To be a woman is to undergo several processes. From altering the shape of your nails, removing blemishes to styling your hair, the ‘female process’, as artist and photographer Nancy Ragab calls it, is an entire empire that emerges from society’s need to create a woman – you are never born a woman. For Nancy’s grandmother, the female process in her time was different. She cannot not dye her hair, or walk in sweatpants at home, or let her hair loose, or be seen with ‘messed up’ nails. Her beauty regimen was a second religion she had to obey and follow; an exclusive thing between women that is passed on to the next generation of women. But is femininity permanent? Today, as a modern and young Egyptian woman living in the outskirts of Cairo, Nancy no longer sees womanhood through a unified lens. She doesn’t need to follow a regimen every night, wear high heels, or be seen with fully styled hair at all times. Exposure to all kinds of women, times and cultures allowed her to have some level of choice, despite the constraints that still exist. “Femininity is…
‘Hagat Helwa’: Exploring Egyptian Femininity From Past to Present
October 13, 2020
