The duch*ess of Cambridge has taken "very impressive early steps", according to the dowager Queen of Jordan, Queen Noor.
Queen Noor of Jordan, 61, who, like the duch*ess, married into royalty when she was in her twenties, said she hoped that "in time" the duch*ess would be an "inspiration to young women – to help them understand the potential they have to contribute to their society and the rights and the legal rights they have."
The duch*ess has been named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine but so far has been cautious in her public speaking roles – speaking for the first time as a member of the royal family this March - 11 months after her wedding. In September she gave her first speech abroad. The queen said that the duch*ess "had already demonstrated an understanding of concept of public service to something larger than oneself". She said: "Over time there will be a range of issues that are UK issues to which I am sure she will contribute."
Queen Noor, 61, who is speaking about women's legal rights at a conference in London next month, was born and brought up in America before she married her late husband King Hussein in 1978, when she was 26.
She was born Lisa Halaby, the eldest child of Najeeb Halaby, a Navy pilot of Syrian descent who was appointed the head of the Federal Aviation Administration by President Kennedy. She grew up in California and Washington and studied architecture and urban planning at Princeton university – graduating in 1974. When asked by the American press in the 1980s what it was like to have been one of the first women to study at Princeton, she replied: "An excellent preparation for living in the Arab world."
She met King Hussein when she was working on development of the Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, when she was 25 and married him the following year (Hussein’s third wife, Queen Alia, had died in a car crash). As a wedding present Hussein renamed her Noor al Hussein (Light of Hussein) and she dropped Lisa Halaby. Queen Noor inherited eight step children and the couple had four of their own – Crown Prince Hamzah, Prince Hashim, Princess Iman and Princess Raiyah.
When her husband died in February 1999 his eldest son, from his first marriage, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ascended the throne. His wife Rania took over from her as current queen consort of Jordan; Queen Noor is the queen dowager of Jordan.
"When I married my husband there wasn’t a precedent [for royal spouses to speak out on political issues]," she said. "As an American returning to the land of my ancestors – the Arab world - I did find myself being drawn into a position of trying to be a bridge to understanding."
Since the start of her marriage Queen Noor has been outspoken on a range of controversial issues, such as the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict (she is an ardent supporter of Palestinian rights) and women’s education and rights.
She said: "The pioneering attempts I made to level the playing fields through education and micro financing were initially met with scepticism by a few with fixed kind sets." But she said her husband "fully supported me and the responsibilties I felt I should assume."
Instead it was the media that held her back. On her first visit to Washington as a queen she was upset that reporters failed to ask her meaningful questions, instead focussing on her clothes and hair. "I hoped to be taken as a credible voice with serious matters to discuss," she wrote in her autobiography. "I could not help but feel like a useless accessory."
Queen Noor of Jordan talking with a landmine victim in Cambodia in 1999. Photo: AP Photo/Richard Vogel
Queen Noor said that it had become easier to "spread ideas" since the advent of social media. She is on Twitter and "manages the account myself".
She credited social media with providing a voice to women especially during the Arab uprising. "Twitter and Facebook have been a catalyst for organising people on the ground, identifying human rights abuses and provide a voice, especially for women, that would not have otherwise been heard. They have helped to held oppressive regimes to account."
She said that social media had also helped "people to understand that women in the [Arab] region are not a subservient, passive, and hom*ogenous group but in fact they represent many different view points."
She said that the rise of Islamic parties in the Arab region was "inevitable and shouldn’t have surprised anyone". But, she continued: "People shouldn’t be too quick to jump to the conclusion that this means a major regression in terms of what women have achieved in the region.
"Often commentators conflate restrictions on women with religion but these are more the result of, even pre Islamic, cultural and patriarchal traditions as well as the struggle between competing interpretations of Islamic teachings. Instead of politicising the issue of women and religion or allowing political parties to, we should look deeper to develop successful and sustainable solutions.
"The primary danger to women’s advancement is not religious, but economic and social, although these motives often hide behind a religious veneer. What I have seen at the community level in my work in Jordan is that where economic development is accessible to communities; where men in those communities enjoy a greater sense of security and where they feel that women are not competing for the same jobs - they are more disposed to recognising the critical role women are needed to play in family and community welfare."
Polls show that men’s support for women’s employment appears to depend not on religious beliefs, but on men’s employment, level of education, and a high score on their countries' human development index.
Part of the work of the Noor Al Hussein Foundation, one of the non-profit NGOs founded by Queen Noor focused on human security challenges in Jordan and the region, is providing loans to micro-entrepreneurs (primarily women) to either start up home-based businesses such as food production, handicrafts and clothing outlets; or to expand their enterprises such as children's nurseries, carpentry workshops, Internet centres, pharmacies and export trading offices.
Along with her work with the NHF, Queen Noor is the president of the United World Colleges movement and an advocate of the anti-nuclear weapons proliferation campaign, Global Zero.
Queen Noor is a key speaker next month at Trust Women, a conference in London about women’s legal rights.
