MWSN Global Virtual Summit

A ground-breaking global virtual summit featuring some of the leading Muslim women experts in sport. The conference will showcase inspirational women in sport who lead, inform, and display innovative practices across the sport industry. From Sport for Development to Leadership and Athlete Advocacy, the focus will be on a call to action to purposefully pursue and embrace diversity as a critical enhancer to best practice in sport.

Day 1: Friday 4 May: Athlete Activism

There is often debate around the role of an athlete and whether they should speak on issues that concerns them. This session demonstrates the impact of what happens when an athlete uses their position and their voice to shape society for the better. In today's sessions you will first hear from hear from Hajra Khan (Pakistan National Women’s Football Team Captain) and Asma El-Badawi (Basketballer and spoken word poet). The second session you will hear from our keynote speaker, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir about her story and role as an athlete activist.

Day 2: Saturday 5 May: Sport for Development / Community Development through Sport

The first panel will discuss innovation in modest sportswear, overcoming barriers set by sport institutions and how businesswomen and athletes designed, helped design and benefited from this new wave of hijab designs. This session includes ambassador, pioneer and designer of one of the first sports hijab and the inventor of the ‘Burqini’, Aheda Zanetti; and English International Rounders athlete, Dana Abdulkarim sharing their stories and strategies on how their business and innovation has paved the way for other women around the world. The second panel session you will hear from Yasmeen Shabsough (Jordan), Haneen Khateeb (Jordan), Fatuma Abdul Kadir (Kenya) and Hajar Abulfazl (Afganistan) founders, world record breakers and pioneers in the Sport for Development scene and how these incredible women are using sport to champion gender equality, education and peace in their communities.

Day 3: Sunday 6 May: Business, Leadership and Research

This diverse panel of women will talk about their innovations in sport and how they are using their positions to pave the way for future leaders in sport, how they leverage the media, their influence to tackle racism and discrimination, and use a business and research approach to address social issues and affect policy change. The first session you will hear from Amna Karra-Hassan (Australia), Hanna Fauzie (Indonesia), and Lina Khaled Almaeena (Saudi Arabia). The last session of the day will be with Shaheen Bi (United Kingdom).

• Visit the MWSN website for more information and watch the conference here