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June 26, 2015 Special Dispatch No. 6084

Egyptian Columnist Condemns Egyptian Society's Attitude To Unmarried Women, Divorcees

June 26, 2015
Egypt | Special Dispatch No. 6084

Egyptian columnist Wafa Nabil published two articles in the pro-government Egyptian daily Al-Ahram addressing Egyptian society's attitude towards late singlehood and divorce among women. In them, Nabil called Egyptian society's attitude towards singlehood and divorce a "disease," and urged women not to compromise when choosing a partner and to divorce without hesitation if the marriage proves unsuccessful. The important thing is for women to insist on their right to be happy, she claimed.

Below are translated excerpts from her articles.

 
Wafa Nabil (image: youtube.com/watch?v=Lm0Bt5fiKMc)

In an April 12, 2015 article, Nabil wrote: "We Egyptians tend to have an exaggerated fear of missing opportunities. This is [but] one kind of fear we experience which causes us to make hasty decisions that can harm us despite our vast desire to benefit from these decisions. An example of such a decision is young women agreeing to marry any groom whatsoever, even if he does not suit them, in order to avoid contracting the frightening disease called 'singlehood.' [However,] as a result these young women contract a much worse disease called 'divorce' The number of divorcees is rising at an alarming rate among women of all ages. They run around in a desperate attempt to obtain their rights and the rights of their children, but eventually achieve nothing but illusions.

"Men of all ages, [on the other hand], whether they divorced or widowed, or [simply] marry late, have no difficulty marrying a beautiful girl who is much younger than they - for our society finds no reason to cast aspersions on men. But [when it comes to women], people expertly find thousands of reasons to cast aspersions on young women who marry late or who are divorced. For example, they will say: 'What's wrong with this young woman that she is still unmarried at her age?! Maybe she has some defect that she fears will be come to light in her marriage? Maybe she is arrogant or materialistic?!' [Or:] 'What caused this divorc├®e to dare and demand divorce from her husband and wreck her home with our own two hands? Maybe she is falsely accusing [him] or has found someone else?'

"People cannot imagineÔǪ that a [single] young woman may be delaying her marriage because she is waiting to find someone who suits her, and is her equal in education and in terms of the status of her family. People refuse to believe that a divorc├®e may not be casting false accusations at her ex-husband, and has not found someone else, but is simply incapable of living with the partner she chose to marry, [because he has turned out to be] a miser or [because] he beats her out of excessive jealousy, or curses and humiliates her incessantly?

"The sector of socially deprived [women] is collapsing under the weight of cruel slogans that are tantamount to a death sentence without trial. Mothers advise their young sons not to marry a young woman over the age of 30, irrespective of the mutual love and understanding between them. As for a divorced woman, the family of a young man who is not a divorced will never accept her and will fight to prevent her marrying him

"In such a situation what can be done? Women must not remain silent about their right to 'create' their happiness"

In an April 19, 2015 article, Nabil wrote: "Every young woman who is late getting married must live her life for herself and enjoy every day she is [still] unchained by the fetters of marriage." Addressing divorced women she wrote: "Why be sorry that you got divorced? Allah has freed you from the heavy [burden] of being responsible to a husband who neither appreciated nor respected you. A divorced woman should reenter society without any sense of shame. On the contrary, she should be proud of the title [of divorc├®e] because she respected herself and got away from the source of her suffering, preferring to take on [this] eastern society with all its old maladies. A single woman in this society is like one who enters the battle unarmed yet eventually emerges victorious."

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