Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel, the wife of Saudi Prince Alwaleed and chairwoman of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, received the “Woman Personality of the Year 2012” at the 11th 'Middle East Women Leaders Awards' ceremony held in Dubai.

The award, which coincided with International Women’s Day, was presented to the princess by Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State, on behalf of The Middle East Excellence Awards Institute envisaged by Datamatix.

Ali Al Kamali, the managing director of Datamatix, said the award was given in recognition of Princess Ameerah’s contributions across the globe for women empowerment and leadership through her work at Alwaleed Foundation.

After receiving the award at a glittering ceremony held in Hotel Armani, Ameerah said she was dedicating the award 'to all those women who strive to earn their rights, to the hardworking teacher who travels far distances each morning, giving all that she has to educate students so her own children are fed at night, to the divorced woman fighting in court to secure a safe home for her children, to those women who crossed all the barriers and are saving people’s lives through their medical research.'

'To all of the women achievers who were not given the attention or appreciation, each and every one of you deserves to be the woman of the year,' the princess said while delivering her acceptance speech before an audience of women leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals.

She concluded her speech saying women empowerment was not merely legislation and job creation but more importantly that empowerment is derived from family support, encouragement, and trust.-TradeArabia News Service