Every year the BBC, the UK’s leading broadcast corporation, names the 100 most influential and inspiring women from around the world. This year, women who have set trends and led changes in the context of the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have been especially highlighted.

Among the top 100 Women , the Syrian illustrator, friend and collaborator of the Al Fanar Foundation, Nadine Kaadan, the Moroccan rapper Houda Abouz or the journalist and filmmaker Waad Al Kateab for her documentary film “Para Sama” stand out. We tell you who these women are.

Nadine Kaadan

Nadine is a well-known children’s book illustrator and writer. Born in France in 1985 to Syrian parents, she graduated in Fine Arts from Damascus University in Syria and earned a Master’s in Illustration from Kingston University in the UK. Her books have been published in various languages ​​and distributed in many countries. Nadine affirms that her mission is to defend the representativeness and inclusion of all children in her books, so that everyone can see themselves reflected in a story.

He has published 15 books, of which “Leila answer me” was awarded by the Anna Lindh Foundation in the category of Best Fiction Book for children with special needs. She has also been awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal and the British Arab Center for Culture Award in 2019. Her other books include Tomorrow and The Jasmine Sneeze , which address Syria’s rich cultural heritage and children’s traumas. refugees from the current war that the country has been going through for almost 10 years.

Houda Abouz

Also known as Khtek (little sister in Moroccan Arabic) is a new rap star in Morocco. Born in 1995 in Tetouan and a film graduate from the Abdelmalek Esaadi University, Houda became internationally known for her song De ella KickOff , a rap that is highly critical of the prevailing sexism in Moroccan society today. Her lyrics deal with the injustices and inequalities suffered by women in Morocco, and she understands rap as a tool to fight against patriarchy, create awareness and spread the need to fight for a society where women are equal to men.

Houda Abouz: “Our fight has just begun and we are all this world needs: the power of women. She continues to fight, create, resist ”.

Sarah Al Amiri

Born in Dubai in 1987, Sarah Bint Yousif Al Amiri began her career at the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology, working on DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2, at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and at the World Trade Dubai Center. 

Nadeen Ashraf

Born in 1998 in Cairo, Nadeen Ashraf is a student of Philosophy and Political Science at the American University in Cairo and a feminist activist. She is the creator of Assault Police, an initiative that seeks to eradicate machismo in Egyptian society.

Iman Ghaleb

Iman Ghaleb Al Hamli is the director of a microgrid of 10 women that manages a solar energy plant supported by the United Nations Development Program. The grid produces electricity from a clean, renewable source just 20 miles from the front lines of Yemen’s devastating civil war, a war that is severely damaging the country’s precarious infrastructure and has left millions without electricity, water and other resources. of people. 

Waad Al Kateab

Born in Aleppo in 1991, she is a Syrian journalist, filmmaker and activist. She studied economics at the University of Aleppo, she began her career as a journalist at the beginning of the civil war in 2011, where she decided to stay to tell the world about the war from within. She was honored with numerous awards, including the Emmy Award for her coverage of the Battle of Aleppo in 2016. Her feature debut “Para Sama” won the Bafta Award for Best Documentary, the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, the L ‘Œil d’or for best documentary at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary film of the year 2020.

Waad Al Kateab: “ We only lose when we lose hope. To all women, no matter where you are: keep fighting for what you believe in, dare to keep dreaming, and above all, never give up hope.”