Mariam al-Mansouri ( ar, مريم المنصوري; born 1979), is the first female fighter pilot of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. She was one of the first women to join the

United Arab Emirates Air Force The United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية والدفاع الجوي الاماراتي, al-Quwwāt al-Jawiyah wa al-Defa' al-Jawiy al-ʾImārāty) is the air force of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), part of the U ...

(UAEAF) academy, graduating in 2007.Emirati Woman Who Reached For The Skies
The National Staff, '' The National'', 10 June 2014. She flies an

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

and led UAE mission airstrikes against

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

over Syria.ISIS Fight: Mariam Al Mansouri Is First Woman Fighter Pilot for U.A.E.
Erin McClam September 25, 2014 Charlene Gubash and Ayman Mohyeldin NBC News 2014

Early life and education

Al-Mansouri is one of eight children. Her family is related to

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori is an Emirati engineer who was the Minister of the Economy of the United Arab Emirates from 2008 until 2020. Biography Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and managemen ...

, an engineer and politician in the UAE. In an interview with ''Deraa Al Watan'' magazine, she said that her family supported her career goals, but she had to overcome gender stereotypes along the way. It helped that she had finished high school with excellent marks.Meet the Female Pilot Who Led Airstrike on ISIS
Sep 25, 2014, SUSANNA KIM Good Morning America, abc news She earned an undergraduate degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

from

United Arab Emirates University United Arab Emirates University (UAEU; ar, جامعة الإمارات العربية المتحدة) is a public research university located in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. It is the oldest university in the United Arab Emirates. It was esta ...

Career

Al-Mansouri served in the army before starting in flight training. She attended the Khalifa bin Zayed Air College of the

for pilots, graduating in 2007.UAE’s female fighter pilot leads airstrikes against ISIL
UAE The National, September 25, 2014 She received the Mohammed bin Rashid Pride of the Emirates medal for excellence in her field. Before the Syrian airstrikes, al-Mansouri was profiled in ''The National'', an Abu Dhabi newspaper, in June 2014. In July 2014,

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

interviewed her about her career in the UAE Air Force. She said she aspired to become a pilot since high school, but had to wait until women were permitted. In the meantime, she earned her degree and worked for the army general staff in other capacities.

2014 military intervention against ISIS in Syria

The United Arab Emirates were among the five Arab allies that joined the United States in the

2014 military intervention against ISIS in Syria The American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War refers to the American-led support of Syrian rebels and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during the course of the Syrian civil war, including Operation Inherent Resolve, the active m ...

in 2014 to defeat ISIS forces, and were first to participate. In an interview with MSNBC,Mariam al-Mansouri, la femme pilote des Emirats qui dirige les frappes en Syrie
Clément Daniez, 26/09/2014,

L'express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

Yousef Al Otaiba Yousef Al Otaiba ( ar, يوسف العتيبة) is the current United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States and Minister of state. Previously Al Otaiba served as non-resident ambassador to Mexico. His father is Petroleum magnate Mana Al Ot ...

, Emirati ambassador to the United States, recounted that when U.S. Air Force tanker pilots radioed in to speak with the UAE mission during

air refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...

and heard al-Mansouri's voice, they were initially surprised and silent for a short time. Al Otaiba called her a "fully qualified, highly trained, combat-ready pilot". He regards al-Mansouri as a role model for women in Islamic and Arab states. Al Otaiba said, "I think it's important for us moderate Arabs, moderate Muslims, to step up and say: 'this is a threat against us'". ''

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wit ...

'' and ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

'' referred to al-Mansouri's reception in

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

where she had been dubbed ''" Lady Liberty"'' and ''"nightmare of the ISIS fighters"''.Kampf gegen IS-Miliz „Lady Liberty“ fliegt Luftangriffe auf Dschihadisten

Christoph Sydow Christoph Sydow (February 11, 1985 – 1 June 2020) was a German journalist who worked for ''Der Spiegel'' as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East. Life Sydow had been interested in political journalism from an early age, often carrying ar ...

FAZ 26/9/2014 ''Spiegel'' used the title ''"Operation Wüstenmaid"'' (Operation ''Desert Maiden''). The German news source started a sort of PR campaign. The

Arab states of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...

used her example and the involvement of Saudi prince Chalid bin-Salman, pilot of an IDS

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inter ...

, against extremism.Kampf gegen IS als PR-Offensive: Golfstaaten starten Operation Wüstenmaid
Spiegel von

26.09.2014 Some statements in a broadcast of

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

's '' The Five'' about al-Mansouri were deemed

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

by international media. The next day,

Eric Bolling Eric Thomas Bolling (; born March 2, 1963) is an American television personality, conservative political commentator, author, and financial commentator. He has occupied numerous roles as a commentator on financial issues for television, most no ...

, co-host of the early evening talk show, apologized for his remarks. ''

Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman.

'' remained skeptical about the "

femme fatale A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...

". Al-Mansouri's involvement in the aerial missions may have brought the UAE positive media attention. ''The Times'' referred to the actual mixed record on women's rights and the UAE ranking tenth in a list of 22 Arab nations with regard to equality for women.Femme Fatale Female Arab pilot sticks it to Jihadists Mariam al-Mansouri, the UAE’s first female pilot, is leading strike missions against Islamic State targets
Itamar Sharon September 26, 2014, timesofisrael

References

External links

Mariam Al Mansouri fanpage on Facebook

* ttps://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/lady-liberty-101.html "Lady Liberty" - Albtraum für den IS, 27.09.2014(Nightmare of the IS) on

Tagesschau (Germany) ''Tagesschau'' (German for ''Review of the Day'') is a German national and international television news service produced by the editorial staff of ARD-aktuell on behalf of the German public-service television network ARD. The main edition of ...

, the most watched news program on German television
MP3 of the contribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansouri, Mariam 1979 births Living people Aviation pioneers Women aviators People from Abu Dhabi Women in warfare post-1945 United Arab Emirates Air Force officers United Arab Emirates Army officers Asia Game Changer Award winners