Seen Yet Silent: Coaching Arab Women to Lead

A book about Arab women and leadership, written from a coaching perspective

Seen Yet Silent: Coaching Arab Women to Lead looks at the challenges Arab women face as leaders and at how coaching can support them to lead. I co-wrote it with Amal Kooheji, a Bahraini leadership expert.

Its launch at HQ by Hope in Seef was reported by the Gulf Daily News in December 2025, under the headline "Book on challenges faced by Arab women launched".

Who the book is for

The subject of Seen Yet Silent makes it most relevant to a handful of readers in particular.

• ✦Arab women who are leading now, or preparing to lead, and want to understand the challenges they meet.
• ✦Coaches, mentors and HR professionals who support women leaders in the Middle East.
• ✦Managers and executives who want to develop and retain the women in their teams.
• ✦Organisations designing leadership development for women in the GCC.
• ✦Anyone interested in how women's leadership in the Arab world is changing.

Why the subject matters now

Women in the region are highly educated, yet still underrepresented where decisions are made. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025 places the Middle East and Northern Africa fifth of eight regions for educational attainment, at 97.6%, but last overall and last for political empowerment.

At the same time, investment in women's leadership is growing. INSEAD reports that its women's leadership programme with Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University reached around 1,700 Saudi women professionals between 2019 and 2022. That combination of rising opportunity and a persistent gap at the top is the space the book addresses. I explore the public evidence further in the guide to the challenges women leaders face in the Middle East.

How the book connects to my coaching

The book and my coaching come from the same place. I have spent more than 26 years in leadership, HR and talent development, inside multinational organisations and in private practice, and I have seen how often capable women hold back, or are held back, at the point where their careers should accelerate.

In coaching, I do not tell women how to lead. I ask questions that help them see their own patterns, values and choices clearly, in Arabic or English, and in strict confidence. If the themes of the book reflect your own experience, my executive coaching for Arab women leaders is the natural next step. For organisations, I also design a women's leadership programme that combines cohort work with one-to-one coaching.

Questions to reflect on as you read

Whether you read the book on your own, with colleagues or alongside coaching, it helps to read with your own leadership in mind. These are the kinds of questions I ask women leaders in coaching, and they make a useful companion to any reading on the subject.

• ✦Where in my working life do I feel seen but not heard?
• ✦Which expectations about how I should lead have I accepted without questioning them?
• ✦Who knows my ambitions, and who would argue for me if a role came up?
• ✦What would I attempt next year if I trusted my own judgement a little more?
• ✦Which conversation, at work or at home, would change the most if I finally had it?

About the authors

Amal Kooheji is a Bahraini leadership expert.

Rula Husseini is an Executive Leadership and Mindset Coach based in Manama, Bahrain, and an ICF Professional Certified Coach with more than 4,500 coaching hours. Her background spans financial services, FMCG, entrepreneurship and government, and she coaches leaders across Bahrain and the GCC. You can read more about my background and approach.

Where to buy Seen Yet Silent

The book is available on Amazon: Seen Yet Silent: Coaching Arab Women to Lead on Amazon.

If you are an organisation interested in the book's themes for a leadership programme or a women's network event, please get in touch through the contact page.