يضربها زوجها ويهددها وينعتها بأسوأ الصفات، وعندما تتخذ قرار الرحيل يعتذر منها ويدعي أن ما حدث مجرد لحظة غضب وتبقى هي عالقة في حلقة مفرغة ملؤها الحزن و الندم. لا شك وأن موضوع العنف ضد المرأة ليس بالأمر الجديد بتاتا،ً خاصة في مجتمعنا العربي الذي تطغى فيه السلطة المطلقة للذكور، ولكن دائماً نتردد في نقاش هذا الموضوع ومحاولة البحث عن حل له
ع. أ. من النساء المقيمات في دولة الإمارات اللواتي قررن مشاركة قصتهن مع العنف المنزلي، تبدأ قصتها مع زواج سعيد دون أي مشاكل، ولكن سرعان ما أصبح يعنفها لفظياً هو و أمهً إلى أن تحول العنف اللفظي إلى جسدي، حيث ضربها و طردها خارج منزلها بلباس نومها و إضطرت إلى طلب المساعدة من الجيران الذين اتصلوا بأهلها و أخظبروهم بما جرى
أما ع.ه. هي أيضاً من ضحايا العنف المنزلي، فزواجها لم يكن تقليدياً بل كان بعد علاقة حب استمرت لثمانية أشهر، لطالما تعرضت للمعاملة السيئة من قبل عائلة زوجها الذين لم يقبلوا وجودها بينهم. زوجها كان شديد العصبية، ضربها حتى في شهر العسل، خانها عدة مرات، و استمر بتعنيفها طوال عامي زواجهما، إلى أن اتخذت قرار الطلاق الذي كان مصطحباً “بنظرات المجتمع التحقيرية والمؤنبة لها فقط لكونها المرأة في تلك العلاقة” كما تقول
حمزة داوود من الرجال الذين يرون أن تعنيف الزوجة قد يكون هو الحل لبعض المشاكل الزوجية، حيث يقول: “بصراحة مجتمعنا الشرقي مجتمع ذكوري و السلطة يجب أن تكون في يد الرجل، وأن يكون هو صاحب الكلمة في العلاقة”. وأضاف “إن إضطر الأمر قد أضرب زوجتي ضرباً خفيفاً حيث لا أشوهها، مثلاً كف تأديبي إن لم تستمع لما أريده منها”
أما أ.ب فيرى عكس ذلك و يقول:”بالنسبة لي أرى أن ضرب المرأة لا يعد من الرجولة، لأنه لا يجب أن يفرض الذكر قوته على من هم أضعف منه”، ويصف أ.ب عائلته بالعائلة العشائرية ذات التفكير القبلي، و يقول، “مع أن عائلتي تفكيرها جدأ قبلي و مع ذلك فإننا ضد العنف ضد المرأة بجميع أشكاله، يجب على الرجل أن يحترم نساء مجتمعه وأن يكون درع حماية لهن وليس أن يكون همجي وشديد العنف، لا أرى أن العنف قد يفيد أبداً في العلاقة الزوجية”
الأسباب
دولة الإمارات من الدول القليلة العربية التي تأخذ هذا الموضوع بجدية، فبحسب وكالة أنباء الإمارات-ـ(وام)، سبق للسفير/ مندوب الدولة في الأمم المتحدة عبيد سالم الزعابي أن أعرب عن إهتمام الدولة بهذه القضية حيث صرح في مؤتمر في جنيف أن الدولة اتخذت تدابير منها الوقائية أي “إنشاء أقسام توجيه أسري” و توعية عبر سبل الإعلام والردعية التي تتمثل في “إنشاء نيابة الأسرة في أبوظبي” ومنها الحمائية، بمعنى توفير وسائل حماية عبر “إنشاء إدارة عامة لرعاية حقوق الإنسان تحت إشراف هيئة تنمية المجتمع في دبي” و لن تقتصر مساعدة الهيئة على الجانب الجسدي، حيث أكدت الباحثة و رئيسة لجنة شؤون الأسرى في المجلس الاستشاري لإمارة الشارقة إحسان مصبح السويدي في بحث قدمته لمركز الإحصائات الوطني أن نسبة العنف النفسي الذي تتعرض له المرأة في مجتمع دولة الإمارات هي ٣٠٪
الإحصائات
إشتملت دراسات الباحثة على عدة أشكال من العنف الذي تتعرض له المرأة في المجتمع الإماراتي، حيث إن دراستها كشفت أن نسبة العنف اللفظي هي ٢٩.٥٪ و يليه العنف الجسدي الذي نسبته ١٧.٥ ٪.أوردت السويدي في بحثها الأسباب لمثل هذا التعنيف، حيث كان السبب الأول هو عدم الإنسجام بين أفراد الأسرة، أما السبب الذي يليه فكان الأوضاع المالية و أخيراً الغضب والعصبية. بالإضافة إلى ذلك وضحت السويدي أنواع رد فعل المرأة الإماراتية لمثل هذا التعنيف، حيث تلجأ المرأة الإماراتية أولاً إلى الصراخ، أما غير ذلك فقد تصل إلى الإستسلام أو تناول المهدئات
و لكن آخر ما قد تفكر فيه المرأة هو أن تطلب النجدة من الشرطة أو ما شابه، وذلك قد يعود لأسباب عديدة بحسب ما تقوله أخصائية علم النفس جوان عبد الله، حيث أكدت أن بعض الأسباب قد تكون “خوف المرأة من كلام الناس و المجتمع العربي، أو الخوف من خسارة ما تعبت لأجل أن تحصل عليه أو إبعادها عن أولادها”. “و في بعض الأحيان قد يقنع المتعدي ضحيته بأنها تستحق ذلك التعنيف رداً على تقصير منها أو نقص من طرفها، في مثل هذه الحالات يتطلب الموضوع الكثير من الإقناع و الكلام لكسر هذه الحلقة”
و بحسب دراسة أعدتها شرطة دبي فإن ٩٥٪ من جرائم العنف ضد المرأة غير معلنة، وهذا قد يظهر حلقة كبيرة مفقودة عند دراسة مثل هذه القضايا سببها التكتم، والخوف والاحراج للعائلات العربية، أو بسبب جرأة الأسئلة الموجودة في مثل هذه الاحصائات أو الاستبيانات التي قد تمتنع النساء عن إجابتها لكونها محرجة أو غير متوافقة مع تقاليدهن
بالإضافة إلى ذلك يحتوي المركز الوطني للإحصاء في دولة الإمارات على العديد من الأرقام التي تثبت هذه الظاهرة في العالم أجمع، حيث نصت إحدى الدراسات التي قدمتها الدكتورة أحلام أحمد جمعة إلى أن المرأة قد تعاني من عنف جسدي و نفسي و لفظي، و أن حوادث العنف ٥٥٪ من أسبابها هي العلاقات الزوجية. و ركزت جمعة على العنف الاقتصادي الذي أوضحت أنه ينص على خمسة جوانب وهي: الوضعية المادية للرجل، حرمان المرأة من أي مدخول، أخذ أموالها و الاستيلاع على راتبها الخاص، الامتناع عن الإنفاق عليها وحرمانها من المشاركة الاقتصادية والعمل لضمان السيطرة التامة
الحلول المطروحة
تضم هذه الدراسة أيضاً جزءاً يضم حلولاً لمكافحة هذه الظاهرة حيث تذكر الدكتورة أحلام جمعة أن من أهم العناصر لحل هذه المشكلة هو تعليم المرأة و تثقيفها لكي تستطيع أن تكون مستقلة، وأن يتم استغلال وسائل الاعلام لزيادة الوعي المجتمعي وللحد من هذه الظاهرة وتقليل حدتها. بالاضافة إلى ذلك الاستفادة من خبرات الدول الأخرى وتجاربها وتحويل التطبيقات إلى ما يتلاءم مع المجتمع العربي
يذكر أن هناك العديد من الهيئات الإماراتية التي تسخّر نفسها لخدمة المرأة في الدولة و منها: جمعية المرأة الظبيانية في أبوظبي التي أسستها الشيخة فاطمة لرعاية النساء، وهناك أيضاً مؤسسة دبي لرعاية النساء والأطفال التي تعد أول دار إيواء ورعاية إنسانية غير ربحية مصرح بها في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة لحماية النساء والأطفال من العنف الأسري و الاتجار بالبشر.
و بحسب ما ذكره أعضاء المؤسسة فإنه تم تأسيس هذه المؤسسة عام 2007 بتوجيهاتٍ من صاحب السمو الشيخ محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم نائب رئيس دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة، رئيس مجلس الوزراء، حاكم دبي، وذلك من أجل منح أولئك الضحايا خدمات حماية ودعم فورية، وبما يتفق والمواثيق الدولية لحقوق الإنسان. و تكون هذه المساعدات في عدة أشكال حيث تقدم المؤسسة خدمات المعالجة الفردية للحالات، الرعاية الصحية، الدعم النفسي وتقديم المشورة.
بالإضافة إلى ذلك تنسق و تنظم وتنفذ أنشطة خاصة للحالات الداخلية تشمل الأنشطة الترفيهية والتعليمية والمهنية وفق جدول أسبوعي متجدد.أما الأنشطة التعليمية والمهنية فتشمل دروس اللغات، المحاضرات الدينية، الرياضة ودروس الدفاع عن النفس، تعلم الفنون والخياطة والتطريز وغيرها من الدروس التي تتعلم من خلالها الحالة على مهارة جديدة يمكن أن تساعدها عند خروجها من المؤسسة في المجال المهني.
دبي- ـ مرام الهندي ـ كلية محمد بن راشد للإعلام
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المركز الخامس
الطالبة مرام الهندي، من كلية محمد بن راشد للإعلام في الجامعة الأميركية في دبي، عن تحقيق: «العنف ضد النساء: المرأة ضحية مرتين»! أوضحت خلاله أشكال العنف، من اللفظي إلى الجسدي، وتطرقت إلى الخطوات العملية التي نفذتها الدولة لمواجهة هذه الحالات
My name is Fikir and I am currently working towards completing my degree in International Relations at the American University in Dubai. I then plan on continuing my Master’s degree at SOAS University in London before permanently settling in the MENA/Sub-Saharan region to pursue a career in community development of disadvantaged provinces.
