February 2021 www.womanthismonth.com 46 PEOPLE | interview much purer form of politics as you're really dealing with people's day-to-day education, their transport, small businesses, their health. It's the things that really affect people and that's why I ended up running for city council. That's how I started. “Also, the Arabs in my city are all residents of the city and they're under my municipality as well. I have a big motivation today to develop East Jerusalem and bring prosperity and better job opportunities and close social gaps, which there are. There's a good population of Jewish people who are very marginalised economically, the ultra-orthodox, and then we have the Arabs who are also marginalised economically. I want to close those gaps. “A big part of my family development work is in East Jerusalem and creating more opportunities and quality employment for the Arabs.” “I've always believed in giving a voice to the people who have difficulty finding their own. In Jerusalem, it's the marginalised populations who need support the most. I'm a big believer in equal opportunity, give children equal playing fields; that's Arab children, ultra-orthodox children, Ethiopian children. These are the children who have less opportunity than, maybe, the other children. And so, I want everybody to have the same opportunities that I can give my children.” LEVEL PLAYING FIELD As well as championing minorities Ms. Hassan-Nahoum is an outspoken advocate for women saying that despite equal rights being enshrined in Israeli law, equality of opportunity and representation still have some way to go. She is particularly keen on the promotion of good role models for women and girls allowing them to visualise their future in top-flight roles both in politics and elsewhere in society. “I think, in general, we have equal rights, but sometimes we don't have equal opportunities and the opportunities don't just come from the fact that a woman can run for office whenever she wants,” she says. “Opportunities also come from role modelling [so] women see that women can be leaders. I'm big into the idea that little girls should see females in key political positions.” Having seen no images of female societal leaders alongside the men on the walls in her daughter’s school, she launched a successful social media campaign which resulted in more than 250 schools agreeing to show images of Israel’s female chief justice and the female governor of the Bank of Israel. And she adds, with feeling: “I do believe that we'd have much more peace if women were the leaders. Absolutely, a hundred percent, I believe that that's it.” Ms. Fleur with Bahrain Journalists Association President, Ahdeya Ahmed.
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