LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Beautiful and intelligent , and balancing a modern outlook with a deep concern for her people , Jordan 's Queen Rania seems in many ways to represent the optimistic face of the Middle East 's future . Not just a pretty face : Queen Rania has used her position to fight for better education for Jordanian youth . Since she entered the spotlight after she married then Prince Abdullah in 1993 , she has become known for her philanthropic work , pushing for better educational facilities for Jordan 's school children and supporting efforts to empower women . Feted by the West ( she has been interviewed countless times , including a half-hour appearance on Oprah ) , she was named the third most beautiful woman in the world by Harpers and Queen magazine in 2005 . She has used her considerable status -- Forbes magazine ranks her 81 in the world 's 100 most powerful women -- to correct what she sees as misconceptions in the West about the Arab world . A beacon of hope then in a troubled region ? Not exactly . The reality behind the picture perfect image is more complex . To a large extent Queen Rania remains a paradox -- a symbol of the contradictions that still blight the region as it tries to come to terms with modernity . She is the business graduate who left her job at a multinational to marry into a monarchy that has ruled Jordan for the last 60 years , at times with an iron rod . She may talk passionately about freedom of speech and equal rights . Yet Jordan 's own human rights record under the stewardship of her husband King Abdullah II has hardly been exemplary , and has included accusations of terrorist suspects being tortured , harsh laws to clamp down on public dissent and the arrest without trial of critics of the government . Jordan also has one of the highest incidences in the Middle East of honor killings -- the practice of women being killed by male family members if they engage in pre-martial sex . To her credit , Rania is not burying her head in the sand over the problems of Jordan . She acknowledges , for example , that unemployment rates among young people stand at 25 percent , double the global average , and that `` creating jobs is one of the most important priorities for us . '' The daughter of Palestinian parents , she is also acutely aware of the severe social problems that conflict has created in the wider region . She talks about a `` hope-gap '' in trouble spots such as Iraq and Palestinian areas , where young people can be sucked into a vortex of violence and where there are few , if any opportunities to rescue them . `` It 's all about providing that opportunity , a sense of hope for the future generation because I believe that if that future generation is growing without that sense of hope , then we are looking at a very dangerous situation . '' Faced with so many complexities in the current political and social climate in the Middle East , it 's perhaps not that surprising that Rania is focusing so much of her energy on young people . As well as efforts to improve education , she has initiated an online debate on the video sharing site YouTube . The queen is asking viewers to send in comments about their ideas of Islam and the Arab world . She then appears and discusses her reaction to the comments . The conversation is due to run until International Youth Day on August 12 . `` When I 'm in the West I 'm asked why do the Arabs hate us ? When I 'm in the Arab world I hear very negative comments about the West , '' she told CNN . `` The rising tensions between both sides is a fact of life , I do n't think that anyone can deny it . '' She wanted to take the debate online and ask young people to participate in order to `` bring them into the conversation because they are the ones that can change the discourse . '' She said the Internet is a force for free speech , and that greater communications are making it harder for authoritarian regimes to stifle dialogue . `` If you do n't like the comments that are out there the best way to tackle it is to respond to them and to put your side of the story . '' A mother-of-four , she believes that young people should be allowed to be involved in the political process , not only because she is concerned they 're being denied a voice but also because she says she thinks they have a huge amount to offer . She said young people need to be seen as `` active agents as opposed to just persons in the making and to do that we really need to educate them , engage them and empower them in the decision-making process . '' That her idealistic pronouncements can seem at odds with the reality on the ground is not surprising , given just how difficult that reality is . That she cares enough to try and make difference is only to her credit .
Queen Jordan married in to the Palestinian royal family in the last 60 years . She has attracted wide attention because of her beauty and charity work . She has also used her position to call for greater understanding of Queen in the west . Her husband 's government has faced criticism over Rania 's human rights record .