I grew up in a country that was strictly traditional in its way of life (with significant Mediterranean and Middle Eastern (Yemeni) influence from centuries of trade and interaction). Hence I was raised amongst the juxtaposition of modernity and tradition, economic prosperity and absolute poverty and the ever prevalent question of where I fit into all of this as a woman.
Apart from images of crazy bearded men donning home-made suicide vests and blowing up innocent civilians, the next best picture many would paint of the MENA region is niqab clad women roaming the ancient, palm lined streets of mysterious cities-exotic but oppressed in every sense. Granted the gender inequality in the region appears more magnified due the blatant way it is presented to the rest of the world, but sexism is hardly a phenomenon reserved for the Middle East or followers of Islam. I think this has been one of the most confronting topics revolving this issue for decades-is the gender gap in the Middle East embodied in religion and culture or has it been gradually constructed by societies?
In the article ‘The Real Roots of Sexism in the Middle East’, Max Fisher points out that there are generally two ways to look at the region’s attitude towards women. The first would be to view it as an inherently Arab problem where the society is fundamentally flawed, a concept that can’t fully explain the visible gap between attitudes towards women amongst states in the MENA region. Whereas countries like Tunisia have one of the most progressive constitutions both in the Middle East and Africa (having managed to elect an impressive 27% of women into their post-revolutionary legislatures) [1], others like Egypt, though sharing geographical proximity, barely incorporated women into their new political structures at all.
The second assessment follows the idea that discrimination against women is a universal ailment that affects various parts of the world in varying degrees at sometimes different phases across the decades. Having had the privilege to travel and interact with people from many cultures, I have now convinced myself that the latter opinion is in fact closer to the truth-why so much focus is put on the MENA region with regards to this issue on the other hand has various, often interwoven retorts.
I remember following up on the progression of the Arab Spring in 2011 when a picture taken of a young woman went viral on the internet. It showed the woman on the ground, her abbaya torn open and exposing flesh being dragged off by police officers during the protests in Egypt.
Every major newspaper and every important blog at the time had a lot of colourful words to say about the brutality of the scene and how anyone could dare do that to a woman. There were rants about how the Arab world could never move forward because of its treatment towards its women and that the women’s rights cause in the region was a fast failing one. The lamentations were fast catching on until a group of people on a social media site pointed out what they considered ‘the double standards and hypocrisy’ this uproar underscored-and this observation helped add another dimension to my thought process on the topic of feminism. Why was there so much focus given to the fact that it was a woman, when no human should be treated in such a manner regardless? And in a twisted, ironic way did this not show an act of equality in this act of mistreatment from the offenders side?
The question of feminism and Islam in this region is further complicated by the often disagreeing groups of women who lend their voices to clashing interpretations of what a Muslim woman is and what she is not. I will discuss a few of these key contemporary figures further into this article. In no way am I downplaying the gaping gender difference so evident in the region, but I find the predominant western interpretation of the situation and the extremely limiting view that religion (namely Islam) is the source of all oppression, a cheap attempt at continuing cultural imperialism. There are always two sides to the story and the one most often told is from the eyes of westerners whose assumptions of the Middle Eastern culture come from the same place Edward Said had distressed over in his book ‘Orientalism’. In this article I will attempt to bring a more holistic view to the issue of women in the MENA region by looking past the often oversimplified explanations and pointing out things such as economic conditions and changing political scenes.
On our trip to the Women’s Museum near the beginning of the semester, we were given a rare glimpse at the world of Emirati women before, during and after the creation of the UAE. These progressive women ranged from political figures like Shiekha Hessa bint Al Mor (who played a decisive role in minimizing foreign intervention in Dubai’s affairs), to those such as Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak-who encouraged local women to pursue education as a form of bettering themselves and the country as a whole. There were countless more ranging from influential business women to be reckoned with, to much respected military personnel and creative talents (such as the famous poet Ousha bint Khalifa)…all eternally etched in the fascinating history of the country.
Granted the UAE is quite different from the rest of the region, both in its young history and (consequently) in the unfolding of its political, economical and social patterns. Hence, tracking the historical origins of contemporary misogyny (a word I find too harsh to use loosely and will henceforth stick to the term sexism) in the Middle East will hopefully shed more light on what went wrong.
A nice finish to our trip was a rare, short documentary about women in various parts of the region during the ‘60s and 70s. Ranging from Afghanistan to Iran, Lebanon and Egypt it was quite surprising to see men and women dressed in popular American fashion pieces of the time (from the perfectly combed out ‘fros to the bell-bottom jeans and tie-dye shirts) taking camping trips and going to school together. Other images showed women with perfectly done hair and elegant pencil skirts at various work stations from secretary posts to government offices and public libraries. It is sometimes hard to imagine that gender relations in many of the major Arab countries only a few decades ago was so different. The gradual deterioration and eventual ‘Islamic revival’ (as some historians call it) over the next thirty years was layered with several elements that are often simplified and generalized in order to make ‘quick-sense’ out of such a perplexing issue.
It is often neglected for example, that the spread of conservative Islam during this time was heavily encouraged by funding obtained from conservative Saudis who had managed to make vast fortunes from the development of newly discovered oil-fields. The economic chaos caused by this neoliberal progression not only concentrated economic power in private hands, but also gave a conservative few (with a lot of money) the power and resources to spread their own interpretations of the word. According to Jean-Paul Carvalho in his thesis ‘A Theory of the Islamic Revival’, he points out that frustrated expectations and unfulfilled promises (especially of the lower middle class) and increasing income inequalities lead to the empowerment of religious institutions.
Recent events in the Levant and numerous parts of Africa seem to be ongoing proof of the fundamental basis of his theory, as countries with weak political structures and unstable economic patterns continue to breed extremist groups who in turn take an advantage of the dissatisfied mass to impart their version of utopia. Ironically, their seemingly put-together attitude and words of conviction initially get them supporters before even these are scared away by the growing fanatics. Going even further back in time to the 19th century, one finds colonial wars over influence in the region (predominantly between the British and Ottomans) a major cause of the imbalance we see between the sexes today. One absolutely degrading political move used to buy submission of men at the time was to ‘offer them absolute power over women’. [2]
Why women were the choice to be used as bargaining chips on the other hand is a question that has sparked heated debate from all corners of the world. Since ancient times when nation states were being formed and expansionist wars were history’s constant companions, women had always found themselves with the shorter end of the straw. Whether it was forced marriages to improve relations with a city state or rape as a systematic weapon of war, women from all over the world at different times in history have been at the mercy of the patriarchal systems they were under. An even more uncomfortable topic to tackle is the role of women in the monotheistic religions (where many excerpts were taken to legitimize the colonialists’ patriarchal bargaining tools) and the lack of decisive interpretations about the position of women (in this case) in Islam.
I once read a book called ‘Woman at Point Zero’ by Nawal Saadawi-an outspoken Egyptian writer as well as a feminist and activist for things such as ending the practice of FGM in Egypt. In the book, she discusses one of the encounters she had with a female prisoner who was sentenced to death for killing a man. What she told the author was not only heart wrenching, but was considered too harsh an opinion by many and became (like Saadawi herself) a controversial topic.
“I knew that prostitution had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another”.
Inclusion of such aggressive comments as well as her bold claims that certain aspects of Islam are founded on pre-Islamic paganism have made Saadawi one of the leading secular feminist of modern times.
Whereas the likes of Nawal Saadawi (and Mona elTahawy to a certain extent) views religion as fundamentally oppressive (and create a direct link between increasing power of religious groups and increasing oppression of women), others like Fatima Mernissi and Amina Wadud point to flaws in societal interpretations of the text rather than an inherent flaw in the religion itself. As a reformist who never left Morocco for exile, Mernissi argues that traditional Islam is outdated and incompatible with modern values. She uses the text to show how Islam actually celebrates women and claims that classical Muslim theorists saw women as a threat because Islam viewed them as active actors (e.g Khadija, Ayisha, etc.)
Amina Wadud further builds up on this argument by pointing out that it is necessary to re-read the text from a woman’s perspective and argues that both men and women are equally part of the umma (community). She explains how both genders were equally present at the revelation of the Qur’an but that the history of women’s voices in relation to the sacred text are pretty much non-existent.
‘Patriarchy was necessary to get us out of caves, but now it’s threatening to destroy our civilizations if we can’t learn to power share and embrace the other’-Amina Wadud
Wadud took her theories a step further when she not only led a prayer session, but allowed men and women to sit next to each other as well as inviting gay Muslims to attend. When defending her actions, she mentioned what she summarised as ‘radical pluralism’ as she said, ‘It isn’t just about me and those I’m comfortable with, but learning to embrace ‘the other’. Wadud continued by pointing out that there is nothing in the Qur’an that Jumma prayers should be led by a man or prohibits a woman.
The MENA region has a wide gap to close between the sexes and just as this issue wasn’t created over night, a lasting solution won’t have a quick fix deal either. Root issues such as economic and political stability have to be tackled as well as making education a priority. And before the question of where women stand in this society can be posed to the men of this region and the rest of the world, it is imperative for them to come together as a united force with a common goal. Even though all the aforementioned women stand in support of some feminist group in the Middle East with claims to fighting for women’s rights, their constant warring attacks on each other obliterate their aims and overshadow their commendable efforts.
My name is Charlotte Moller and I am twenty-year-old student at the University of Albany in New York, studying abroad for one semester at the American University in Dubai. I am a Public Policy major with a minor in Women’s Studies extremely passionate about feminism.
I have been a feminist my entire life, even before I knew what the word meant—and when I knew what the word meant, I just said, “Yup, that’s me!”
My decision to study in Dubai came from my craving to experience a culture different from the northeastern United States culture, and a desire to understand and be exposed to the Middle Eastern perspective. All I have ever known or been taught is Western feminism, and the issues that affect myself and women across the United States.
