Nawal el Saadawi calls for adding mother’s name on ID

World renowned feminist author and activist Nawal el Saadawi unveiled her thoughts on Sunday talking about historic change that disregarded or rather totally removed the mother’s name from IDs. Saadawi was hosted by Fe-Male Association and the Lebanese Democratic Youth Union in collaboration with Dar al Adab publishing house. The woman who represented a pivotal axis of ancient civilizations, namely the Egyptian civilization, has turned from a ‘goddess’ to a ‘satan’ and from a ‘rational thinker’ to a ‘headless person’, El Saadawi said. She suggested adding the name of the mother to ID document of a person along with his/her father’s name, as did her daughter, novelist Mouna Helmi. The author of Memoirs from the Women’s Prison reminded her audience of the law enacted back in 2008 which allows the registration of an ‘illegitimate child’ by his mother’s name, and hence allowing him to unconditionally enjoy the rights of any other child. El Saadawi raised, in the form of questions, the issues of ‘hijab’, women and ostentatious makeup and nudity. Focusing on the wearing of ‘hijab’, she said it is indicative of a political trend and is not by any means related to religion or sex. She criticized wearing make-ups and finery as a distracting factor which is nothing but a waste of time and money, and even, undermining the self-esteem of women. On nudity, El Saadawi expounded her outlook on the issue saying it emanates from discrimination between the sexes. Recounting her visit to the School of Fine Arts in Cairo and her close examination of life (nude) drawing classes, she said none of the students, males and females, have asked a male to pose nude for drawing. (Al Akhbar, April 4, 2017)