This was written by Tasnim and originally appeared at epiphanies.
A while ago, the assistant editor of Destiny, a South African women’s magazine, emailed me asking for help in finding information on successful Libyan women online. Unsurprisingly she had found very little, since what information there is about Libyan women does not fit the criteria of ‘successful’. While women like Ibtisam Ben Amer, who recently ranked 28 on Forbes‘ list of most powerful Arab businesswomen, would by most standards be termed successful, the typical Libyan woman is more often represented with the usual connotations of backwardness and oppression attached, as in this picture from a Swiss magazine, which depicts a woman wearing a “traditional” farashiya.
As Berger has said, photographs are always much more than mechanical records, they bear witness to a unique choice being made. This one is no exception. The woman walking towards the camera hides most of her face and looks apprehensive, almost escaping what is behind her, cut off from the crowd by the bar of a shadow. The angle of the shot imposes as much mystery and menace as possible. Obviously, no photo would be complete without a reminder that this is a Third World country, although ironically, a few pages back the magazine had recommended Libya as a tourist destination precisely for being free of pestering street traders and beggars “so prevalent in many other North African countries.” Elsewhere the reader is reassured that “children in Tripoli are as healthy and happy as anywhere else.”
Of course, this photo and what is conveyed through it necessitates ignoring the fact that women wearing the farashiya are not exactly prevalent in today’s Libya, the caption presenting the emblematic clothing and the attitude it supposedly represents as the reality of all Libyan women, as a statement, a fact. “Libyan woman are demure and prudish.” The picture supplies the proof for an already preconceived essentialist notion of what Libyan women are, and then attaches a tip for tourists: “intense eye contact is not advisable.”
In marked contrast, this picture shows a group of women in a more widespread form of hijab, yet in juxtaposition with the caption “Women power at the Swiss office in Tripoli”, the implication is clear: this is women power as “western imitation”, accessible to usually prudish and demure Libyan women because they are lucky enough to work in a Swiss office.
The same mentality informs a BBC article by Rana Jawad, which claims that “women’s lib is taking off in Libya” and cites various examples yet ends by informing the readers that regrettably, “society’s perceptions of more traditional roles for women prevail” and that “the abiding image in Libya is still of women who rarely mix with men in public and still cover themselves up with a veil”, the double ‘still’ underscoring the severe developmental problems crippling Libyan women in their slow, gradual evolution towards liberation.
What seems to be totaly lacking in this analysis is that Libya is not a democracy. Libya is a dictatorship and like all people living under a dictatorship women suffer. Libya is acountry of 5 1/2 million people with vast oil weath. It should have the infra-structure of a gulf country and yet it continues to languish in poverty. Libyan women have access to education(women out number men in terms of university graduates), heath care and many other resources. Yet the schools have no current resources and the lack of professors is a HUGE problem in Libya. Also in terms of health care and other resouces, Libya is among the lowest in rank. Yes Libyan women can go to a hospital any time of day or night but will that hospital have the drugs to treat her condition or the equipment to diagnose her symtoms. As to Ibtisam Ben Amr, I have not heard of her before. The last name implies that she is a relative of Huda Ben Amer, who infamously gain favor with the Gaddafi regime, my slapping a political prisoner as he hung to death from noose during a public execution. Huda Ben Amer then became the de-facto mayor of Benghazi. If Ibtisam Ben Amer is a relative of Huda Ben Amer, then her “success” may have little to do with her and everything to do with the fact that you cannot be successful at anything in Libya without being intimately involved with the Gaddafi regime.
bint al 3agrab:Salam,You’re right. Political context is “lacking” in this analysis. In fact it’s non-existent. I would argue however, that this is because I was writing about stereotypical representations of Libyan women, not providing background information about Libyan women. Or about Libya. I didn’t set out to argue that Libya is a democracy. There’s no argument there. What I was trying to say is simple. Libyan women – in fact, Libyans generally – face a lot of challenges. I would be the last to deny that. But, in my opinion, those challenges do not include the “fact” that Libyan women are all innately “demure and prudish”, have problematic eye-contact phobias, or are somehow crippled by what they choose to wear, and spend their days bundled up in “traditional” farashiyas. All stereotypes which go a long way to creating the image of the typical Libyan woman as someone who cannot be “successful” due to socio-cultural-religious conditioning. I put “successful” in quotes because just who is “successful” isn’t something on which everyone will unanimously agree. I cited Ibtissam Ben Amer because making the Forbes list seems to me an indication of one type of “success,” notwithstanding extended family, said extended family’s political influence, and exactly how they got that influence. I’d guess that quite a few Arab women on that list come from families “in favour” with their gov’ts.My point is, a long list of Libyan women who’re doing particularly well in their chosen career, with or without ‘influence’, would not prove anything, if Libyan women don’t start tearing up the ridiculous, cartoonish stereotypes that make the phrase “successful Libyan woman” seem like an oxymoron.
I am Ibtisam Benamer’s son and I can say that your statement is false and hurtful. You proceeded to make an implication based on a name, and the fact of the matter is you could not have been further from the truth.
Although you end your paragraph with “if” she is a relative, I think your point would have been better served if you had done your research first. Your implication has tainted the otherwise sensible arguments you were making.