One thing about feminism that I strongly believe in, is that it is uniting regardless of location, class, race, or identity. We may experience different versions of issues, but in the end, we as women are united under the same cause—fighting for equal rights, treatment, and respect. With this in mind, we do experience different things because of different culture, religion, language, class, societal norms, and many other factors.
(…) One thing I have learned through the ‘Women and Gender in the Middle East’ class at AUD is that feminism is extremely complicated. There is one common universal definition, but it does not do the movement any justice. Feminism is much much more than just the social, political, and economic equality between the sexes. Feminism and sexism invades every aspect of a woman’s life, whether recognized or not. It affects women the moment they wake up through standards of beauty, influences how we choose to dress, the way we must talk to be perceived in the right light, getting catcalled on public transportation, earning less than our counterparts for doing the same work, or feeling unappreciated for domestic work that goes unpaid. These are just a few examples of what a woman might experience each day, and do not even begin to cover everything a person may feel.
(…)
Women in the United States undergo some pretty serious distortion of the way they are represented in the media, with anorexia being the standard for models. There is a war on women’s bodies and what is seen as beautiful or not. In the Middle East there is a similar issue with women, but it is more concerning with the hijab, veiling, and oppression. Often in the media, Arab women are portrayed as oppressed and submissive due to being covered, and the hijab has taken on a symbol of oppression. Arab women fight this stereotype everyday, and have to prove their right to wear a hijab as a choice and a religious freedom. My favorite quote from the Women Museum in Dubai was from the founder, “Don’t think because we are covered we are not empowered,” Dr. Rafia Ghubash.
(…)
The standard of beauty and sexuality experienced in the United States is somewhat of a global issue. It is not unique to the United States for women to be picked apart piece by piece, objectified, or sexualized. This is something I learned through our class’s workshop on beauty and sexuality. Listening to my fellow colleagues stories about the pressures, names, and objectification they have undergone made the issue very real to me. This is something women all over the world experience, and can be very damaging.
In doing my research for quotes, ideas, and artwork, I came across a statement made by the author of the Purity Myth, Jessica Valenti. She says, “Making women the sexual gatekeepers and telling men they just can’t help themselves not only drives home the point that women’s sexuality is unnatural, but also sets up a disturbing dynamic in which women are expected to be responsible for men’s sexual behavior.”
I think this quote has a lot of meaning especially in the MENA region where purity and virginity is held so sacred due to religious influences and societal standards. The part where she talks about men not being able to help themselves especially hit home, because I have been told that this is one of the main reasons for veiling. To me, this ideology is similar to ideas in the West where instead of teaching boys not to rape, we teach girls how to not get raped. Instead of teaching boys not to sexualize every aspect of a woman’s body, women in fact have to do all the work and cover up completely in order to “save men from themselves. ” Again, putting the burden on the women.
I recently visited Mohammed Hindash’s first-ever solo art gallery (FN Designs, Dubai). His exhibit incorporated standards of beauty and is cleverly titled, “Beautopsy.” It wasn’t until after I visited his exhibit that I understood the title—his work dissected, or “autopsied” the standards of beauty for women. He is an incredibly talented artist and is definitely involved with feminist issues. I had two favorite pieces of his art. The first is titled, “Juline” and is described by the quote, “All it takes is to point out that one flaw.” It might be hard to tell in the picture I took, but the painting is of a beautiful woman with a slight imperfection on her right eye. To me, this woman is beautiful, but because of societal standards for women, she may become outcast for her one flaw. Flaws are something we immediately notice instead of what is beautiful. We have been taught to pick out what doesn’t fit, what isn’t normal or beautiful instead of focusing on the rest—which is a beautiful woman.
My second favorite painting was the main piece showcased titled, “Beautopsy.” The quote along with the painting is, “An enigmatic dissection.” Besides from being an incredible work of art, this painting spoke to me because it directly portrayed how we as society pick apart women. We dissect them piece by piece and sometimes determine their worth and respect based on this dissection. This piece of art, shown below, was of a beautiful woman whose face was painted them cut up into sections. If the pieces were pushed together the image would not make sense since there is overlap in features but it is a cool optical illusion the artist has created.
By Artist Mohammed Hindash – Beautopsy
Hindash’s art exhibition was especially dear to my heart because he is a member of our ‘Women and Gender in the Middle East’ class, and is one of the few feminist men. It is also great to hear his perspective and see his involvement with feminism in art.
International Women’s day was this year on Sunday, March 8th. Our class decided to celebrate doing a workshop with respect to the women in our family. This day was special for me because my mother is my biggest hero and inspiration for the woman I want to be. I was happy to celebrate with my friends and hear about the women in their families. I am not a very creative person when it comes to art, but it was nice to come together as women from all over the world and celebrate the women in our family. I especially liked hearing stories about other mothers, grandmothers, aunts, or sisters, and sharing stories about strength, wisdom, and womanhood. My group of friends knew that drawing was out of the question for us because none of us knew how, so we wanted to come up with something that provoked thought and memories of the women in our families, a way to express these thoughts, and a way to share them with others. We decided to take adjectives that we thought described the women in our family and make an acrostic piece out of them. So many words came to mind when I thought of my mother, sister, aunts, and grandmother. It was fun to hear the ways in which other people would describe the women in their family as I would never have thought to use some of the words they did.
But this was beautiful part of the workshop—even though we come from different parts of the world, where different ideas of motherhood are expressed, we were able to share this fun experience and learn something new about the women in other families. This goes back to the idea that even though women come from different places, at the end of the day we share a common experience because we are women. And because we are women, we can, and should stick together in the fight for feminism, because together, women are stronger.
I am still learning about the experiences of women in this region, and cannot determine exactly whether we experience similar issues or not, but it is important to always keep the idea of unity in mind.
By Yasmine Mehio
Descending from a line of politically and socially active women, I always had a different perspective on women’s issues. I was just as vocal and as active as the generations of women that preceded me in my bloodline. I studied in Bahrain and came to the United Arab Emirates to pursue my university degree in the American university in Dubai in International Studies.
Aside from our flags being different, I saw no drastic differences between the life of a Bahraini woman and that of an Emirati woman. Both women, here and there, were ruled by cultural morals. They were active if they wanted to be and inactive if they chose to be. However, almost every woman that I have met here was filled with motivation and inspiration to do more. For me and for them, pursuing a university degree was just the first step of what we have planned for the future.
However, women’s discrimination exists. It is here and it is everywhere. Whether it’s an Arab girl complaining to her parents that she should be allowed to stay out just as late as her older brothers do, or it’s an Afghan woman forced to marry her rapist to be “rescued from her shame;” it is still discrimination. It is a discrimination against the notion that men and women are both human beings, born as equals.
Cultural values and social rules construct a patriarchal society that enables men the upper hand. In some situations it is unnoticeable. It is as subtle as having a man sit at the head of the table, or expecting a man to pay the bill because he is the “provider.” On the other hand, it can be as extreme as female genital mutilation, which ironically is conducted by women themselves. In either case, religion, in particularly Islam, is not the cause of such actions. Islam does not breed patriarchy, nor does it encourage misogyny. It is culture, society, economy, interpretations of beliefs, and so on, that construct the patriarchal world that we live in.
A common misunderstanding is that Islam is an oppressing religion that restricts and devalues women. The former first lady of the United State, Laura Bush, talks about Afghanistan, which is located between the Middle East and Central Asia, and expresses her opinion on the oppressive nature of the Taliban group towards Muslim women. “We are now engaged in a worldwide effort to focus on the brutality against women and children by Taliban,”[1] she further explains that women’s oppression is “intimately linked” to the “violent” nature of Islam, and that it is the “American mission” to liberate such women from brutal oppression; “Saving the women of Islam became part of the post-9/11 Western agenda.” 1
This statement clearly represents one of the many flawed Western assumptions representing the Middle East and annoyingly resembles the ‘white man’s burden’ philosophy used by the West to exploit others. First thing is first; Islam cannot be concluded through the actions of one culture, and especially not through the actions of an extremist group. Taking a closer look into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), through a report conducted by the World Bank[2], the link between oppression and Islam will further be clarified and the roots and causes of oppression will be distinguished.
The development report, conducted by the World Bank, adds on to the World Development Report of 2012, as it targets gender equality and female human development in the (MENA) region. Education is perceived as the “pathway to a meaningful career,”2 however factors such as family life and tradition; limited job availability of the private sector; and the decrease of fiscal sustainability of the public sector; have increased unemployment and hindered productivity levels as a whole.
Focusing primarily on women, this report conducts an analysis of quantitative data and qualitative research to argue the paradox in gender equality in the MENA region, where substantial increase in health and education is evident, but lacks female participation in the economic and public spheres. However, this essay will primarily focus on education and economic participation to explain the MENA paradox.
Since the 1970’s, MENA countries, in particularly Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, have experienced fast paced development in female literacy rate, infant mortality and life expectancy. The region is on the right track to achieving gender parity in the key human development indicators.
Education, as mentioned above, is a main player in women’s empowerment and in transitioning women into the economic and political sectors to further “contribute to their community and build up an identity.” 2 The region has witnessed outstanding growth in the educational sector; some MENA countries now have a ‘reversed gender gap’, in which rates of female enrollment at a tertiary level exceeds that of male enrollment rates.
Although gender gap in the economic sector is present across the world, the MENA countries have shown disappointing results of these data compared to other regions.
On average, 50 percent of women (age 15+) participate in the labor market in other regions of the world, while in the MENA region only 25.2 percent women participate. Of course the previously mentioned statistics only measure the rate of female participants in the labor force, in which many women choose to disengage in economic participation due to difficulties in balancing family life and work. Measuring the rate of female unemployment to male unemployment gives a better understanding of the number of women who ‘want’ to participate in economic activities, but are out of work.
Women’s rate of unemployment is usually higher than men’s across the world. However, in the MENA region the gap seems to be wider than usual. The report explains that the measure of female unemployment is an underestimate of the true degree to which women lack economic opportunities. For example, underemployment and poor benefits are common factors in jobs in the informal sectors, in which the skills of well-educated women are underutilized. Another factor that doesn’t properly measure the lack of economic opportunities is the rate of male to female entrepreneurs. According to the World Bank, in the years between 2003 and 2010, women owned only 15 percent of the privately owned firms in the MENA region, making female entrepreneurs a minority2. But for now, a comparison between the rate of unemployment between men and women will be used. Figure 3 of the report2 measures the gap between male and female unemployment in the MENA countries, in which Tunisia is the only MENA country in which the rate of male unemployment exceeds that of a female’s.
