The Broken World Via Nawal El Saadawi
Most of Nawal’s writings contain women’s anxiety. The older she gets, the angrier she gets because she doesn’t see any improvement in the world but rather the opposite. Her educational background is a doctor, and she is the best graduate in her college. Two of her most significant works are “Women at Point Zero” and “Memoirs from The Women’s Prison.” Nawal is a person with a substantial revolutionary spirit within her.
“When I get out of prison, there are two routes I can take; I can become one of them (the ruler’s slave) so that I can get security, prosperity, prizes, be named a great writer, and I can see my picture in newspapers and television. Instead, I could have continued down a difficult path that had led me to prison. Danger has been a part of my life since I picked up a pen and wrote. There is nothing more dangerous than placing truth in the world. No power in this world can strip me of my writings.” — Nawal El Saadawi when interviewed while just out of prison.
Nawal firmly adopted Islamic ethics. It is better to take the moral path even though death will be the consequence. Her enthusiasm is worthy of emulation because, for 80 years, her fire still burns fiercely. Nawal’s significant assumptions before explicitly speaking to the realm of women are as follows;
“I believe in freedom, justice, dignity, and equality between all peoples. Regardless of gender, class, race, religion, color, or any other differences between people.”
For Nawal, the main problem on this earth is humanity, no longer matters of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, skin color, and so on. The highest level is humanity, whose characteristics are freedom, justice, dignity, and equality. Humanity is more than anything.
Why should women be defended? Nawal’s initial assumption was that women are half of society. You cannot have a revolution without women. You cannot have democracy without women. You cannot have equality without women. You can’t have anything without women. If women are discriminated against, it indicates that our social condition is broken because women are a big part of us. Thus, if the grand vision of justice and society has issues that intersect with women, then they must be defended because women are a large part of society. However, even today, there are still many issues regarding women.
On this day, the most pressing problem is women’s inequality. Is that right? Isn’t it is a fact that we all already living in peace? It is because the victim is not aware of the existence of discrimination against him; many women are not aware. Men in good (Western) civilization have greater access to prestige status, social honor, political authority, corporate power, wealth, and material comfort, whether they admit it or not. It is easier for men to become heads of an organization or institution than women. Men also dominate heads of state, ministers, commanders, etc., because they have this prestige status. Material comfort also affects gender, such as jewelry, clothing, grooming, etc.
Why is that? It is because hegemony gains legitimacy from social, political, cultural, and religious ideology. Many agents have established this hegemony, including parents and families. It is called cultural socialization. Etiquette is the same way; women have to walk like this, sit like this, act like that, etc. Socialization agents that establish patriarchal ideology consist of; parents and family, groups, religion, media and language, expression, and culture.
What Nawal is against is that women in most countries cannot develop themself because they cannot be free under patriarchal, capitalist, imperialist, and militaristic systems. What is the way of our life today that governs with power, not with justice, with fake democracy, not true justice. Nowadays, democracy lacks empowerment. It is more to phony democracy, unlike Athenian democracy. If democracy hammers, then its freedom is also not genuine. Those are the variables that are enemies of women.
The roots of oppression that make women marginalized are sex, state and government policies, and religious interpretation. Men, when they first see women, are just a fucking sex. So, don’t be surprised; in turn, all the behavior of men leads there. Admit it or not, that’s what men see first; it always leads to sex. It is this sex logic that places women as objects and men as subjects.
The second root is the policy of the state and government authorities. The injustice experienced by women stems from the flawed upholding of the rule of law. Men oppress women, but male rulers trample men who are not powerful, then men who rulers trample poor women who have no power. It is this unfair structure that gives birth to despair. These people’s outlet is not far from being a woman. When the husband is in trouble and stressed, the one who will be affected is his wife (female).
The third root is religious interpretation; today’s society is all broken, and you will no longer be able to find real Islam. Currently, everyone voices their interests, namely the interests of men, because most of those with power are men.
“On one occasion, he hit me all over with his shoe. My face and body became swollen and bruised. Then I left the house to visit my uncle’s house. But my uncle told me that all husbands beat their wives, and his wife added that her husband often beats her too. I said that uncle was a respectable sheikh, religiously educated, and he couldn’t possibly be in the habit of beating his wife. He replied that it is precisely men who understand that like to beat their wives. Religious rules permit to carry out such punishments.” — Nawal via Woman at Point Zero
I have to admit that Nawal is a legend. She vocalizes the notion of this broken world through her writings. She is the one who dares to speak up about the truth in a world full of evil. I’m not a feminist, but she is exceptional. As a man, I realize there is a lot of injustice on this earth for women. Many women are still too afraid to speak up about the truth, such as pregnancy, sexual harassment, etc.
Also, there is a lot of minority out there whose voices lack being heard (marginal group). I’m not talking about gender only, mate. It broadens than gender. I remember Nicholas Kristof once said, “inequality causes problems, leaving those at the bottom feeling marginalized and disenfranchised.” Let’s aware of such issues. It is no longer a gender, race, religion, or tribe problem. It is more of a humanity problem. Wake the fuck up, human…
Sources
El Saadawi, Nawal. Woman at point zero. Zed Books, 2007.
El Saadawi, Nawal, and Nawal Sa’dawi. Memoirs from the Women’s Prison. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1994.
El Saadawi, Nawal. The fall of the imam. Saqi, 2020.
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