From Nawal El Saadawi to Huda Kattan, 13 Inspiring Women’s Words on Empowerment
By Malak Khaled
Women face many struggles in life that nobody would ever be able to survive, but they do. Some of them don’t see their worth, but each and every one of them have so much in them that they don’t really see. And to be honest, when the day comes, and they do see the ray of light that exists within, they will ‘Run the World’.
Here is a list of Arab women inspiring women with their wisdom to do more, to know their worth, and to move forward:
“They said, “You are a savage and dangerous woman. I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous.”
Nawal El Saadawi
“In every single culture I encountered, there were always women who defied cultural norms to do what they believed was right for them. This phenomenon has never been related to how rich, poor, successful or not successful the woman may be.”
Zainab Salbi
“To me, ‘beauty’ means to be natural, creative, honest – to say the truth.”
Nawal El Saadawi
“It feels really powerful to be able to embrace being a woman in the Middle East who’s not afraid to go into a boardroom and tell a room of men how it is.”
Huda Kattan
“If one girl with courage is a revolution, imagine what feats we can achieve together.”
Queen Rania of Jordan
“To the girls of the Middle East: Be immodest, rebel, disobey, and know you deserve to be free”
Mona Eltahawy
“I preferred to live as the master of men, not their servant.”
Nabawiyya Musa
“When a woman succeeds, she reaches out to those around her and pulls them up with her. That is why if you empower a woman, you empower a whole society.”
Queen Rania of Jordan
“You do not know your own beauty, you struggle in grief, but I, I have seen it all, and I know: You yourself are the secret essence.”
Mohja Kahf
“All women speak two languages: the language of men and the language of silent suffering. Some women speak a third, the language of queens.”
Mohja Kahf
“Baba always used to say that as we age, things change, we become more rigid, and then eventually, most of us, become forgiving again. He called it the cycle of life.”
Yasmine El Rashidi
“Happiness, she would explain, was when a person felt good, light, creative, content, loving and loved, and free. An unhappy person felt as if there were barriers crushing her desires and the talents she had inside. A happy woman was one who could exercise all kinds of rights, from the right to move to the right to create, compete, and challenge, and at the same time could be loved for doing so.”
Fatema Mernissi
“It is really hard to be lonely very long in a world of words. Even if you don’t have friends somewhere, you still have language, and it will find you and wrap its little syllables around you and suddenly there will be a story to live in.”
Naomi Shihab Nye