As mentioned earlier, the high levels of human development fail to correspond with economic and political opportunities for women, which creates a paradox between those two aspects in the MENA region. Scholars and commentators have made the conclusion that the values and norms of Islam can be traced to this paradox. However, another study conducted by this report proves otherwise.
The report explains that some of these Muslim countries have lower rates of human development compared to the MENA region, however rates in economic participation exceeds that of the MENA region. So, for one to use religion, as a conjecture, to explain this paradox in gender outcomes is too simplistic. Of course religion has deep roots in customs and social norms and it does shape the social laws of one’s culture, but it is the interpretations and the evolutions of such things that impact the role and the perception of women.
The report claims history and interactions with various cultures play a role in shaping the social norms and laws of one’s culture. Even though the countries included in this study are Muslim majorities, the rate of female employment in the labor force is not dominated by one religious view, all women are considered2. So to say that Islam is a cause of limited economic participation for women is merely a conjecture since factors such as geography, culture and history should also be considered.
The US Library of Congress3, explains that many scholars are now rejecting the idea that Islam is the primary source of women’s condition in Muslim countries. Other factors, such as economic structure, national strategies, and the evolution of values of the preexisting cultures, construct societies today and it is not limited to religion.
The United Arab Emirates, one of the many Middle Eastern countries to be victimized by typical Islamic/gender stereotypes, has disclaimed those accusations through the establishment of the Women’s Museum in Dubai for instance in 2012 by Rafia Ghubash, an Emirati professor. The Women’s Museum in Dubai is one of the only four museums in the world dedicated solely to display women’s heritage and achievements. The museum showcases artifacts and artwork dating back to the 1940’s that contradicts popular assumptions of women’s illiteracy and oppression. One of the things that stood up to me were the governmental archives displayed in the museum that states women’s right to sell and buy lands, as well as own businesses, and right to inheritance.
I was struck by Sheikha Salma bint Butti, the mother of the late ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. She exceeded popular expectations after raising her sons to be righteous, religious, and feminist leaders. She paved the way for future generations, teaching her sons to accept UAE’s daughters as their equals. Aside from that, she also sat in on political talks that helped shape the UAE that we know of today. However, Sheikha Salma bin Butti isn’t the only Emarati women that I was fascinated by. As I listened to the stories of Emarati pioneers, one story stood out to me the most. Ousha bint Khaifa Al Suwaidi, born in Al Ain, but then moved to Dubai was a prominent female poet. She gained her popularity through her eloquent and traditional poetry writing; her biggest fans were prominent leaders of the UAE. She was given the name “Fatat El Arab” (Girl of the Arab) after Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum dedicated a poem to her.
She decided to retire from poetry writing and dedicate her time to religious worship. Although she was encouraged by the Sheikh himself to continue her poetry writing despite her life changes, she had a firm stand, and said no. She chose the pious life over the poetry life. It was her decision, no one chose that life for her, and no one was able to take her choice away from her. To me she’s an ideal feminist. It’s all about choices, having the right to choose, and right to act upon your choices, and no one having the right to take those choices away from you.
Discrimination against women exists. It is a fact. It’s here, it’s there, and it’s everywhere. It’s not Islamic, nor is it Arab. It’s the offspring of a collaboration of cultures, beliefs, history, societies, rituals and everything in between. Discrimination exists, but so does feminism. Feminism does not teach us to hate men, nor does it teach us to criticize religion. It’s a movement to give those oppressed (in this case women) equal rights and opportunities in all aspects (societal, political, and economic) as their gender counterparts.
[1] Haddad, Yvonne Yazbech. Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today. Oxford UP, 2006. Web.
[2] World Bank, Capabilities, Opportunities and Participation: Gender Equality and Development in the Middle East and North Africa Region: A Companion Report to the World Development Report 2012. Washington DC: The World Bank.
[3] Library of Congress, “Women in Islamic Societies: A Selected Review of Social Scientific Literature”, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC. November 2005.
I’ve always been fascinated by stereotypes in general, because we often group individuals together and make collective, controversial judgements about them, despite not knowing them. There can be positive as well as negative stereotypes, and I believe that they are harmful to society because they oversimplify people’s qualities and create an inaccurate image of them, leading to discrimination. According to the Health Guidance website, each person has individual thoughts, feelings and desires, irrespective of their gender, which is why stereotyping them does not provide an accurate depiction of all the attributes of every person of each gender. Being a feminist growing up in the UAE, I find myself naturally drawn to targeting stereotypes about women in the Middle East.
According to Karen Cho, women in the Middle East are not strictly marginalized in society and the workforce, and are not always as oppressed or victimized as is often perceived. Some stereotypes about women in the Middle East are incorrect, whereas others have some level of truth to them, but implying that they pertain to all Middle Eastern women is a generalization.
Some of the common stereotypes I’ve heard about Middle Eastern women include:
Women in the Middle East are financially dependent on men
Middle Eastern women are often perceived to be dependent on their fathers, husbands or brothers, and although most women in this region were housewives, the number of working women is increasing, especially in GCC countries! According to Katty Marmenout, based at the Centre for Executive Education and Research in Abu Dhabi, women in the Middle East often start their own businesses instead of getting jobs, since it does not threaten husbands, since it is not perceived by others as being high status work. Nobody knows how much the wife earns if she is doing her own thing, and the woman can choose the type of work she wants to do, work from home, hire only women if she wants, and control her own timings and work environment. Also, if Emirati women do not want to start their own businesses, they can choose to work for the public sector, since it is considered high status, since it does not cause women to compromise on tradition or family. The flexible work hours and attractive salaries cause it to be considered an ideal for women who want a balance between work and family.
However, progress has not been consistent in the Middle East, because in places like Saudi Arabia, work is still mostly segregated, and men and women do not work together for the most part, and this communication gap leaves women at a disadvantage. As much as I’m against this work force segregation, I have to agree that it empowers women in a way, because they can climb up the corporate ladder in an all- women’s organization, since there are no men to fill those positions.
Even though these achievements are commendable, I do think it is sad that a woman in certain parts of the world can work at a high position only in an all- woman’s organization, and that women may start businesses only so they don’t hurt their husbands’ egos by getting prestigious jobs, and that women need to consider government jobs just so they can have flexible timings to take care of their kids. Don’t get me wrong- I think it’s great that the women care about their responsibilities of raising their children, but it’s just so unheard of to see men picking jobs based on flexible timings for the kids. It is almost expected that the woman will be the one to sacrifice her career, which is not the mentality the Middle East should be having in the 21st century!
All things considered, it is not fair to claim that all Middle Eastern women are not financially independent, since many of them are talented, ambitious and hard- working, and capable of earning their own money.
Arab women are beautiful, but wear too much makeup and love plastic surgery
I’ve heard a lot of non- Middle Eastern men, as well as some spiteful women, say this about Middle Eastern women. The typical Arab woman is perceived to have curves, large dark eyes, thick dark hair and eyebrows, pouty lips and tanned skin. That description does sum up some Middle Eastern women, but not all of them look like that, and there are several variations within the Middle East. I agree that Middle Eastern women sometimes tend to wear more eye makeup that their western counterparts, but I don’t see that as a negative thing. Also, there are Western individuals who wear a lot of makeup and Middle Eastern women who don’t, so it is unfair to generalize. From what I’ve noticed, though, in American culture it is considered better to apply natural makeup, which is the “no makeup make-up”, whereas here in the Middle East, women tend to prefer to have more color, since darker makeup is less noticeable on women with dark hair and eyes, compared to pale, blonde women. As for the plastic surgery, it is true that it is on the rise in the Middle East, and is not considered taboo for women anymore. However, it is unfair to stereotype all women in this region as “lovers of plastic surgery”.
Middle Eastern women are rich, pampered and stuck up
Some of my friends seem to agree with this stereotype, but I would have to say that it is an over-generalization, since I know plenty of humble and down to earth Middle Eastern women, who are very well- behaved.
Middle Eastern women are smokers
Shisha smoking is a cultural norm even for women in the Middle East, although they are just as likely as Western women to smoke cigarettes.
Women in the Middle East are uneducated, oppressed and forced to wear “hijabs”
There is obviously some truth to this statement- women’s right issues in the Middle East are often horrifying. However, the situation is much better in GCC countries, where there are often more educated women than men, and where women are encouraged to work. The rest of the Middle East does deal with higher rates of illiteracy and unemployment for women, and in countries such as Saudi Arabia, women truly are oppressed for the most part, since they do not have some fundamental human rights. The “hijab” or headscarf is often used by the West to portray a backward, submissive image of Middle Eastern women, although in many cases, women are not forced to wear the hijab, but do so out of personal choice.
The West also seems to think that all Arab men have four wives who serve them, but this is becoming an outdated concept in recent years. Eastern women face a lot of the same issues as women from all over the world.
Middle Eastern women are rebellious and sneaky
This is something I’ve heard a few times, so let me explain why people claim it’s true. Westerners believe that since Middle Eastern women have so many “rules and restrictions”, they tend to lie to their families in order to have freedom. For example, if a Middle Eastern woman’s family was not okay with her taking off the hijab, wearing tight clothes and having a boyfriend, it is believed that the woman would still do these things, but “on the sly”, and live a double life. I thought a lot about this and I can think of women who are rebellious and sneaky because they have strict families, because over- protective parents raise the best liars. However, not all of these women are Middle Eastern, and I know women from other cultures who face the same issues. Thus, to stereotype this as a Middle Eastern trait is an oversimplification.
Middle Eastern women hate Westerners and are intolerant of other religions
This stereotype is often based on the misconception that all Middle Eastern women are Muslim, although that is not the case, since there are many Christians and Jews living amongst them, and they are fairly tolerant of other religions for the most part.
