Comments on: Egyptian -and Muslim- Girls between a Rock and a Hard Place

By: Egypt / Anonymous

Egypt / Anonymous — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:01:57 +0000

Hi, I’m an Egyptian by birth, and have lived in Egypt about 9 or so years, but have been living in the US for over 24 years. I was raised as a muslim, but never strictly or devoutly, yet was taught never to question, just to practice, which never appealed to me. I still believe, but don’t practice the rituals, as I’m more spiritual now, and more selective in what I practice and what I believe versus in the past. Unfortunatley, I see there is a lot of hypocracy in the teachings and the practices, not in the religion. The hypocracy comes from the interpretation and the application of the religion, which is mostly controlled and dictated by Arab men that are self serving, rigiddc and politically inspired, as opposed to being logicall and open minded. Most these men were raised at times where religious teachings were based on doggma and lack of questioning (because that was considered sacreligious) and were raised to afford girls/women so little consideration, regard or respect. Since I’ve left Egypt, religiousness has overswept the country, and people became more devout and unfortunately more rigid. Concervatism became the common ground. However, I see things changing again. The world is becoming so much smaller. The internet, Satelite television, information availability and accessibility have given Egyptians and the rest of the Middle East and other previously closed developing countries (men and women) access to so many different points of view and perspectives, that I think the younger generations, while struggling and torn, are becoming more open minded and logical thinkers, through this exposure. With time, religious practice will become based on deep belief and reason, as opposed to dogma and brain wash. And women will gradually stand up for themselves more and earn more respect and rights.

By: Roy G

Roy G — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:41:20 +0000

LOL – thank you for speaking out Marwa. If a female doesn’t receive full respect for her individual rights and personal standing, I’m sure she might be harassed some just for mentioning those discrepancies. We’ve had numerous waves of civil rights struggles in the U.S. over the last 1 1/2 centuries, to equalize them for both genders, and for all ethnicities, age groups and physical infirmities. (had religious freedoms written into our founding Constitution prior to that)

And hello Karen, nice to see you Balkingback!

By: Marwa Rakha

Marwa Rakha — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:12:10 +0000

Thank you so much Roy for such an honor:)

By: Karen USA

Karen USA — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:39:19 +0000

That’s right, in America rarely ever is broadcast anything about day-to-day problems for Muslim women in Egypt or anywhere.

We’ve got just about total equality here with men, but still seem to run into a lot of double-standards!! I know just how it feels being misunderstood for chosing to do something completely ordinary. And Egypt is more modern than a lot of places, but is still fighting gender biases it sounds like.

By: Roy G

Roy G — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:48:07 +0000

Welcome Marwa of Global Voices Online. Nice international slant on a cultural / sociological issue. In the U.S., we receive virtually no media coverage of personal life in other nations - just the geopolitical and economic stuff mostly!