Queen Rania of Jordan
Queen Rania of Jordan
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordanis the Queen consort of Jordan. Since marrying the now King of Jordan, Abdullah bin al-Hussein, she has become known for her advocacy work related to education, health, community empowerment, youth, cross-cultural dialogue, and micro-finance. She is also an avid user of social media and she maintains pages on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. She has two daughters and two sons and has been given various decorations by governments...
NationalityJordanian
ProfessionRoyalty
Date of Birth31 August 1970
CountryJordan
Social media are a catalyst for the advancement of everyone's rights. It's where we're reminded that we're all human and all equal. It's where people can find and fight for a cause, global or local, popular or specialized, even when there are hundreds of miles between them.
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.
I've learned to take things a little more easily, to be a little more forgiving of myself.
I don't lose sleep over failures. I worry about the successes and how they can be replicated.
My position attracts a fair amount of rumors and gossip and misperceptions, but I'd rather not focus on that.
There are so many misperceptions and stereotypes out there that I would love to see clarified one day.
The job description for a queen changes with the times.
Modernity is not about dress codes.
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.
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?
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.
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.
I work in areas related to child protection and family safety, women's empowerment, the creation of opportunities for youth, and culture and tourism. Daunting? Yes. Impossible? No. In fact, such challenges energize me.
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.