Middle Eastern women are “prudes”
Sexuality is an extremely taboo topic in the Middle East, and women are often pressured with the idea of virginity, which is tied to family honor. However, this does not stop most women from being sexually active, even though they choose to be discreet about it, for fear of being judged harshly by society. Hymen repair surgery is on the rise in the Middle East, so if a woman does engage in sexual activity before marriage, she gets her hymen stitched up so that she is still considered a “virgin” and is not made to feel ashamed. According to Shereen El Feki, sexuality is a powerful lens that can be used to study society, because if you really want to know people, you start by looking inside their bedrooms. In the Arab culture, sex is only acceptable after marriage, when it is approved by parents, sanctioned by religion and state-approved. Women are also shunned from sexual activity outside of marriage, birth control, abortion and homosexuality. It would be bad enough if these rigid norms affected everybody, but what’s worse is that it is targeted primarily to women, since people in patriarchal society generally turn a blind eye to men having sex before marriage, since “boys will be boys”. Even married women in the Middle East are often skeptical about showing some spark in the bedroom, because they are afraid of being viewed as bad women. These double standards and family controls of individual choices, leads to women’s hesitation to express freely, thus causing the West to often view Arab women as “prudes”.
It is interesting to note that the Arab world was not always this conservative, since a lot of Arabic erotic books were written by religious scholars, way back in the 10th century. However, as the West has been opening up about sex, it seems as though the Middle East has been moving backwards. Hopefully young Arab women of this generation will challenge the unfair pressures put on them, and their ideas will eventually gain ground and cause changes in law, education and media. Thus, it does not mean that the women in the Middle East are “prudes”, since they may have liberal views about sexuality, but the patriarchal culture doesn’t allow them to freely discuss it.
Women are not important figures in Middle Eastern history and art
Often, people who haven’t even lived in or been to the Middle East, assume that women in this region did not play significant roles in history. Prior to visiting the Women’s Museum in Dubai, I might have agreed with that, since I had never heard of important female figures in the ancient Arab world. However, the field trip to the Women’s Museum (Bayt al Binat- “House of the Girls”) completely shattered the stereotypes and misconceptions that I’d previously held.
We explored the museum and were pleased to find a place right in the heart of Dubai, where women were celebrated for their achievements in various fields. We learned about Sheikhas who were peacemakers and helped the rulers of the UAE make important political decisions. These women also used the same peaceful ideology to raise their children, the future rulers of the country, who would set an example to the public and help shape society and define the Emirati culture. Other historic women from the region were leaders in the fields of education and business. The poet Ousha Bint Khalifa (lovingly referred to as the “Girl of the Arabs”, had an entire room dedicated to her work, and once she quit writing, she had leaders of the country writing letters to her to plead with her to continue. This just goes to show that women indeed were prominent figures in Middle Eastern history, and without them, things would be very different now.
I do not know too much about art, and can barely draw stick figures without them looking deformed, however, I have to say that I truly enjoyed visiting Art Dubai 2015 exhibitions. I was on the lookout for art related to feminism, either about women, or by women in the Middle East, and I found that women were represented at Art Dubai, although not as much as men.
I think it is unfair to claim that women in the Middle East are not represented or recognized in art, since they are, but still have a long way to go before achieving recognition that is equal to their male counterparts.
Works Cited
“List of Gender Stereotypes.” Health Guidance. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15910/1/List-of-Gender- Stereotypes.htmlhttp://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15910/1/List-of-Gender- Stereotypes.html>.
Cho, Karen. “Breaking Gender Stereotypes in the Middle East.” INSEAD Knowledge. N.p., 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership- management/breaking-gender-stereotypes-in-the-middle-east- 1489#3XESjwdpKYzF6J1D.99>.
Feki, Shereen El. “A Little-told Tale of Sex and Sensuality.” TED Talks. N.p., Jan. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://www.ted.com/talks/shereen_el_feki_a_little_told_tale_of_sex_and_sensuality/tra nscript?language=en>.
Feminism is a word taken for granted. It is used by people who do not even know its true meaning. One of my first ideas of the word came from my high school English teacher who said, “the difference between a feminist and a normal woman is if you open a door for a normal lady, she will thank you, whereas if you open a door for a feminist, she will ask you, Do you think I am not capable of opening the door for myself?”
In today’s world of misconceptions, it is very difficult to separate Feminism from Man-hating. While one woman formed a misconception for me, another deconstructed it. Like most people, I also watched Emma Watson’s speech for the UN’s HeForShe feminist movement. While some condemn the UN’s use of an actress to lead such a movement, I think it is an amazing idea. The amount of men that have watched this speech and listened and agreed to it could never have been achieved if it were not for the Hermione of Harry Potter. In her speech, Watson explained that Feminism is not just an issue for women, it is also the case for men. Men are too discriminated against. They are expected to be strong emotionless human beings who are not allowed to express emotions. She goes on to mention that feminism has nothing to do with hating men. Feminism strives for equality, not superiority. Feminism is not just an advocacy of women’s rights, it is a belief. It is not a group of loud women nagging about their problems but it is men and women striving towards equality for both genders. Feminism can be expressed in so many creative ways like arts, poetry, music, narratives and even cinematography.
The Art Dubai 2015 exhibition in March included many artists with beautiful works for Women’s empowerment. Sama Alshaibi was one of the most prominent. Born in Iraq to Iraqi-Palestinian parents, Alshaibi grew up in the United States and works as a teaching assistant in Photography at the University of Arizona, in Tucson. She has had numerous exhibitions all around the world, serving feminist purposes.
Following are some of Sama Alshaibi’s feminist art pieces.
There were quite a few other feminist art pieces.
A photograph of women’s empowerment titled, “Places of Power” by Marina Abramovic.
Another strong image by Eva Schlegel, based on women in the workplace.
This was an interesting piece by Omar Bey. I am not sure if it was supposed to serve a feminist purpose, but the idea behind this piece was about birds seeing and hearing everything, but because they are behind the wires, they cannot do anything about it. I personally many women who feel this way in their lives and the societies they live in.
Feminism can be portrayed in music as well. Take Madiha Bhatti, for instance. She decided to be a female rapper who sings about feminism. In the subject of narratives, many authors such as Shereen El Feki and Maya Gebeily, have tried to break the norms of the Middle East by openly writing erotica. Other feminists use documentaries and movies to get their point across. Tahani Rashed, for example, made a documentary about Four Women of Egypt, and Lebanese Nadine Labaki produced empowering movies like Caramel and Where Do We Go Now?
Feminism is a subject that is quite sensitive to me. I do not usually speak of it because most people do not find the subject as appealing as sports or politics, for instance. I have spent five years of my life in a country where women are so oppressed that they do not see a problem in their condition. Unfortunately, they do not know any different situation. Men teach women what they want them to believe and those women teach their sons and daughters the same. The chain continues on through generations, until the acceptance of oppression becomes a norm.
A few weeks ago, when I was in Afghanistan, my sisters and I were watching an Islamic show that my mother watches frequently. A Muslim scholar was answering people’s questions when he was asked why, according to Islam, women have less rights than men. Instead of pointing out the question’s invalidity, he claimed that a woman’s brain is weaker and less capable than a man’s, thus there are certain rights and roles that are designated to men only. Sadly, my sisters and I were the only ones who found this statement so odd. However, most women believe these scholars blindly. They say, if a woman was equal to a man, why has God given her only half of inheritance compared to a man? They only understand after they are reminded that a woman gets half of her father’s inheritance and half of her husband’s. Thus, if she was given the same amount of property as a man, her cumulative possession would be twice the amount of a man’s, making her superior to him, but God does not want either gender to be superior. He wants equality. Now, that is not to say that every scholar on the television is misleading. There are many who quote the Qur’an and provide truthful and humble guiding to those seeking for answers.
It makes me extremely sad how eloquently Afghan men convince their women that oppression and inequality are a norm, that domestic violence is their right, that their mothers and sisters and wives belong at home, protected and hidden from the lustful eyes of other men like themselves. Why should the woman have to suffer and be caged? Why should those men not be held accountable for their lustful desires instead? Is it not a message of Islam to men and women to lower their gaze around the opposite gender? The decades of Taliban’s rule and deprivation of women from education has helped Afghan men create their own versions of Islam. Don’t get me wrong, I am a very religious person myself, but I look at my religion in a logical and realistic way. There is nothing wrong with questioning your own faith. It is the best way to learn and be reassured about it. I may not be a scholar of Islam but I will not believe your claims until you prove them to me. If only the women in Afghanistan could do the same, our country would be so much stronger.
We often blame our country’s lack of education, its oppression and poor conditions on the almost three decade long rule of the Taliban. Sadly, we fail to realize that the Taliban were overthrown fifteen years ago. In these fifteen years, our mindsets have changed but little. The Taliban have left their legacy in the minds of most Afghan men. As Afghans, we see change as a threat to our closed society. We see change as “westernization” and “non-Islamization.” On March 19th, a 27 year old woman named Farkhunda was lynched publicly next to the Shah-E-Do Shamshira mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan. The angry mob was told by a Mullah (clerk) that this woman had burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an. Within moments, thousands gathered and beat her with bricks and kicked her unconscious, they ran over her body with a car and finally burned her corpse and threw her in the Kabul River. Later that day, her father issued a statement that Farkhunda had been mentally sick for sixteen years. After a few days her family admitted that she was not sick, and that the statement was made to protect the rest of her family from the angry mob.
The truth is, Farkhunda was a student of Islamic studies. She could recite the Qur’an by heart and she was somewhat of an activist. She was speaking out against a Mullah of the Shah-E-Do Shamshira mosque “who was allegedly duping locals by giving out false ‘tawiz’ (amulets), papers containing Qur’anic verses that Afghans wear as a good luck charm and to ward off evil.” The mullah, in quest of saving his job and credibility, wrongly accused her of burning the Qur’an. Within moments an angry crowd began attacking her without giving her a chance to explain herself. Witnesses remember her screaming, “ I am a Muslim, and Muslims do not burn the Qur’an.” While most of the men were busy kicking her and throwing bricks at her, many slipped their phones out and started recording the incident. Several police officers were present but did not try to stop the mob. The footage circulated on social media for weeks. The men who took part in such a heinous act had the audacity to go home and write a proud status about the incident on Facebook. On March 22, innocent Farkhunda was buried by an all women group of activists who refused to allow any man to touch Farkhunda’s coffin. Her funeral was attended by thousands, grieving and chanting for justice. The following Sunday, the interior ministry announced the suspension of thirteen police officers, including the chief police responsible for the area. Twenty-one people were identified through the footage and arrested, including nine police officers. Most of them denied the claims. General Zahir Zahir, head of criminal investigation at the interior ministry said, “Even If I get killed, I won’t let any of her perpetrators get away with it.”
