Dr. Rola Dashti, known as “the strong woman with a will of gold”, was appointed as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), replacing the Iraqi Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Hakim.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterich, placed his trust in the Kuwaiti doctor’s impressive career in economics and her applaudable, furious struggle for gender equality.
Dr. Rola Dashti is an economic expert and a strong activist in the field of women's rights and gender equality. Before getting appointed to UN, she was a member of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development in Kuwait. Her career spans on many impressive levels, as she was assigned to the portfolio of the Ministry of Planning and Development in Kuwait, and between 2012 and 2014, she served as the Minister of State for the Affairs of the Kuwaiti National Assembly.
In addition to that, Dr. Dashti held high positions in research, development, and finance institutions, such as the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, the National Bank of Kuwait, and the World Bank.
The Kuwaiti woman is the receiver of many degrees from prestigious universities, including a Ph.D. in population dynamics from Johns Hopkins University, a master's degree in economics and finance from the Californian University Sacramento, and a Bachelor of Agriculture Economics from California State University.
Dashti is considered to be the first woman to hold a position within the Kuwaiti National Assembly among four women, and has contributed massively through her activism to issue a decree that allows Kuwaiti women to vote and run in the parliamentary elections.
