Suchergebnisse

Debarking the plane, with children in tow, we move into the receiving area of Cairo International Airport and find a tearful family waiting for us to emerge from the final baggage check. Every one of our numerous female relatives present is wearing the new Islamic dress, covered head to foot to hand in a dark flowing abeya. We embrace them all, but discover someone missing from their welcoming ranks: my husband's sister, Ameena. It is explained that, mash' Allah, Ameena has taken the niqab, a small sartorial addition (a rectangle of fine mesh material covering the face and eyes) that nonetheless signals a radical change in her life choices and physical movement. Ameena has sent word that she will meet us at home; she prefers to avoid mixing with unrelated men at the airport.

In spite of rhetoric about an incipient citizen's democracy in Egypt, civil conditions are such that they militate against organized change. There is a sustained (23-year) state of emergency which limits public protest, political parties and civil organizations. Depressed economic conditions tend to draw people away from social and political concerns in favor of basic survival. In spite of this, a growing minority of citizens do engage in numerous diverse forms of activism. Women form a large part of this cadre. Contrary to the stereotypical depiction of them as passivevictims of patriarchal oppression, women have organized themselves for over a century around various feminist, nationalist and religious causes. They have challenged both state authority, and prevailing gender ideologies and practices that shape their everyday lives (Al-Ali 2003).