ÎPTÎSAM AXFÎR

Benghazi-Marwa Al-Urfi worked for a private company for a while to establish her own company on sun energy after graduating from the department of English Literature and Language at Benghazi University. She took many courses to learn more about solar energy. After the courses, she has managed to carry out many projects and she becomes the first person producing energy from the sun in her country. We spoke to Marwa Al-Urfi about her works and discrimination against women in business. Stating that there is a competition between men and women in business, Marwa pointed out that successful women are considered enemies by men.

“All mobbing methods are used on women”

Successful women in business are under pressure, Marwa said, “I can say there are approaches that see successful women as enemies and harass them. All mobbing methods are used on women. These approaches sometimes lead to harassment. Some women have to leave their jobs due to harassment they face. They worry about what society will talk about them. Women don’t talk about the harassment they face and this encourages men. No one talks about the reasons that cause women to leave their jobs.”

“Generators caused two percent of deaths”

Marwa talked about her project. In summers, more long hours of power outages occur, “People have to use generators for providing electricity. I launched my project about this problem. Power generators can be dangerous. Last year, two percent of deaths were caused by power generators. All victims were women and children. The generators are also dangerous for nature because they cause noise pollution.” Marwa advises people to use solar energy instead of power generators.

“Solar panels last 15 years”

Marwa decided to produce solar energy because Libya has received sunlight for four seasons. Her project has been already registered by the Benghazi Chamber of Commerce, Trade, Industry, and Agriculture as an economic activity in the field of renewable energy, and her project is the first of its kind. Marwa told us that using solar power panels more economical and healthier than generators, “The solar panels last 10 or 15 years.”

Call on women who want to work in this field

Marwa’s biggest supporter is her father. She told us that she will produce the solar energy panels soon to light Derna and Benghazi cities, “It is a big project because if you want to produce solar energy panels, you have to establish a glass factory. Marwa wants to create employment for women in Libya. She calls for solidarity to all women who want to work in this field.