Beyond the Veil | Anne is attending this very important conference in Philadelphia today on the changing Middle East and Arab world. It will be interesting to see if the status of women is even discussed.

A recent VOA article drew support on Anne’s Facebook page. Prominent Egyptian novelist, essayist and physician Nawall el-Saadawi says the the Egyptian women fear deeply that they must demand their rights.

Egypt’s leading feminist Nawall el-Saadawi In words that should resonate with American women who are rapidly losing our reproductive rights to men who insist on controlling our bodies and delight in our having only 17% representation in Congress after five decades of ‘liberation’, Al-Saadawi says:  “Women’s rights cannot be given … We have to take [them] by the political power of women,” she said. “And that’s why we are reestablishing our Egyptian Women Union.”

Her goal is to bring women from various organizations and belief systems together to fight for women’s rights in a collective group. Throughout the Middle East and Arab world, women fear losing rights just as we are in the United States.