PS- if there was ever a country where pepper spray and tazers should be legal and readily available, this is it
http://blackincairo.blogspot.com/2010/04/struggling-with-sexual-harassment-by.html

SOmetimes I wish I could talk like a white girl to a man who wants to judge me, “Mind your own business!” Oh but if I do that, I’ll get spit at, perhaps.

I’ve always thought as long as a woman wears something decent, then it’s OK. Ok meaning, she shouldn’t be criticised. Sometimes I feel I’m wearing hijab just so that I will not be judged as an “easy” woman by men. That is, I wear it just so that I will not be labelled in a negative way. I hate it. Why can’t Arab men just mind their own business??!

I don’t know but these days I start to really feel that Allah will not mind if I don’t cover my hair. Or if I become a decent ad model (that is a taboo in Arab society too). The shame taboo thing is really starting to get on my nerves. Thing is, it’s getting harder and harder these days to work a good job with a good paycheck when you cannot be free enough to wear what you want (and I don’t mean bikini or mini skirt or see throughs or all that. Just something decent without having to cover the hair and exclude pants/jeans all the time). I mean seriously, why would an employer choose a woman who has so much fuss about covering her hair and not wearing pants (must try best to wear long skirts, which, by the way, are hard to find and expensive comparing to pants and jeans)and not wearing make up when he can get a woman who has no such fuss and appears friendly and approachable??

I start to feel that to be a really, really “non-aib” woman in the eyes of Arab men is only possible if your husband or family is super rich. Think Saudis. Their women have chauffers, maids and drivers. They don’t have to work. So they can live like a perfect hijabi “respectable” woman. Because clearly, with all that help, even I wouldn’t mind not only covering my hair but also my face and eyes and everything really! But fact is, outside Arabia (and Kuwait perhaps), most women just HAVE to be in public. They have to work because cost of living is expensive, and the salary is small. Depending on husband’s income alone will not cut it. You’ll end up trying to borrow from others. Or from the bank. Or some do things they shouldn’t do (like cheating their business partners or stealing etc). Western convert muslim women will not understand this. They say you can make it if only your husband works. But I beg to differ. I’m from asia. And from where I come from, we don’t get free health subsidies, free education or such things as coupon systems. Everything is super expensive to locals because everything must be paid. There’s no such thing as a welfare system here. One would have to borrow money just to buy grocery!

But how can we women work if just to BE in public is considered aib??? How can we women really work if talking to men is aib, being in company of men is aib? How can we avoid men when face it, the workforce is of course majored by men?? And worse, how can you efficiently compete when there is too much restrictions on you as compared to on men or on non-hijabi/non-restricted women whether muslimah or non muslim??

I really wish I have an answer to this. Can’t take it anymore.

I’m sure you all will agree that it has nothing to do with religion since no religion teaches that (apart from a few ideologies who, as per their scriptures, treats women so).

And I am more astonished at the fact that the western world is silent about all that’s happening to women in Egypt. Rather, Egypt has enjoys very good relation with them. Double Standards. Isn’t it?

Do you think it would make them go away?