Khul-Khaal - Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories

"Our people prefer boys, because a girl's life is difficult. It's difficult in every sore of family and among all nationalities. A girl's life is not like a man's life. She has no assurance of being happy in her marriage. And her main purpose in life is to marry and to have children. A girl's and a woman's lives are a trial whatever happens. I don't know why."--Om Gad

Their stories are fresh and vivid, recording the various roles of being co-wife in a polygamous marriage, the complications of divorce, the rituals of female circumcision and marriage, the loss of children, life-long hate and its source, the position of witchcraft and superstition in their daily lives, primitive health practices, and managing a family's meager resources, including the gold or silver khul-khaal anklets worn by married women.

These self-portraits are fascinating reading and a mine of information for anyone interested in understanding contemporary Egyptian life. A foreword by anthropologist Andrea Rugh and photographs by Asma el-Bakry are included.

About the author

Nayra Atiya is a UNICEF prize-winning author and oral historian. She has translated a number of works, including the novels, Ramza and Zanouba, both by Out el Kouloub and published by Syracuse University Press.

Product details

• Authors: Nayra Atiya
• Assisted by: Andrea Rugh (Editor)
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.08.1982
• EAN: 9780815601814
• ISBN: 978-0-8156-0181-4
• No. of pages: 208
• Dimensions: 149 mm x 228 mm x 17 mm
• Weight: 322 g
• Series: Contemporary Issues in the Mid; Contemporary Issues in the Mid; Contemporary Issues in the Middle East
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories