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I remember when the wave of Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek and these beautiful Hispanic women came into light, and I looked up to them and I loved them, but I was like, 'Where are Middle Eastern women?'

The Middle Eastern woman is sophisticated; she is modern. She knows fashion more than anyone else, and she is really sexy, and she does know how to live fashion, and I think we can all learn from each other.

As a Western woman in the Middle East, I am often put in a different category. I am sort of like the third sex. I am not treated like a man. I am not treated like a woman. I am just treated like a journalist. That is usually really helpful.

Contrary to popular view, I've never been patronized in the Middle East. Men maybe treat women differently, but they do not treat them with disrespect. They don't hate women. It's a very different kind of mentality.

I consider myself to be an international woman.

Here's a notion: Peace in the Middle East would come about more easily if the region were governed by women.

I'm not an elected official who puts a finger in the wind to see what the majority thinks; I represent women, whether they're popular or not.

I'm half Egyptian, and I'm Muslim. But I grew up in Canada, far from my Arab roots. Like so many who straddle East and West, I've been drawn, over the years, to try to better understand my origins.

I am now concerned with women's issues in a different way: women from Afghanistan, from Cambodia.