As this incident makes us sick to our stomachs, it also reminds us how there is absolutely no place for a rebellious and strong headed woman in Afghanistan. This will be the fate of every feminist, every activist and every religious scholar who makes enough noise to challenge the ‘social norm.’ To look on the bright side, there are many female activists and feminists like those who buried Farkhunda. There has been a significant increase in the number of girls receiving primary education since 2001. But how many of those girls go on to finish high school? How many of them go to college? How many of them are allowed to get a job and pursue a career? Unfortunately, not many. Recently a small group of men decided to stand up for women’s rights by walking through Kabul city in turquoise Burkas, holding signs that say, “Don’t cover your women, cover your eyes.” However, we still have a long way to go. This is something that happens to women all around the world, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Hindu. Religion is always used to justify unjust actions of men and women against others. Who is to say that the men who openly murdered Farkhunda, in the name of Islam, were good Muslims themselves? Let us keep in mind that these were a group of young, typical Afghan men who may or may not pray five times a day, who may or may not drink alcohol secretly from their families, and who most probably have not even read the Qur’an, but when it comes to using violence against a woman, they cannot pass on the opportunity to “defend their religion.” Even if she had, in fact, burned the Quran or disrespected it, nobody gives them the right to punish her. Even according to Islam itself, such matters must be left to the court to decide, because the court will consider every aspect of the case. I hope that one day, Afghan women will acquire the chance to live the life they deserve, the life they are entitled to, and the life promised to them by Islam. I hope that they will be able to stand up for themselves when they are denied these basic rights. I hope that nobody sees a fate like Farkhunda’s and we all learn a lesson from this situation. I hope that Afghan men are also educated so they can make decisions wisely. I hope that one day, such a society becomes the ‘norm.’
A ce jour, le Liban est en guerre, tant physique que psychologique, et s’enlise dans les sables mouvants de crises multiformes – politique, religieuse/confessionnelle, socio-économique, générationnelle, environnementale, culturelle, crises du genre et du savoir, etc. Il est vrai que l’existence même de faiseurs-es ou d’agents-es de paix qui tentent de promouvoir les valeurs de réconciliation nationale et les droits humains, constituerait la preuve de la possibilité de la paix. Toutefois, il ne suffit pas d’exister d’une manière ponctuelle et disparate pour qu’un changement durable puisse advenir, pour que le cercle vicieux de la guerre soit brisé, pour transformer tant les mentalités que les systèmes socio-politiques, pour édifier une demeure commune pour tous et toutes. Il faudrait, parmi tant d’autres initiatives à entreprendre :
1- Déconstruire le choc des ignorances – ignorance de l’autre, de ses croyances, de ses traditions, de ses us et coutumes, de ses aspirations à la dignité et à la reconnaissance de son identité, de ses joies, peines et espérances.
2- Construire un savoir libéré du regard qui enferme les autres (et soi-même) dans des appartenances étroites, des stéréotypes, et qui transforme les traumatismes en mémoire édificatrice de la paix. Se libérer n’implique pas de se constituer un savoir normatif et définitif tel celui qui fut déconstruit. Il s’agit d’entreprendre une démarche interrogative, inséparable de la métamorphose, ondulatoire, telle la figure de l’arabesque. En ce sens, il est impératif de désapprendre ce que nous avons appris au sein de systèmes d’exclusion mutuelle. Il est urgent de comprendre le pourquoi et le comment des choses, de problématiser le canevas épistémologique articulant chaque discours, d’analyser les régimes de vérité à la base de la construction du savoir, d’entreprendre – en utilisant les termes de Muhammad Arkoun – « une archéologie des discours sédimentés et des évidences sclérosées » qui légitiment les volontés de puissance de groupes sociaux en compétition pour l’hégémonie. Il est plus qu’urgent de transgresser les terminologies et concepts dits ‘immuables’ et ‘absolus’, d’interroger la réalité vécue et de pratiquer l’ijtihad (effort d’interprétation) au sein d’un mouvement de renouveau (tajdid) et de réforme (islah). Car plus que la déconstruction, la reconstruction est de rigueur.
3- Créer les conditions concrètes afin que puissent être dépassées ces deux impasses : d’une part, le rigorisme bigot du néo-salafisme au sein de toute religion et la culture de la violence, et d’autre part, les paradigmes idéologiques importés, issus de la condescendance néocoloniale.
Cette démarche de déconstruction et de construction-reconstruction-création, dans laquelle souvent quelque chose nous échappe, encore plus important que ce que nous pouvons saisir, nous accaparer et circonscrire, ce chemin en devenir, ne peut advenir sans une véritable communion humaine au sein de notre société libanaise. Cette communion, telle que je la conçois, est le dépassement des frontières tout en respectant la richesse des différences. Il s’agit du passage de la tolérance, de la simple coexistence au quotidien ou le voisinage indifférent, à la convivialité, laquelle contribue à dépasser toute tendance à vouloir choisir entre la négation de soi et celle de l’autre. Chaque pays, quels que soient ses déchirements, devrait avoir sa communion. Sans quoi, ce ne serait pas un pays, mais, selon Régis Debray, « un morceau de lune ».
Dans l’Apocalypse de Jean, il y est dit que Jésus-Christ ouvre la voie au salut. Avec Marx, c’est le prolétariat et le parti. Mais pour l’apocalypse libanais, seule la communion humaine pourrait être le Messie (le Sauveur), pourrait prolonger l’itinéraire humain à voix multiples, en tenant compte du flou des frontières, de ce qui nous échappe, au-delà des singularités et communautarismes absolus/absolutistes.
Il me semble qu’en dépit de tous les obstacles auxquels nous faisons face au Liban , la situation actuelle ouvre la porte au changement, à la subversion contre les avatars de l’histoire tumultueuse et sanguinaire, à la transformation des mentalités dichotomiques victimes- bourreaux vers une responsabilisation partagée, qui désacralise les seigneurs de la guerre encore au pouvoir, et qui favorise une citoyenneté actrice de paix pesant dans les choix à venir.
Reste à oser aller à contre-courant, à franchir ensemble les frontières qui séparent, à muer la douleur en souvenir fondateur, à retenir la principale leçon de la guerre – qu’elle ne se reproduise plus ! – et comme le dit si bien Pierre Messmer : « Les Libanais n’ont jamais cessé de résister pour conserver leur liberté et leur identité. Ils ont subi de nombreuses invasions, ils ont affronté les pires épreuves, ils ont maintes fois été menacés de disparaître mais ils n’ont jamais désespéré de leur pays. A l’instar des Québécois par exemple, les Libanais démontrent qu’un peuple qui ne se résigne pas ne peut pas mourir ».
You write about something for one of two things: either you are extremely passionate about the subject or when you strongly oppose an issue. I’m writing for the latter.
The issue of giving dowry has been part of the marriage traditions for a long time. Started decades ago, this custom is being exploited in many countries on a daily basis. Dowry is the property or money that is given to the groom by the bride before marriage. Now, dowry isn’t expected as a marriage condition for everyone however it is present in most. This has become some sort of a ‘business transaction’. The idea of marriage no longer depends on love and companionship however now it’s a case of increasing ones wealth.
Let me first explain how this topic became personal and therefore important. I was born in America, grew up in Nigeria, and now I live in Dubai so I had no connections to much of the inner traditions of Pakistan – where I’m from – that would allow me to understand the concept of marriage and what revolves around it. I watched movies, series as well as heard stories that revolved around the concept of dowry but never concentrated much on the fundamentals of it – the sacrifices of the women’s parents because of the demands from the groom’s side. Shockingly, not many people take any action against it. “The irony is that although most people do realize that this behavior is a social anomaly, we all seem resigned to it and no one bothers to fix it. Everyone talks about the problem but no one actually does anything to help society put an end to it.” (Mumtaz)
It wasn’t until my sister was getting married that the concept of dowry made sense in terms of being something unacceptable. It isn’t that my brother-in-law or his family demanded a dowry from my sister but it was more of the financial burden that came on my parents due to the marriage. In Pakistan, the wedding is an event that is the responsibility of the bride’s side and not a joint one. In addition to that, the bride’s side gives gifts such as clothes, accessories, etc. to the immediate family of the groom not to mention the gifts that are given to the daughters for future use. For my sister’s dowry, apart from what my parents set aside as her gifts, they had to furnish the apartment for the couple. Now, being in an upper middle class family, it was something we could afford, but you realize early on that it is very different when you can’t.
Just recently, I heard about this family that wanted a suitor for their daughter, and the condition of the family was to have the groom be settled in Dubai. Another was about this woman who couldn’t get married because the dowry money was too high for the parents to afford leaving her single till now. Another was for the bride’s parents to give the groom a furnished apartment or car before marriage. I heard these kinds of conditions were very “common” in Pakistani weddings and it is nothing short of being disgusting.
“Such demands shouldn’t surprise you,” said Alia Tareq, my aunt who faced a similar situation when people asked for her daughter’s hand. “Families are always asking for such demands before marriage, it’s the way some Pakistani weddings actually happen in the first place. And the sad truth is, most of the families actually follow through with it because there is no other way out. They can’t have their daughter stay at home forever, because then people will talk, and they don’t want that.”
My anger stems from the demanding of dowry and it being a tradition that has been part of the society for so long. Where it comes from is not the question that needs to be answered however why it’s still here is the real question. Marriages should take place on the basis of two families coming together, not one family expecting more than the other can give. More than that, the consequences of practicing dowry is even more absurd. Women are often left unmarried which as a result is disgraceful to the family and if they do get married with what little they can give, the women are mentally and physically abused. The event that should bring happiness to the family sometimes brings nothing but sorrow.
