Effectiveness of Leadership Education on Female Tertiary Muslim Students of United Arab Emirates (Joining virtually)

The education level and career orientation of Muslim females have always been a matter of debate around the world. Muslim women are found less educated as compared to the women in most other religious groups and lag further behind in making their own career separated from their male partners (McClendon et al, 2018). As mentioned by Dr. Haaifa Jawaad in her book, The Rights of Women in Islam: An Authentic Approach, the Quran commands all Muslims, to read, think, contemplate, and pursue knowledge, regardless of gender, and education has been encouraged as a religious duty for both males and females by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) (Jawaad, 1998). In spite of no restrictions from the religion side, the possible reasons for the learning gap could be the economic condition of Muslims in countries like Pakistan and India where due to lack of resources, male children get privilege. It could be the misuse of religiosity to suppress women like in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran or the conditions of the war zone countries like Palestine and Syria.

United Arab Emirates (UAE), a fast developing country and an advocate of women’s rights and education, gives place to the people from all around the world. A typical classroom of a home to around two hundred nationalities is mostly a mixed nationality classroom. This research is an attempt to check the effectiveness of leadership education on female tertiary Muslim students of UAE. These Muslim female students will not only build up their own lives and careers but can also help females of their home countries by setting up examples in front of them. The same model can be applied to other less developed and suppressed set-ups. The study investigated the effectiveness of a student leadership program at a private college in Dubai having hundred percent female Muslim population. As a part of the course students were asked to fill the Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Inventory (EILI), 2 nd edition, based on which the frequency distribution of them was determined across the Inventory. The students with good scores across nineteen capacities of EILI were interviewed to know their perception about the course to get its effectiveness.

Bushra Parveen Muzzaffar Hussain is a researcher and educator working in the United Arab Emirates for seventeen years. In addition to her degree from Aligarh Muslim University, India, she has recently completed her Master of Arts in Education (Coaching and Mentoring) from Middlesex University, London. Currently, she is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Curriculum and Instruction) from International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia. She has gained a wide range of experience from administration to teaching at tertiary level. She has presented in international conferences and has been published in peer-reviewed journals. She considers mentoring her two daughters as her biggest achievement.