Thursday, 14 April 2011
Arab women participated heavily in the Arab revolts. (File photo)
Egyptian prominent feminist and thinker Nawal al-Saadawi objected to a recent statement by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon about the way Arab women can benefit from revolutions in the region to reach freedom and stressed that Arab women are capable of liberating themselves.
“Egyptian and Arab women can liberate themselves, and we are not waiting for an initiative from the United Nations,” she told Al Arabiya News Channel. “We all know the limitations of the United Nations in liberating women or nations.”
“Egyptian and Arab women can liberate themselves, and we are not waiting for an initiative from the United Nations,” she told Al Arabiya News Channel. “We all know the limitations of the United Nations in liberating women or nations.”
Prominent Egyptian feminist activist Nawal el-Saadawi. (File photo)
She pointed out that the perspective of the United Nations or international organizations in general about Arab women can never be the same as that of Arab women themselves and who are fully aware of the demands of their society.
Ms. Saadawi praised the role played by women in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, and called upon women from both countries to unite in order to make this national liberation an incentive for achieving their own freedom and the freedom of women from other Arab countries.
“As Arab women, we have liberation strategies that cannot be separated from the current revolutions sweeping the Arab world,” she said.
Ms. Saadawi rejected the traditional conception that the emancipation of women is an important issue for women only. “Women’s issues are political, social, and economic. They encompass the entire society, whether men and women,” she said.
When asked if women were granted their rights during the previous autocratic regimes in Egypt, Ms. Saadawi replied in the negative.
“This is illogical,” she said. “The Egyptian Women’s Union was banned during Mubarak’s time, and I was put in jail when Sadat was president. The freedom of individuals cannot be separated from the freedom of the society and the country.”
(Sonia Farid of Al Arabiya can be reached at: sonia.farid@mbc.net)
Ms. Saadawi praised the role played by women in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, and called upon women from both countries to unite in order to make this national liberation an incentive for achieving their own freedom and the freedom of women from other Arab countries.
“As Arab women, we have liberation strategies that cannot be separated from the current revolutions sweeping the Arab world,” she said.
Ms. Saadawi rejected the traditional conception that the emancipation of women is an important issue for women only. “Women’s issues are political, social, and economic. They encompass the entire society, whether men and women,” she said.
When asked if women were granted their rights during the previous autocratic regimes in Egypt, Ms. Saadawi replied in the negative.
“This is illogical,” she said. “The Egyptian Women’s Union was banned during Mubarak’s time, and I was put in jail when Sadat was president. The freedom of individuals cannot be separated from the freedom of the society and the country.”
(Sonia Farid of Al Arabiya can be reached at: sonia.farid@mbc.net)
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