women’s economic empowerment in Tajikistan. She showed that mobile phones have been effective tools for the creation and expansion of businesses owned by Tajik women. In general and as part of a worldwide experience, advances in technology open up women’s horizons. Advocacy groups have effectively spread lessons learnt in the design new programs in connecting the hard-to-reach groups and locations.

Panel 6: Cross-Country Collaboration and European Context

The final panel, chaired by Dr. Desiree van Gorp, focused on the challenges of moving from successful participatory projects to the importance of cross-border cooperation for advancement in gender equality.

 Mr. Baquer Namazi (Co-founder, Hamyaran) made a brief presentation on role of Europe in promoting South-South Cooperation around livelihoods development for poor women. He made reference to the work of SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association), which had collaborated with Afghan women on a joint project to develop skills of Afghan women to enable them to have sustainable employment opportunities. He listed a number of activities which could be of interest to European donors and foundations. These included documentation of good practices of South-South collaboration for combating poverty among women, such as the SEWA model in Afghanistan, create coalition of training and research institutions and CSO practitioners and develop new and innovative funding mechanisms

 Professor Maurits Berger (Professor of Islam in the West, Leiden University) discussed the thinking of European partners in promoting women’s economic

empowerment in the Muslim World. A critical question was posed about the tactics of supporting women’s empowerment: should Western partners emphasize in their dialogue equal human rights and the integration of women into the economy or society, or should they support separate efforts for women’s economic empowerment, even if they may be stand-alone and in a segregated manner? Given women’s economic rights under Islam, efforts to realize women’s financial opportunities regardless of the environment could draw useful lessons from the success of, and interest in, Islamic finance, whereby Islamic tenets can be effectively applied to innovate and expand the size and importance of the sector.

 The floor discussion welcomed the ideas presented by the last two panels. On the latter presentation about the tactics, participated commented that both approaches are necessary and should not be mutually exclusive. While it is important for international partners to explore practical means to advance women’s economic empowerment, it is also important to reflect in their dialogues the broader issues of women’s rights as equal citizens.

Conclusion: Follow-Up and Continuing Work Program

Mrs. Nadereh Chamlou summarized the key next steps and follow-up actions. Despite their centrality to the issue of empowerment, women’s economic rights and opportunities are relatively overshadowed by the more vocal advocacy about women’s human and political rights. Nonetheless, it was clear from the presentations and discussions that in countries served by PGN (a) a great deal of work and research is being carried out on various dimensions of women’s economic rights and opportunities; (b) an important element of women’s empowerment and economic security is in fact to promote their capacity and ability for self-employment and entrepreneurship, given the reality of low job growth and high unemployment; (c) there is a growing trend for women to forge careers and businesses in new fields that previously had few women, such as various disciplines within the arts, technology, publishing, and service sectors; (d) the number of women entrepreneurs is both growing inside and outside the PGN countries and so is the need to broaden their networks and to connect with and among them; and (e) European partners can play a growing role to support the above through knowledge transfer and funding.

Mrs. Chamlou then talked about PGN’s recent developments and demonstrated its newly launched website and particularly its e-library, which aims to be a repository and focal point for research and literature about various aspects of women’s empowerment and, particularly, economic empowerment. She invited the participants to visit the site and upload their papers or books.

She concluded by summarizing some of the ideas that had emerged during the discussions as areas for joint work:

 Exploring areas of joint research to highlight economic opportunities and challenges. (One of the suggestions was to produce a comprehensive paper on women’s economic rights under Islam.)

 Building a directory of women entrepreneurs inside PGN countries and women from PGN countries abroad.

 Developing a roster of expertise and competencies across PGN members and their organizations for ease of collaboration across PGN.

In closing, to highlight and demonstrate women’s economic vulnerabilities, the documentary film: “The Glass House” by the Omid Foundation, was screened. The film is about a group of disadvantaged adolescent girls from marginal communities, who have been raised in economically difficult and socially risky environments, and the efforts of a NGO to guide these girls through their daily struggles and to educate them for a more sustainable and responsible life.

Guests of PGN Roundtable

The Sky is NOT the Limit: The Power of Female Entrepreneurship

Nyenrode University, Netherlands

June 25th-26th, 2010

Guests of PGN Roundtable

The Sky is NOT the Limit: the Power of Female Entrepreneurship

Nyenrode University, Netherlands

June 25th-26th, 2010

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it PARVIN ALIZADEH

Senior Lecturer of Economics, London Metropolitan University

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ANOUSHEH ANSARI

Co-Founder and Chairman of Prodea Systems, and

First female private space explorer

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it DJAMSHID ASSADI

Professor of Strategic Marketing, Group Business Management ESC Dijon

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AZITA BATHAÏE-

PhD Candidate, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

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MAURITS BERGER

Professor of Islam in the West at Leiden University

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NADEREH CHAMLOU

Senior Advisor, Chief Economist for the MENA Region, World Bank

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Program Assistant

World Bank

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MARIE JOSÉ ALTING VON GEUSAU

Director, Center for International Legal Cooperation

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Director of International Department, Associate Professor, Nyenrode Business Universiteit

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Student, Universiteit van Amsterdam

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Researcher, The Central Office for Statistics(CBS)

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MASOUMEH KANGARANI

Lawyer, Loyens & Loeff N.V.

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Head of Human Rights Committee, Association des Chercheurs Iraniens (ACI)

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Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Gender and Feminist Studies, University of Paris 7-Diderot

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JANE LEWISOHN

Project Manager, Golha Project of the Iranian Heritage Foundation

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TALAJEH LIVANI

Consultant, World Bank

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Researcher, promotes the exchange of knowledge among female artists in Iran

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Visiting researcher, Gender Studies Research Center, Groningen University

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it BAQUER NAMAZI

Co-Founder of Hamyaran, Local Development Resource Center

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Professor, Department of History, University of Illinois

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Consultant, formerly with Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it SHAHZODA NAZAROVA

Researcher, writer and multimedia journalist

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it KELLY GOLNOUSH NIKNEJAD Journalist, Founder of Tehran Bureau hosted by PBS Frontline

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it AZADEH POURZAND

Editor, Women’s Policy Journal Harvard Kennedy School of Government

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it BANAFSHEH RASTAR

PhD candidate in Economics and Law, Universite Paris II Pantheon

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it MAURITS VAN ROOIJEN

Rector Magnificus and CEO, Nyenrode University

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it NARGESS TAVASSOLIAN

PhD candidate, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ANNA VANZAN

Researcher, PhD Near Eastern Studies from New York University

MARJOLIJN VAN OORDT

Director, Capital BV

PGN Roundtable - The Power of Female Entrepreneurship - Nyenrode University, Breukelen, the Netherlands June 25-26, 2010.

Conference Documents:

Conference Agenda - The Sky is NOT the Limit-Agenda

Conference Report - PGN Report June 2010

Conference Participant - PGN Roundtable Participants

Progress and Status of Women in the Middle East and North Africa Region - Nyenrode gender overview september 2009

PGN

The Sky is NOT the Limit:

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