Having a choice...

A few days ago I was watching TV5, for the sake of those who don’t know the channel it is a French International channel, broadcasting worldwide and targeting French speaking people around the word. Anyhow, There was a program I don’t recall the name of now, it was a report type of show, the topic was mainly about Arabic/Muslim women, their rights and their struggle in the Arabic world.

The program, which I missed the beginning of, was reporting from Morocco and Egypt. What I saw was the report about Egyptian women.
The program was not biased, nor racial. This is not the issue. In fact the program was very positive, showing all aspects, with a focus on the negatives in women lives in those countries bu only to demonstrate the effort and the struggle of those women to have better lives.

What really got to me was during the report they showed a Professor type lady giving advice to a young Egyptian student, in what seemed to be like a tutoring session. The girl addressed is from a for a lack of better description, a Muslim Liberal family. What I mean is they believe in education and freedom of choice, this is what you get from the interview with the parents.

The point is while this Professor lady was giving advice she said this to the girl: make sure you put a condition on your husband when you get married to make sure he allows you to work after marriage. When I heard that I was like: what???? Are there still some people with this kind of thinking around.???

I mean excuse me. Forget the idea that our religion advices mutual kindness and love between a married couple, which in my opinion would be completely compromised if you start off the marriage with conditions rather than understanding of each others needs and wants. Forget that such a statement only depicts the conviction that women are subspecies waiting for allowance from the mighty man. Forget all that.

The issue is: aren’t they going to stop limiting women’s struggle for equality to her right to work. Yes a women has the right to choose to work, to choose to study and to choose to marry and who to marry for that matter. The keyword here being “choose”.

Women’s rights are not about work. Women’s rights are about the right to choose. I choose to work, I choose to stay home, I choose to travel the world, its my choice! It is certainly not about me working just to prove to men that I can do what they do. Thank you very much but I don’t need to do that, let’s see them try to prove the opposite?! And I am no lesser person for making a choice that does not please a certain mentality or other.

And for God’s sake stop putting limitations on women. Am I just allowed to have a choice if my choice was to work? Because work is OK and acceptable in your view. Or to study because now the International community enforces the right to study. What about other choices I may want to make? Should I run them through a screening committee to see if they fit with global objectives or through the particular image a certain group of women is trying to convey. This thing or that thing is not the issue, having a choice in life is.

Having a choice is a right, all humans should be fighting for, women included. But remember, having a choice is my God given right, and I am certainly not waiting for any man to give it to me, be it a husband or a lover.

My dear fellow women, forget archaic slogans, forget fake battles of old days. If you believe that you have the power to shape your own life then you will! Keep your spirits high, because real freedom is that of the spirit.