It is all too easy to draw conclusions and make sweeping judgments about millions of Muslim women based on fleeting television images. That is not right.
My position attracts a fair amount of rumors and gossip and misperceptions, but I'd rather not focus on that.
I don't believe that there is fair enough understanding of either our status as women or the total context of our lives, which is very rich and multi-faceted.
There are so many misperceptions and stereotypes out there that I would love to see clarified one day.
The hardest [part] is some of the misperceptions that are leveled against me as a person and against Muslim women.
I don't believe there is a clash between cultures. I believe there is a clash between perceptions of each other.
Muslim women must stand up and speak out about who we are, what we believe and where we are going. I think we need to know that our counterparts in the west are also willing to listen and reciprocate.
The job description for a queen changes with the times.
The youth are the catalysts for real change.
Polls show that Arabs admire a lot of the Western values, cultural aspects in the West. It is more about policies than about way of life.
Modernity is not about dress codes.
Women in Jordan are participating in all aspects of civil as well as political life - as female judges, parliamentarians, businesswomen. And the evolution will continue. This is not something that happens overnight.
Extremism is not endemic in my region, nor is anti-Western sentiment. No doubt there is discontent and distrust. That is towards more the American and some Western policies, and not toward the American people.
My role models are people who can do things; I say to myself, "I wish I could do that." Like women who endure hardships and turn their luck around and bring up children on their own and start a business. Or a social worker who leaves his country, his comfort, his friends, and goes far away to help people he doesn't know. I want to evolve into that, ultimately. I want to be that person who could sacrifice everything for others.
I don't know if I'd put labels on myself, but I do feel that when women are empowered, they have the power to transform society.
First of all, in many Muslim countries women have incredible amounts of freedom, sometimes more than in some countries in Europe. So you cannot just make a generalized statement about women. Second, Islam is not the problem. It's tradition. It's culture. It's age-old mind-sets that need to be changed.
The more time goes on, the closer I am to the ground. I've been exposed to so many issues and people living under different pressures. It's helped me realize that a lot of glamorous things that people prioritize really don't matter.
Twitter's a great way to tell people across the world what I care about and, hopefully, motivate them to join me in furthering my causes. It's also a fantastic medium to hear the ideas and opinions of people I might not otherwise get to meet.
It's about using social media for social change: creating a community of advocates who can use their voices on behalf of the voiceless, or leverage their talents, skills, knowledge, and resources to put more children into classrooms, or pressure their elected representatives to get global education top of the agenda.
Of course, I tweet. Tweeting is a very personal form of expression. Who else could talk about my son refusing to wear a suit to meet the Pope, my husband flying a helicopter, or take a twitpic from our home?
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