the hidden face of eve by nawal el saadawi

Ultimately, El Saadawi believes that where religion evolves within patriarchal cultures, men distort religion to act in their own interests and to help justify their own privilege and the oppression of women. Over the centuries, Islamic doctrine was thus shaped by men and reflected their interests, with women’s voices being effectively unheard in this process. It just so happened that Islam developed in those areas of the world which already had extremely patriarchal social structures. (Possibly our fixation with the oppression of women in Islamic cultures is a result of a broader anti-Islamic prejudice?)įor El Saadawi, the oppression of women is caused by ‘the patriarchal system which came into being when society had reached a certain stage of development’. A classic example of this is in the 14 th century when the Catholic Church declared that women who treated those who were ill, without special training, could be executed as witches. She points out that male female oppression exists in many non-Islamic cultures and is in fact just as common in Christian cultures. However, despite the prevalence of female oppression across the Islamic world, El Saadawi does not believe that female oppression is caused by Islam. In addition, women are also victims of forced prostitution and slavery which provide further evidence of patriarchal dominance of Arab men over Arab women. Young females are frequently the victims of violence at the hands of their fathers, uncles or brothers.

She was forced to undergo female circumcision as a young girl, without any warning or explanation and points out that male violence against women within the family is common in many Arab cultures.

She has campaigned vigorously for women’s rights in the Arab world and has been imprisoned for her activism. Global Gender Inequalities – A Statistical OverviewĮl Saadawi is a women’s rights activist, who has herself experienced oppression within Egypt.

The hidden face of eve by nawal el saadawi