The Arab Woman: A Threatening Body, A Captive Being – Magida Salman (Mai Ghoussoub)
Notwithstanding her condition, the Arab woman shares with her sisters a common fate: a life of renunciation, of captivity, in a hyper-male society.
Notwithstanding her condition, the Arab woman shares with her sisters a common fate: a life of renunciation, of captivity, in a hyper-male society.
Will the election of Amin Gemayel as president of 'all of Lebanon' finally put an end to the ghastly pageant of civil war in that country? Many Lebanese hope so, but their desires are as mangled and bewildering as were their heroes of yesterday – or their martyrs
Saadawi criticises western feminists who isolate the problems of women from the political and economic situation. But Saadawi heads for another precipice, one that would cast into the abyss the very Arab women she has taught so much. It is the precipice of a nationalist defensiveness that ultimately minimises the injustices of Arab society and denies all authentic reality to the struggle the author herself strives to serve.
Legislation dealing with marriage, divorce, and the status of women (inferior in all cases) is still based on, or directly inspired by, Koranic law in all the Arab-Islamic states. What role is played by Islam, what is its influence, and how is it used in the oppression of Arab women.