Marriages have started to become more of a business transaction than a ceremony of bonding two families together. An alliance in marriage starts just about a tornado due to the notion of ‘gifts’ being exchanged. Gifts that are merely dowry in wrapping, creates internal pressure in the bride’s family. Dependent on the culture or family values, the pressure of dowry varies. The pressure is due to the amount of dowry that should be provided to the bride’s in-laws. It works as a binding to the alliance that denotes the more the provided dowry the happier the bride would be with her future in-laws. It could either be demanded or given out of love for the bride to be. Regardless, the amount of dowry asked of bride’s family puts a financial and psychological strain.
Bride’s parents are seen taking drastic measures such as depriving daughters of their education because the money is saved up for dowry, selling plots or properties and taking on loans and debt. At times, selling furniture and other household items and begging are considered acceptable to provide the demanded dowry in lower caste families. (Jehan) These actions, to satisfy the hunger of dowry, have a psychological impact on the parties involved in the marriage alliance. Parents are constantly questioning the quantity and quality of the gifts they provide and whether it would suffice the expectation of the opposing party. Stress being the most common part of the psychological impact families goes through in this moment of joy.
Stress is not the only psychological impact which is the result of dowry. In worst case scenario, brides or family members consider suicide as a solution to escape the pressure. Suicide is reported numerous of times when the demanded dowry is not fulfilled and the marriage alliance that was formed has been called off. Brides are unable to withstand the pressure and cannot see any other solution. A bride taking her life would always imagine herself in a repetitive cycle where no matter who the groom or the alliance is, dowry would always be demanded as a norm.
However, suicide is not the only result of insufficient dowry. When the marriage has taken place but the dowry does not satisfy the opposing party, the bride goes through obstacles put forth by her in-laws such as constant taunts and insults. She is sent home within few months of marriage and divorced when the dowry or money given as gifts has finished off. When divorced is not considered, brides are tortured as well and when that is not enough, some are either burnt alive or pushed to a point where they would end their own life. (Babur) Dowry drastically affects the bride and bride’s family because of the negative impact that comes with it.
If dowry has such negative impact, why does it still exists? Why is dowry asked in the first place? Does it exist as a norm due to tradition, culture or religion? What does Islam have to say about dowry? Dowry exists due to the tradition formed by the people who practiced it. It has “long-rooted ethnical backgrounds, relevance and significance in the cultures they spring from”. (Traditions: The Economics of Marriage) Dowry has evolved from tradition and cultures of various groups within Pakistan. It has been practiced since a long time, the logical reasoning behind it is not considered. The idea of demanding for dowry has passed down from ancestors to ancestors. However, dowry came into being as a practice of gifts given to brides so her life in her in-laws is with comfort and ease. Over time, dowry started becoming a mandatory way of marriage rather a pleasant give away. To allow people to oppress the opposing party, Islam and its teaching is used to justify dowry.
However, Islam does not state the bride is required to provide a list of items of the in-laws suggestion. Islam states the groom should provide the bride with an amount of money used as her security. The money is lawfully hers to use as she wishes to. Islam does not oppress the groom either; the amount of the money should be determined by both parties keeping their affordability in mind. The reason Islam is used to justify dowry is because in the past gifts affordable by parents, without any restrain on their financial state, were given to daughters. Dowry should only be permitted if they are small gifts willingly given by parents.
That’s not to say, dowry doesn’t have advantages. In some cases, where the dowry is not asked as a means of financial gain but given as a security blanket to the bride, it could be beneficial. “Dowry can lead to higher bargaining power for women. It can also increase female rights to inheritance. Marriage payments (dowry) transfer wealth to the next generation.” (Anderson) But the truth is, in such cases these advantages become non-existent, especially towards the woman. These cases apply the transaction of dowry as a personal gain towards the groom’s side. No longer is it a case of a woman’s security but a means of how much the bride can bring to the family financially.
Dowry is practiced throughout Pakistan but does not mean it is considered acceptable by everyone. Families with daughters would prefer the weight of having to provide a list of unaffordable items be lifted off. No one prefers the societal pressure that comes with dowry. However, people who are not on the side of the bride do not mind taking it. Over time, they might not demand full-fledged lists but they might indicate certain things that should be provided. Families who seem to accept dowry shows the tradition of dowry is still innate in our traditions and cultures. When accepting dowry even when it is not demanded is prohibited, families would realize the ease of pressure and the burden lifted. The burden placed by themselves in order to satisfy the expectation of opposite parties.
With such extremes being part of giving dowry, the question rises if anything is being done about it. Considering the implications of such a tradition, Pakistani Law prohibits the giving of dowry under certain conditions in The Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act 1976. “It restricts the amount spent on dowry not to exceed rupees five thousand. The amount of cash and gifts given to the bridegroom likewise cannot exceed the same amount. The violator may suffer an imprisonment up to six months or a fine of rupees ten thousand or both.” (Ali) However, the law is ignored or dismissed, considering cases of exceeding dowry is ever present in marriages around Pakistan. “It rightly deserves to be forgotten and ignored. The law does not take the rising inflation into consideration; it does not take different income level strata into consideration, thereby making allowance for different income group classes to spend different amounts as per their affordability. Interestingly, there is no provision in the law prohibiting the bridegroom’s family demanding a dowry.” (Ali)
As a result, of not being backed by the law, movements and initiatives are collectively increasing in terms of standing against the tradition of dowry. A project called ‘Fight Against Dowry’ (FAD) started in November 2001 to educate people about the hardships that come from giving dowry and raising awareness of dowry violence around Pakistan. Initiated by SACHET,
Society for the Advancement of Community, Health, Education and Training, it was a program that would educate people, especially the youth, about the financial, psychological, and economical strains of practicing dowry. It also implemented the media into their campaign by giving video messages and asking people to join the movement against the lawmakers to change the policies associated with dowry. As representation, silver ribbons are worn for support on November 27th. It “portrays the element of simplicity, austerity and courage against ills of dowry on demand.” (Silver Ribbon Campaign)
Likewise, various social activists against dowry violence have taken great measures to stop the practice of dowry. Shahnaz Bukhari, a clinical psychologist and women’s right activist, started the Women’s Progressive Association that puts a spotlight on cases of women’s rights including that of dowry violence. She has openly shunned the certain political parties and lawmakers for not taking actions against people asking for dowry and not taking legal actions against the predators of dowry violence. She has her own magazine that highlights cases of dowry and persuades people, especially women, to speak against dowry practice it “informs women of their rights, but also dispense common-sense advice aimed at reinforcing women’s own sense of self-worth.”(Curtiss)
In 2011, a group of social activists initiated a movement, Tehrik Sadah Zindagi (TSZ) translated to ‘Movement for a Simpler Life’, went around Peshawar to create awareness about “the negative impacts of dowry on the society.” (Movement Against Dowry Launched) Jawad Jalal, founder of TSZ, led the movement to various small villages and spoke of the importance of removing dowry from their traditions. “People are forced to get loans on interests and mortgage their properties to marry off their daughters as the families of bridegrooms hardly accept a girl without dowry,” says Jalal to Dawn News. His aim is to remove dowry entirely so people are not selling off their financial securities to meet demands. Also he believes more people should become part of this movement and make a much needed change in Pakistan’s society.
Some activists have argued that though the bride’s family does not accept the conditions of dowry, the in-laws might not think the same way. This as a result forces the bride’s family to pay the in-laws to get their daughter married. Certain activists have suggested educating the men’s family to refuse acceptance of dowry from the bride. “The idea is complex but fairly executable. If we don’t start today, this anomalous social behavior will keep haunting us and our coming generations. All that is required is for both the families to sacrifice their social harmony temporarily for the sake of the greater good.” (Mumtaz)
The cases of dowry are increasing due to dismissing the law and not having the right education that might prevent this from reoccurring. Moreover, government policies should include the banning of dowry completely as well as increase the harshness of penalties if failure to do so. In reality, dowry only benefits a few with a majority suffering the backlash that can sometimes lead to a lifetime of misery. Though it is hard to tell if the long practiced tradition would end, families should take initiatives to refuse from taking and giving dowry in marriages to lessen the cases of debt and dowry violence.
The tradition of dowry and its implications are best described in these two poems by women in Pakistan:
The Curse of Dowry
Credits: Saliha Rashid
My eyes are heavy
My thoughts are drowsy
As if they are the perfume of poppy
My hands are tied by the curse of dowry
Descended on me by the descent people of my society
Sabotaged my life through the wheels of my Ferrari
I tried to walk on the clutches of my dowry
Soon they were broken, leaving me in the arms of treason
I turned around the corner
Believing someone called me to return
I was on the wrong corner,
Alone, drowning in the curse of dowry
Sunburns of courage help me break free from these ropes
Because I can see fate has given me hope
To fly on the wings of belief
And breaking the mirror of disbelief
That may be dowry would have sanctified me
Marriage
Credits: Naurin Ramay
My name is marriage
I am daughter of this earth
Was born free to surf
I was abducted by the tradition of dowry
Who raped my dreams without any mercy
i kept yelling to free me from the handcuffs of dowry
I was left alone in the dark alley
i was poisoned, i was tortured i was burned
But no one came to save me from this commination
Today, i lay in my grave
Cursing all those who were gay
Murmuring, turning their back and closing their eyes
As the daughters of earth were being burned and disgraced
I pity the callousness of my society
Where they own this tradition of dowry
Work Cited
Ali, Yasmeen AliYasmeen Aftab. “The Bride’s Dowry!” The Nation, 02 July 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Anderson, Siwan. “Human Capital Effects of Marriage Payments.” IZA World of Labor (2014): n. pag. IZA World of Labor, Sept. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Babur, Zaheer Udin. “Violence Against Women in Pakistan.” Violence Against Women in Pakistan : Current Realities and Strategies for Change (2007): n. pag. June 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Curtiss, Richard H. “Washington Report on Middle East Affairs – Shahnaz Bukhari: A Single-Minded Activist for Women’s Rights.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Jehan, Izat. “Dowry System an Issue in Our Culture.” Chitral Times. Chitral Times, 06 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
“Movement Against Dowry Launched.” Dawn Newspaper. Dawn, 14 Sept. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Mumtaz, Rizwan. “Weddings in Pakistan: Down with the Dowry, Enough with the Spending!” The Express Tribune Blog RSS. The Express Tribune, 26 Dec. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
As a child, I grew up in a world that was part fantasy and part reality. I was very visual, and my mind would often wander as I looked at objects, observed patterns, and listened to conversations. I gained a particular interest in observing people and the way they behave. My mother took me along with her whenever she went shopping, and that sparked my passion for aesthetics. I would walk down the aisles in department stores, where clothes seemed to stretch along the racks infinitely, and I would run my fingers through the fabric as I made my way down each section. I often got lost, and in a panic I reached out to the nearest motherly figure dressed in a black Abaya thinking she was my mother. In a panic, I ran across the store, ignoring the flashes of colorful garments that now seemed to taunt me, until I saw my mother. I could instantly tell it was her, just by seeing her silhouette from the back. How could I have mistaken that other woman for my mother? My mother had an aura about her that I could distinguish from a sea of women, and as she turned, I saw her face as she was smiling at me.
