On her long train ride from Rome to Cairo in 1923, Huda Shaarawi (1879-1947) must have had plenty to think about while watching the journey go by mile after mile. Born in a town on the bank of the Nile River, she read the Qur'an, mastered Arabic and learned Persian and Turkish. She wrote poetry and had a rare disposition. Not only did she have convictions but she had the courage of her convictions..
Those convictions did not square with what society wanted her to do. Women in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Egypt were socially coerced to remain at home and forced to shun public life. In a word, they were to be subservient to men - and they were subservient to men.
.
For Shaarawi and millions of other Egyptian women, it was time to escape from their collective patriarchal straitjacket. Nearly a century before the Internet, e-mail, cell phone texting and Twitter, Shaarawi began organizing women into a movement in the 1910s for equal rights - advocating equal access to education and women's suffrage (the right to vote). In 1919, she and her Egyptian sisters became involved in national and international politics - an unheard of proposition in a male-dominated society - by joining men across the country in their campaign against British colonial rule.
.
When Shaarawi boarded the train to attend a conference in Rome in 1923, she went as the founder and president of the Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU) - an organization dedicated to re-making Egyptian society into one of equal respect, equal dignity and equal rights for both women and men. To Shaarawi and her sisters, it was only obvious. When men subordinate women, they only debase themselves. As such, the EFU published the journal el-Masrayyah (The Egyptian Woman) to disseminate their progressive views.
.
Upon her arrival in Cairo, Shaarawi stepped off the train and tore her hijab (headscarf) off her head in an act of defiance. Her followers, who were all leaders in their own right, had mixed reactions. Some applauded. Others applauded and threw their headscarves to the ground. Still others, who probably perceived her gesture as radical or unnecessary at the very least, did not react. Indeed, Shaarawi's gesture of discarding her hijab is open to interpretation. Yet, she was likely not objecting to wearing the hijab per se - as it had not been an issue for the EFU. It seems clear that Shaarawi did not consider the hijab a symbol of patriarchal domination. Rather, her objection was to being required and coerced into wearing one. She wisely understood that those who control ideology control society. As the decision for Muslim women to wear a hijab had been made by all-male religious elites from their patriarchal interpretations of the Qu'ran, it could not be legitimate in her eyes.
.
Shaarawi was right and well-ahead of her time. In any objective reading, the Qur'an does not subordinate women to men, and no explicit rule exists in the text for women to wear the hijab. The decision to wear one, therefore, must be made by individual Muslim women. That idea was wholly consistent with Shaarawi's feminism. Women deserve equal rights in all spheres of society - politics, the economy, religious practice and in their marriages.
.
Twenty Million Candles
.
Last month, the world was horrified to watch members of the Egyptian military attack unarmed, defenseless citizens protesting peacefully for democracy and women's rights in Tahrir Square in Cairo. One particularly brutal assault of an anonymous girl with a blue bra was caught on camera. It revealed the despicable misogyny still extant in Egyptian society and in the Arab world. Along with that incident, more than one-hundred documented cases of physical and sexual assault were carried out against both girls (under eighteen years-old) and women by Egyptian soldiers in 2011.
.
In response to the December military assault, thousands of Egyptian men, who understand that no one with a conscience can stand idly by while defenseless people - especially women - are attacked, marched alongside thousands of women with pictures of 'Blue Bra Girl' to express their outrage, demand justice and insist on an Egypt free of gender discrimination.
.
Now that the Muslim Brotherhood has captured half of parliament, it will be necessary for Egypt's men and women across the religious spectrum to unite against any attempts by the Brotherhood and radical Salafis to erode women's rights and re-constitute old forms of patriarchy.
.
2011 was a year of storm and stress across the world. Women marched in unprecedented numbers across the Middle East and Africa for their equal right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' Although two weeks have passed, 2012 has not quite begun yet. The world seems to have stopped to take a collective breath after twelve months of struggle against tyranny. Can you sense the lull? Yet, it is only a lull before another storm, and the world must again storm ahead in its quest to secure equal rights and justice for all.
.
If Huda Shaarawi were alive today, she would undoubtedly be shocked by the secondary status of women in her country and immediately plan a course of action. The Egyptian woman of 2012 would do well to resurrect the memory of Shaarawi - as her legacy is one of hope and courage to all Egyptians.
.
On 21 March, Egypt will celebrate Mother's Day. Imagine ten million men and ten million women standing shoulder-to-shoulder in silence that evening in Cairo, in Alexandria, in Minya (birthplace of Shaarawi), in Luxor and elsewhere - each holding a candle to honor the mothers of Egypt and to stand for the right of women to enjoy full equality in the law and in society.
.
Now imagine tens of millions of Egypt's sisters and brothers in Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, who celebrate Mother's Day on the same day, also holding candles to honor their mothers, sisters, daughters and wives at the same time - a mass demonstration for hope, love, peace and dignity for all.
.
Such an event would send a chill down the spine of every tyrant and ally of patriarchy - and inspire the entire world.
.
Let 2012 begin.
.
Key Sources
.
1. To watch footage of the 'Blue Bra Girl' and other protesters being beaten by Egyptian soldiers, please click onto the following link. Warning: The video contains scenes of graphic violence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf_0p4a_GwI
2. To watch a video report on Egypt's recent elections in AlJazeera, please click onto the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHLEBtLsVho
3. To read an article and excellent analysis coupling Huda Shaarawi with the crimes committed against the 'Blue Bra Girl' and others in Tahrir Square in December in CNN, please click onto the following link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/22/opinion/coleman-women-egypt-protest/index.html
4. To read a 9 January 2012 article in The New York Times on the documented cases of sexual intimidation and assault on women by members of Egypt's military, please click onto the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/world/middleeast/egyptian-women-confront-restrictions-of-patriarchy.html
.
(Photo: An Egyptian woman kisses a young Egyptian soldier. To view a photo of Huda Shaarawi, please click onto kleostimes to the right and check postings for Sunday, 15 January)
.
J Roquen