We cook, we clean, we dust, we wash, we teach, we reach, we drive, we strive. We are Super women. Every single day, from the day we are born, we walk the walk, we talk the talk. And yet we are treated as second class citizens in this part of the world. We are seen as people who are emotional, or weak or both. Some people (both men AND women) think we are incapable of ever undertaking a tough, macho task.
Well, to those people I would like to say, TOUGH. You need to take a second look at what women do everyday, and since the beginning of time. Women are mothers (and sometimes the fathers as well), sisters, teachers, managers, accountants, lawyers, doctors (who usually save your life), engineers, bankers, and what have you. Recently in the Arab world, Judges. As a matter of fact we have a woman judge right here in Bahrain, and our first ever female pilot. Go get 'em girls.
And yet, whatever we achieve is never enough.
What really pisses me off is that women themselves don't believe in themselves, or in other women. Recent parliamentary elections are an example. Not a single woman won a seat in parliament, save Latifa Al-Guood who won her seat uncontested. She ran in the previous elections 4 years ago and was labeled with all sorts of labels I don't even want to mention any of them. And she didn't win. Neither did any other woman, many of whom were more qualified than any of their male counterparts. But no, our society probably needs 50 or more years to realize that women can not only do their jobs better than most men, but can even handle their kids, their lives, their families, and much, much more.
I have lived amongst women who have battled their ways thru life and have succeeded and won the respect and admiration of everyone around them. Women who have raised their children on their own, women who dedicated their lives to lobby for women's rights, women who fought financial instability to get their children the best education the country has to offer, and women who managed to put a meal together every day despite the fact that her husband was unemployed.
Women today, are subjected to all kinds of pressures, they are raised in an ignorant manner by which they are trained to be meek, and to hide behind the shadows of their fathers, their brothers or their husbands. They are never encouraged to make their own decisions, or to be creative or to be outgoing. They are made to believe that religion teaches them to be quiet, meek, weak and dependent on men. However, what men don't want us to know is that Islam empowers women. They forget that the wife of our Prophet was a prominent businesswoman who was very successful. Women in Islam led armies of men, to fight against their sworn enemies. And yet, society teaches us to hide behind the veil, and to remain ignorant, and better yet, remain behind closed doors.
Its about time we wake up. The veil or hijab is not a tool by which to bind us, rather women in Islam wear the hijab to be able to go everywhere, and are trusted to be fully capable of living their own lives as well as managing the lives of everone around them.
How many times have we heard, "No, you can't go out, you are a girl", "No you can't do this, you can't do that, you are a GIRL" as if being a girl is "wasmat 3ar" or shame that follows us whereever we go. Damn it, "BECAUSE I am a girl, I can go out and face the world" "Show them what I'm made of"
We can bear your children, feed them, raise them, but we can't be trusted to make our own decisions?
Young girls need to be empowered to believe in themselves, to be creative, to be decisive, to be independent. It starts very early in life. The hand that rocks the cradle with one hand can move the world with the other!
Basically, my message is women
can, and
will, and
do everything expected and more. They run their lives, their jobs, their commitments and can be as strong as any other man.
I believe in all you women out there, I believe that we can survive in this cruel world with a huge smile on our face, especially when we reach the top of our mountains, our success entailing.
Have you started climbing your mountain?
Love,
SoulSearch
1. Africa is the second-largest of the Earth's seven continents - covering about 30,330,000 sq km, which makes up about 22 per cent of the world's total land area.
