Young Women of Egypt

My readers remind me that it has been two weeks since I’ve posted on this blog. As soon as we returned from Egypt and Lebanon we were involved in the glorious graduations of our grandchildren Dylan Smock and Catherine Lambert.  We are so proud of them and their plans for the future: UC Santa Cruz and CSU Chico, respectively.

This interval has also given us time to reflect upon our recent journey.

One of the most enlightening experiences in Egypt was our opportunity to spend time with many old friends, especially several young daughters (and one 12 year old granddaughter and 9 year old grandson who knowledgeably discussed the comparative strengths of presidential candidates and constitutional changes).

For each of the five daughters—from three Moslem and one Christian family—we noticed a remarkable change in their personal sense of empowerment, confidence and engagement in politics.  Pride. Four of the daughters (one was a new mother) had been full participants in Tahrir Square during the revolution.  They had witnessed it all: the mutual excitement and support, the endurance and resilience, the abuse and violence. Now they hold strong positions about the future of Egypt, including the Mubaraks and their crimes, the military, the youth council and constitution, the presidential candidates.

And, there was something else.  A thrilling venturing out—risk taking.  One young woman had left a high level human resources position with Coca Cola to open her own personnel agency; another left a secure translation job to open her own independent consulting business. Another, a journalist, left her position and joined creative youth to produce a film about the revolution.  Yet another young woman accepted a new position to design policies for the disabled (a neglected area in the Middle East).  The youngest of the women, equally engaged in the new politics of Egypt, will spend her next college year at UC Davis in California where we will be her “parents away from home.”  Such independent mobility on the part of women is symbolic of a society cracking open with opportunities and young women stepping forward without the necessity of having men at their sides.  I find the emergence of women the most promising aspect of the Arab Spring.

Tomorrow—July 17—women in Saudi Arabia will demonstrate for the right to drive. More on this movement over the weekend.

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2011 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Education, Family, Leadership, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.