The Women’s Affairs Unit at the College of Engineering organized the “Women’s Leadership in the Food Industry” Festival on Sunday, December 15, 2025, under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Dr. Ilham Ali Al-Anouz, Head of the Unit, in cooperation with the Women’s Affairs Division of the University Health Affairs Department.
The festival was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Ziyad Tareq Abd Ali, Assistant Dean for Scientific Affairs and Postgraduate Studies, in the presence of Asst. Prof. Dr. Osama Abdulmunem Al-Tamimi, Head of the Department of Architectural Engineering; Dr. Zainab Hadi, Director of the Women’s Affairs Division at the University Presidency; Mr. Issam Nasser, Director of the Follow-up Department at the University of Baghdad; Mr. Kazem Dhuair, Director of the Follow-up Department at the College; in addition to a number of faculty members and students.
The festival included two main components. The first featured an exhibition highlighting women’s creativity and their active role in home-based food production, encouraging women’s entrepreneurship in the food sector as a pathway to economic empowerment and support for small projects. The exhibition showcased models of food products presented by Iraqi women from the College of Engineering and its academic departments.
The second component comprised a scientific seminar entitled “Women and Food: Culture and Sustainable Nutrition”, delivered by Asst. Prof. Dr. Ilham Ali Al-Anouz, Engineer Fadila Saadoun Jabbar, Asst. Lecturer Hafsa Amer Jassim, and Asst. Lecturer Istabraq Shawqi Abdul Bari. The seminar included four discussion papers addressing diverse topics, such as women and cooking as cultural heritage, food interactions and vitamins and their role in enhancing women’s health, urban planning and sustainable food toward healthier cities, and women’s entrepreneurship in the food industry and its role in economic empowerment.
The festival activities also included awareness poster presentations on women’s nutritional health, presented by the Department of Electronic and Communications Engineering, highlighting the importance of health awareness within the university community.
