Cultural Shackles of the Feminine Experience
Mona Youssef
Laila Hussein, a young woman in her early 20’s who used to live in a highly conservative household in the buzzing city of Cairo, Egypt, rebels against her family values and moves out of her family home. Laila shares her story, a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking series of events consisting of limitation of freedom, erasure of individuality, and cultural oppression in a refreshing fashion.
We discuss our shared female experience in living within the cultural borders of the Middle East, and deeper into the borders of Egypt, then Cairo, then the borders of our own homes, discussing the differences and similarities of what femininity, culture, and family means to us.
Laila Hussein is a dear friend of mine, and while I have lived some of the important events in her life, she tells her story in a refreshing and mature way, like I’ve never heard before.
Credits
Intro/Outro Music Credit: Mona Youssef
Additional Music:
Cupelli, M., 2015. “Touch.” [online] Available at: Emotional Sad Piano Music | Touch (Download and Royalty FREE)
Relevant Links:
France 24. 2021. Cairo named world’s ‘most dangerous’ city for women. [online] Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/20171016-cairo-deemed-worlds-worst-city-women
Knoema. 2021. Egypt Adult female illiteracy, 1970-2020 – knoema.com. [online] Available at: https://knoema.com/atlas/Egypt/topics/Education/Literacy/Adult-female-illiteracy
Refworld.org. 2021. [online] Available at: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5a17ef454.pdf
UNFPA Egypt. 2021. Gender-based violence. [online] Available at: https://egypt.unfpa.org/en/node/22540#:~:text=Also%2C%20the%20research%20%E2%80%9CStudy%20on,sexual%20harassment%20in%20their%20lifetime.
Cover Image:
“Woman in Gold Bracelet and Gold Bracelet” by Viktoria Slowikowska from Pexels Free to Use