Zeinab Elobeid Yousif
زينب العبيد يوسف
1st Arab, African and Sudanese Female Aircraft Engineer
Born
Zeinab Elobeid Yousif

1952
Khartoum, Sudan
Died19 March 2016, 63
London UK
NationalitySudanese/British
OccupationAircraft Engineer
Years active1978 to 2002
Known for1st Arab, African and Sudanese female Aircraft Engineer
Notable workAvionic communication / navigation / & radar

Zeinab Elobeid Yousif (1952 – 19 March 2016[1]) (Arabic: زينب العبيد يوسف), was a Sudanese aircraft engineer. She was the first Sudanese woman to be licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority in the United Kingdom. From July 1973 until May 1992, she worked with Sudan Airways, after which she relocated to the United Kingdom.

Yousif studied and worked in the fields of electronics, avionic communication, navigation and radar. She worked as ground engineer on diverse aircraft such as the Boeing 707 / Boeing 737 / 347 / Fokker 50 and Fokker F27 at Sudan Airways and later also on Cessna 402 / 404 / 208 & Beach craft 1900 at London Southend Airport.

Early life

Yousif was born in Khartoum on 13 June 1952. She was the oldest daughter of Elobeid Yousif Ahmed Shidwan,[1] a well-known and respected businessman and Asma Elobeid Ahmed Shidwan. Both her parents came from religious backgrounds.

Yousif grew up in the village of Oum Dawwaban (Arabic: أم ضوّاً بان) known for its religious school for boys where people from across Sudan and sub-Saharan Africa send their children to learn classical Arabic and study the Quran.

During her youth in the 1960s, Sudanese culture was considered patriarchal and hostile towards women wanting to study and work in technical fields such as engineering. Yousif graduated from highschool thanks to her father's encouragement. Yousif studied electronic engineering at Khartoum Polytechnic, now the University of Science and Technology, from 1970 to 1973.

Career

She first worked as an aircraft engineer in the radio workshop in maintenance and repair for Sudan Airways. From 1983 to 1986, she studied Avionics and Aerospace Engineering at Brunel Technical College in Bristol, UK, where she received her license from the Civil Aviation Authority. In the 1990s, she earned a Master of Science degree in Advanced Manufacturing Systems from Kingston University, London.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 ﺷﻀﻮﺍﻥ, ﺯﻳﻨﺐ ﺍﻟﻌﺒﻴﺪ ﻳﻮﺳﻒ. "انتقلت الى الرفيق الاعلى بالعاصمة البريطانية لندن ﺯﻳﻨﺐ ﺍﻟﻌﺒﻴﺪ ﻳﻮﺳﻒ ﺷﻀﻮﺍﻥ ﺍﻭﻝ ﻣﻬﻨﺪﺳﺔ ﻃﻴﺮﺍﻥ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻮﺩﺍﻥ -". www.nadus.de. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  2. ↑ The translation of the Arabic webpage in ref 1 reads: Zainab Al-Obeid Youssef Shadwan is the first female aeronautical ground engineer in Sudan and even in the world at large. Sudanair sent her in 1983 to study aeronautical engineering in Britain, and she received a master's degree from Kingston University as the first woman in the world to obtain this degree in 1995, when the field of aviation engineering was the preserve of men only. Even in Britain..and the lecturer was teasing her, saying, Where are the rest of the women in the world.....we are the pioneers in all sciences in the world..but we just have to tell the world and the engineer Zainab appears in the second picture with the young men of her class in Britain in the year 1986.
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