Women Role In Writing Women’S Worlds By Lila Abu-Lughod
Writing Women’s Worlds by Lila Abu-Lughod contains the past anecdotes, poems, and conversations of many women and young girls who live in a small village community in Egypt during and post World War 2. The critical ethnography talks about their troubles with the men in the communities and of the adventures with outsiders that come into the group. From an anthropological perspective, it identifies how the Bedouin group interacts with other groups and the various concepts in their society.
The first chapter focuses strictly on the life of Migdim and the hardships she faced in order to get to her state. In her younger age, after her mother died, her father had attempted to marry her to many men, one of which was her first cousin from her father’s side (of patrilineal descent). Despite Migdim’s refusal, her father had gone as far as to point a gun to her and says “If you don’t shut up I’ll send you flying” and to scream at her for ruining the tent dyes by pouring it on herself. Midgim had gone so far as to run away and seek help from her matrilineal uncle, which ended in her favor of avoiding this particular marriage arrangement. However, the marriage arrangements didn’t stop there. In order to prevent other marriage arrangements, she had refused to eat, she threw and broke plates, she screamed, and she cried eventually becoming successful in canceling the arrangement.
The final marriage arrangement was with Jawwad, whom she had 7 living children with. After Jawwad’s death, her sons had moved up to being the leader of the family and initially coming to their mother to seek her advice. But later they would disregard her advice and go against what she recommended. For instance, they would arrange marriages for their sister to men that Migdim did not agree with, they would sell property to neighbors. They inevitably treated Migdim as if she were a tedious act rather than treating her as their responsibility as their mother. As she was growing old, it was wise for the community to look up to Migdim and seek her counsel. The women of the community held her in higher regard, but the men treated her with disrespect, as they still held power within the community. In this chapter, gender roles in the Bedouin community are seen. Such as, the woman’s responsibility being looking after the house and barring children, and Migdim’s sons being responsible for providing for the family.
The third chapter is also important to note because it illustrates the importance of women. For example, although the men of the family benefit the most and receive the inheritance, many of the women within the Bedouin group prefered to bare girls. One went on to state, “…it is only the ignorant who prefer boys. Some daughters are worth a hundred sons” because of everything that the women contributed to the household, and to the community in the sense of expanding it. However, this idea could be challenged, giving that the men of the community would be taking over for them upon their parents’ death. Furthermore the importance of women within the community is expanded through another perspective, childbirth.
