UN Women’s Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen On Learning From Our Grandmothers’ Lived Experiences To Shape The Future Generation Of Feminists
UN Women Regional Director for the Arab States, and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia columnist, reflects on how fourth-wave feminists should still be inspired by the women who have come before them
Nostos (return), Algos (pain). Two Greek words that together create the linguistic foundation of the word nostalgia. This is basically a yearning to return to a place, a person or a feeling, that sadly comes with a pinch of pain with the realisation of the impossibility of that desire. Nostalgia is soft clouds of sweet memories, mixed with the piercing sting of metal nails. Seemingly opposite sentiments, colliding together.
When movies from the ’60s air in Egypt, I often find myself not watching the screen itself, but rather the expressions that dance across the faces of the attentive audience. Particularly those who lived through that time, and especially women, who themselves were young during the golden era of Egyptian cinema. Sentimental eyes, yearning lashes bat in heavy waves, a gentle exhale. Kanet ayyam gamila (these days were beautiful), hands clasping in disbelief of a slowly evaporating epoch.
Besides the romantic scripts, impeccable fashion and great acting, this period also coincided with the second wave of feminism in the Arab region. The first wave (the Arab ‘suffragettes movement’) played a key role in the countries’ liberation after years of colonial rule, with Egyptian Huda Sha’rawi and Moroccan Malika El-Fassi in leading roles. While the second wave focused mainly on social injustice, including women’s economic as well as social and political exclusion from the public sphere. These were the times when women en masse entered higher education and joined the work force. And a new era was upon Egypt, not only bringing a romantic mood with Omar El-Sherif and Faten Hamama, but also optimism on what freedom could look like. Mini skirts and halter tops were signalling an accepting society were freedom and equality would prevail.
For women, that meant the beginning of equality in accessing public, social and economic spheres. Equality in choosing what education to pursue, what opinion to have and what to wear. That seed, planted by the first and second wave of feminists paved the way for progress in the Arab States with ripple effects reaching our shores till this day.
“The second wave of feminism in Egypt brought optimism on what freedom could look like – equality in choosing what to pursue and what opinion to have.”
Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen
Earlier this month, UN Women, together with partners, published the Gender Justice and the Law Report, which compares laws in 18 countries in the region. It lays out candidly where progress and stagnation can be found. Solid progress is marked in areas pertaining to women’s rights to equal pay, which is protected by law in 16 countries and women’s rights to equal pay for work of equal value is protected in nine countries. And in 10 countries – namely Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, the State of Palestine, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the Sudan, Tunisia and UAE – quotas have been adopted for women in national parliaments to promote greater participation of women in politics. However, protection by law from sexual harassment and domestic violence, is granted in only eight countries respectively.
An emerging cadre of young women, behind a fourth wave of feminism, are closely eyeing these exact areas. Globally, the fourth wave looks to have started around 2012, and in the Arab States seemingly coinciding with the years of the Arab Spring. This movement, while carrying on its shoulders a continued struggle for economic, social and political inclusion, also more explicitly calls for a complete refusal of objectification, complete refusal of sexual harassment and complete refusal of sexism overall.
It is a battle fought not only on the streets and in the workplace but increasingly on social media, behind a desk, or on the couch. These women are looking ahead, with hopes and aspirations for a more equal future, as they still feel pain for the present.
If these women are lucky, that couch is shared by a grandmother. Someone they can pay close attention to as they wax nostalgically about the past. This way they can learn from their grandmothers’ lived experiences and honour the path they forged so that the next generation of women can travel more easily into the future.