Accused of failing to keep their marriage, not putting their children first, or simply not ‘marriage material’, divorced women in Egypt have long been under a shadow in the eyes of society. Yet, in Egypt’s patriarchal society, this is a perception that does not extend to divorced men. Undergraduate students of October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), Farah Abdelgawad, Habiba El Mekkawi, and Rose Agha, decided to fight this stigma. “Through our research, we realized that there haven’t been any campaigns addressing the struggles that divorced women face in society,” says Abdelgawad. With a passion for social impact, these young women launched ‘Enty Zel Nafsek’ (You Are Your Own Shadow), a social awareness campaign aiming to fight the stigma surrounding divorced women in Egypt, and end the unjustified discrimination against them. “Zel ragel wala zel heita” (A man’s shadow is better than a wall’s shadow) is a famous Egyptian saying often used to encourage women to get married or discourage them from ending a failing marriage. Echoing a popular thought, the saying claims that living under the protection of a man is better for a woman than living…
Meet the Egyptian Youth Campaign Fighting the Stigma Around Divorced Women
June 5, 2022
