The
never-before-reported story of this generation of Arab women, who are
questioning authority, changing societies, and leading revolutions.
For
more than a decade, Katherine Zoepf has lived in or traveled throughout
the Arab world, reporting on the lives of women, whose role in the
region has never been more in flux. Only a generation ago, female
adolescence as we know it in the West scarcely existed in the Middle
East. There were only children and married women. Today, young Arab
women outnumber men in universities, and a few are beginning to face
down religious and social tradition in order to live independently, to
delay marriage, and to pursue professional goals. Hundreds of thousands
of devout girls and women are attending Qur’anic schools—and using the
training to argue for greater freedoms from an Islamic perspective. And,
in 2011, young women helped to lead antigovernment protests in the Arab
Spring. But their voices have not been heard. The world changes because
of wars and terrorist attacks, but it also changes because daughters
make different decisions than the ones their mothers made. This is an
investigation into the changing lives of this generation of Arab
daughters.
In Syria before its civil war Zoepf documents a
complex society in the midst of soul searching about its place in the
world and the role of women. In Lebanon, she documents a country that
appears freer than other Arab nations but whose women must balance
extreme standards of self-presentation with Islamic codes of virtue. In
Abu Dhabi, Zoepf reports on a generation of Arab women who’ve found
freedom in work outside the home. In Saudi Arabia she chronicles driving
protests and women entering the retail industry for the first time. In
the aftermath of Tahrir Square, she examines the crucial role of women
in Egypt’s popular uprising.
Deeply informed, heartfelt, and
urgent, Excellent Daughters brings us a new understanding of the
changing Arab societies—from 9/11 to Tahrir Square to the rise of
ISIS—and gives voice to the remarkable women at the forefront of this
change.
Description:
In Syria before its civil war Zoepf documents a complex society in the midst of soul searching about its place in the world and the role of women. In Lebanon, she documents a country that appears freer than other Arab nations but whose women must balance extreme standards of self-presentation with Islamic codes of virtue. In Abu Dhabi, Zoepf reports on a generation of Arab women who’ve found freedom in work outside the home. In Saudi Arabia she chronicles driving protests and women entering the retail industry for the first time. In the aftermath of Tahrir Square, she examines the crucial role of women in Egypt’s popular uprising.
Deeply informed, heartfelt, and urgent, Excellent Daughters brings us a new understanding of the changing Arab societies—from 9/11 to Tahrir Square to the rise of ISIS—and gives voice to the remarkable women at the forefront of this change.