Hijabs and hymens

Drawing on her years as a campaigner and commentator on women’s issues in the Middle East, she explains that since the Arab Spring began, women in the Arab world have had two revolutions to undertake: one fought with men against oppressive regimes, and another fought against an entire political and economic system that treats women as second-class citizens in countries from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.Įltahawy has travelled across the Middle East and North Africa, meeting with women and listening to their stories. In HEADSCARVES AND HYMENS, Eltahawy takes her argument further.

She responded by writing a groundbreaking piece in FOREIGN POLICY entitled ‘Why Do They Hate Us?’ ‘They’ being Muslim men, ‘Us’ being women. In November 2011, Mona Eltahawy came to worldwide attention when she was assaulted by police during the Egyptian Revolution. Although Eltahawys passionate book contributes to the struggle against womens oppression, in the face of endemic.