Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Muslimah Media Watch

Home
Muslim
Religion News
In Egypt, ‘dramatic’ push for women’s voices

In Egypt, ‘dramatic’ push for women’s voices

Last updated on: June 10, 2008 at 12:00 am by Guest Contributor

In Egypt, ‘dramatic’ push for women’s voices 2008-06-10T00:00:00-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This was written by Liam Stack, and was originally published at the Christian Science Monitor.

Cairo – A young woman stands under the spotlight inside a small theater at the elite American University, looking defiantly into the audience.

She is “Muslim Woman,” one of four actresses performing a skit of the same name put on by Cairo’s Bussy Project, a three-year-old troupe of playwrights-turned-anthropologists.

Project participants say they are tired of women’s issues being ignored or pushed aside in Egypt, but are also upset at the way that many in the West think about Arab and Muslim women.

“I’m passive, weak, uneducated, veiled from head to toe, one of his four wives, work in the kitchen all day,” says “Muslim Woman.” “That’s what you think, right?”

“My liberation won’t come from the one who has oppressed me – bringing me democracy?” retorts her companion on the stage. “You think you’re really gonna send Condi to tell me how to be free?”

Since 2006, the project – named after the Arabic command, “Look!” – has collected stories from Egyptian women about some of the country’s most taboo topics, including street harassment, sexual abuse, divorce, female circumcision, and the confusion that arises in a culture that discourages male-female interaction but makes women’s primary social responsibilities marriage and childbearing.

Each spring, these interviews are transformed into monologues that the group weaves together into a play.

“The play brings up a lot of issues people here usually ignore, but in an entertaining way,” says Yasmine Khalifa, one of the project’s directors. “People can have fun, they can have a laugh, and they don’t feel attacked.”

Bussy was inspired by Eve Ensler’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “The Vagina Monologues,” which played only once here in 2005 before running into trouble with the school.

The actors, too, had problems with it – but for a very different reason: It didn’t seem relevant to Egyptian society.

” ‘The Vagina Monologues’ had stories from Bosnia and all over the world, but only one story about the Middle East, which was about Lebanon,” says Mariham Iskander, an energetic director at Bussy.

“We felt like our region was mostly ignored,” she says. “These weren’t our stories, so we decided to write them ourselves.”

Armed with pens and notebooks, the Bussy Project set out to find more Egyptian voices.

Although some monologues look at issues facing poor women, like troubles in the legal system and circumcisions, the project’s elite roots still show.

The majority of the play was recorded and performed in English.

One skit is about a girl getting harassing messages on Facebook. In another skit, a girl recounting stories of childhood abuse tells the audience, “it was Oprah Winfrey who encouraged me not to be silent.” It is a reference unlikely to be grasped by the great mass of Egypt’s rural and urban poor.

The World Bank says that almost 20 percent of Egypt’s population was living on $2 a day in 2005, and 44 percent of women are illiterate, according to the government’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

Figures compiled by the United Nations Children’s Fund show that over 90 percent of the married female population has experienced some kind of circumcision.

But the project’s upper-crust origins do not make it a less powerful experience for the women involved.

Sondos Shabayek, a director, joined the Bussy Project after watching one of the show’s first performances in 2006. Watching it in the audience made her feel as if she was not alone in grappling with harassment and sexism on a daily basis.

The play was a chance to talk.

“For once, I felt like maybe I could express a big part of my life,” she says. “I had always thought, ‘No, I can’t ever let this show.’ “

Editor’s Note: The accompanying photo is of two performers in the play: Reem Amr on left and Passant Rabie on right.

Art/Theater

Previous Post

June 9, 2008

Messing with the Zohan--Sexism in Sandler's Movie

Next Post

June 11, 2008 Dangerous Minds: Ameera Joins the Dark Side

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advertisements Art/Theater Books/Magazines Cinema Comics/Cartoons Culture/Society Events Fashion Film Friday Links Merchandise/Commodities MMW Announcements MMW Highlights Music/Radio News Photography Politics Profile Ramadan 2012 Ramadan 2013 Ramadan 2014 Ramadan 2015 Roundtable Satire Social Media Sports Technology/Science Television Uncategorized Video Web

Select a Month November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group is known for wearing black hats and beards?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Quakers Mennonites Orthodox Jews Amish