My mother grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon with my grandmother and her six siblings. My grandfather unexpectedly left my grandmother with seven children, and set off to Germany, where he remarried and raised a new family. My mother had told me stories of her childhood that revolved around her three sisters and three brothers, and of course, my grandmother. My grandmother raised seven children in a refugee camp, without a husband or a father figure. I will always be fascinated by the stories that my mother tells me. Surprisingly, the stories are pretty normal. She was a child so all her stories revolved around the dinner table and how chaotic it would get, siblings hitting each other and fighting while their mother would prepare food. When my mother was in her pre-teens, they moved to Dubai. It was the 1970’s, and Dubai was far off from what it is now. My mother would tell me how depressed she was when she came here. It was hot, empty, and there was nothing to do. She missed the refugee camp and how they formed a sense of community within. She spoke about how her only form of entertainment in Dubai was skipping class with her sister and crossing highways to get to a supermarket where they would buy ice-cream, then go to the airport where they would wash their hair in the toilets. My mother laughed hysterically every time she and my aunt would talk about it but I have always imagined it as a wonderful moment and a liberation of youth. Two sisters from a refugee camp, now living in Dubai and unsatisfied with the lack of adventure the city had to offer, turned to danger as a means of entertainment. I always see strength in my mother’s eyes because she truly is fearless.
I was about nine years old when I began to observing people on a deeper level, and the world suddenly unveiled its true characteristics to me. I sat down and began to sketch figures and faces, frantically searching for perfection within my work. My fascination with portraits grew as I did, and women became the dominating theme in my work. From the moment I looked at my mothers face, I felt at ease. I knew that kindness was permanent, and I knew that acceptance was real. As a child, I knew no boundaries, no judgment, no discrimination, and no gender differentiation. I was raised by two generations of strong women. I grew up with two of my closest cousins, both girls, and we did everything together. When they played with their Barbie dolls, so did I. When I played video games, they did as well. There was never an interference as to what was considered masculine and what was feminine. The basis of this upbringing has led me to believe in equality among genders, races and sexes. I found myself becoming more and more of an empath, connecting with others who have been misjudged or discriminated against.
As I grew up, I was engulfed in a world of creative exploration. I looked to magazines for inspiration, studying the faces of models and celebrities. The way women were portrayed by the media was quite magical yet confusing. Most of the time, these women were portrayed as the highest of status, having acquired complete physical perfection. People began to idolize them based upon their outer appearances, completely disregarding whether or not they were of any importance to society. This was quite new and confusing to me. Why weren’t the men portrayed on equal numbers of magazine covers? The more I flipped through magazines, the more it became clear to me. The women portrayed seemed to exude an artificial aura through pre-planned poses. They were places next to perfumes, bags, clothes, jewelry – you name it. I began to study these relationships in terms of gender roles and why women appealed to be the universally used subjects for media.
I thought about my mother and her childhood tales. I thought about my grandmother and the sacrifices she had to make to raise her children, let alone the strength to be a positive supporting human being. Was this what the media and the rest of the world is trying to hide and push away? Women portrayed solely through fashion, glamour and sex. Almost simultaneously, as these realizations surfaced, my cousins and I had already adapted this idea of a false reality where beauty exists only in the pages of magazines. I witnessed my cousins comparing themselves to celebrities, body image started becoming an issue, and an internal struggle began to take place. I as well went through these stages, picking apart pieces of me that were too real to be great, such as flaws, and embracing ignorance by believing in the fantasy that the industry is selling. In the Middle East, plastic surgery has become so popular that the youth rarely get to think twice about cosmetic surgery. Lebanon has become infamous for performing plastic surgery, attracting Arabs from other countries to Lebanon for procedures. From rhinoplasty, to liposuction, Botox and lip fillers, a birth of a new species takes place in the faces of the pop stars and TV presenters. According to Andrew Hammond’s “Pop Culture Arab World! : Media, Arts, and Lifestyle”, published in 2005, the obsession has reached a point where it can break up a marriage. A woman spent most of her husbands’ savings to get plastic surgery to resemble the Lebanese pop star Nancy Ajram. When her husband decided to get a divorced, she blamed him for idolizing Ajram, stating that the divorce was a result of her husbands infidelity with Ajram. Hammond adds,
”The reason is that Arab women got frustrated from the continuous stress put by Arab husbands in comparing their wives with the female singers and actresses, especially those with very seducing music video clips”
In an attempt to emulate the beauty ideals in the West that were fuelled by the media, we now witness clones that reflect these ideals poorly, slowly tearing away at their self confidence and sense of acceptance within the community and most importantly, as a gender.
I asked myself how and why. How did we get to realize that physical perfection is automatically associated with being a generally all-round good person? Why have we let our community, and the world, to use women to set these examples? I began exploring these themes within my art as I got older, using portraits of women to portray the strength that I see in the women in my family. I was always asked why my focus was on women, and I said why not? My aim is to capture the aura and the glimpse in ones eyes. I am fully aware that most male artists have portrayed female subjects, dominating the museums of the world, while women artists are often ignored. During my time at the American University in Dubai, I was exposed to female professors that have inspired me beyond creativity. They continuously introduced me to female artists from the past and in the contemporary art world. The more I read about these women the angrier I got at society for leaving them out of the spotlight, and shining the light on either drastically feminist artists, or entirely focus on male artists like they have done for years.
In my work, black and white portraits dominate the canvas. While working on my latest series titled Beautopsy, I channeled all my perceptions of beauty in society and the ideals enforced upon women into pieces of art. I wanted to challenge myself by creating distorted portraits that appear chaotic to the viewer, but enabling them to pick up elements within the work that are appealing. My concept revolved around seeing the beauty in everything, in the flaws, in the eyes, again – the aura. I began dissecting portraits of iconic Old Hollywood celebrities such as Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and Veronica Lake. To me, going back to the root of global modern day beauty was tracing it back to the 1950’s and the post World war II era. The combination of timeless classic beauty in contrast with todays ‘plastic beauty’ inspired me. I wanted to approach my subjects with a theme of cosmetic surgery, using the marks created by the surgeon on the subjects face and body during a consultation. I abstracted these marks into strips and explored cutting up portraits, shifting each strip as it revealed an image that was both aggressive and drastic. What I began to see within these shifts is a double portrait, almost like an exterior of the self and the character.
In my attempt to break down any preconceived beliefs and stereotypes placed upon women in our society, I approached my work from a very personal place. Always being the only guy in most of my classes, I never felt the need to tip toe around any situations. I saw no barrier between the two genders, just as I had never seen one as I was raised with my two cousins. I did, however, notice an internal problem within our society; judgment. I could not believe that girls were judging each other based on physical appearances, what they wore, and how they looked. A beautiful and confident woman seemed to always be faced with accusations of plastic surgery, or simply labeled a bimbo or a bitch. I am completely aware of the cultural and social pressures that have been placed on women, but I truly believe that the answer lies within women. Unity, acceptance, support and empowerment need to be evident at all times, and why should it not? The world has become a competitive playground that fuels and highlights ignorance. I have countlessly asked girl friends of mine what their dreams and aspirations were, only to be told they wanted to get married, find the perfect man. I became furious at the fact that these smart and interesting women that I know revolve their time and energy focusing on that purpose solely in life. Again, I’m not anti-marriage but I do believe that we all serve a certain purpose in life, not to anyone else but to ourselves. In the Middle East, it is harder to introduce these thoughts of liberal thinking upon both men and women. Rooted within tradition, simple things like jobs and careers can be considered off limits to women, having their fate determined by their family and/or spouse.
I may not be the most politically savvy person or have enough facts to tackle the problem, but I do believe in the human experience. A generation that is educated beyond the classroom, questions what is right and wrong in society, and disregards social taboos is the future of the Middle East. With various Middle Eastern countries showing their support for women such as the United Arab Emirates, it is up to us as a society to accept and nurture the outcome they provide us with. We must learn to bear no prejudice when it comes down to what job a woman is fit for, and only show support. I have never known any other way of approaching the subject at hand, and I proudly call myself a feminist. I will portray women in my work in a way that challenges the viewer to think beyond skin and surface. I will think of my sisters, my mother and my grandmother who have showed not only unlimited support, but also unparalleled strength. I will empower the women in the work force, my friends, and my family. I may not be read about or known for my efforts, but why should I? Why should empowering women be on the news? It should simply become our basic instinct – total 360-degree gender equality.
Works Cited
Hammond, Andrew. Pop Culture Arab World! : Media, Arts, And Lifestyle. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2005. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web.14Apr2015.
Munoz, Maria Sanchez. The Perfect Me: Cosmetic Surgery and the Social Body in Egypt. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Sams, Leroy B., and Janet A. Keels. Handbook on Body Image: Gender Differences, Sociocultural Influences and Health Implications. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print
