WUNRN
Qatar
Armed Forces gets first woman Colonel
8/14/2007
The Peninsula
|
Col
Sumayya Hassan Nasser Al Rashid |
-Qatar
DOHA
• Sumayya Hassan Nasser Al Rashid has become the first Qatari woman to be
promoted to the rank of a Colonel at the Qatar Armed Forces. She currently
heads the Internal Diseases Section at the Medical Services Department of the
Armed Forces.
Talking
to Al Sharq, Sumayya said the confidence that the Qatari leadership has given
to women in the country has helped her reach this high position.
She
said she was happy that the Armed Forces have expressed their confidence in her
abilities and treated her as equal to her male counterparts.
"
I reached this position through my dedication and hard work," said
Sumayya.
Before
20 years she joined the Armed Forces as an Officer and that was the last year
of her study at the medicine faculty of the King Saud University in Riyadh.
Then she graduated and was promoted to Second Lieutenant in 1998 and to First
Lieutenant in 1991.
In
2003 Sumayya was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and finally became
Colonel on August 1 this year.
Asked
how her family responded to her career, Sumayya said, "I am from a
military family and most of the family members are working in the army. I got
tremendous support and encouragement from my father as well as brothers."
"The
relatives were also not a problem to me at all. I joined the Hamad Medical
Corporation for training and then joined the medical services unit. The
situation in the country is changing in favour of women. Society's perception
about women has changed a lot. I have noticed this personally. When I took part
in my first military exercise in 2002, I was the only woman participant. I felt
as a stranger in that environment. In the exercise that took place ahead of
Asian Games in 2006, I was in a very prominent position and I led the entire
medical team."
She
added that the medical services unit at Qatar Armed Forces has been witnessing
a steady growth and development under the guidance and support of the Chief of
Staff of the Qatari Armed Forces H E Major General Hamad bin Ali Al Atiyyah.
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