There are two things you’re born knowing about Egyptian society. We have nothing more than rules and judgments to pass around to shame those who don’t fit in, for whatever reason, into our society’s made-up rules.
Sure, this is horrible for many reasons (one being the inhumanity of it all), but this is factual. All you need to do is do something out of societal norms and you’ll get the axe for it.
It’s wrong, we know, but just because we now know it’s wrong doesn’t mean that the judgments have stopped. Everyone, especially women, are still judged and punished daily for things as insignificant like being single when they’re over thirty.
Before you say anything, no, this isn’t exaggeration and, yes, this type of shaming and punishment still happens even if you think it’s diminished over the years.
Think about it. You might already be getting asked about your love life at every random family event, but once you’re past a certain age, these questions come with a heavy side of entitlement.
Believe it or not, this is the least of it. Single women of a certain age can’t do many things. They can’t book hotel rooms, if they’re without male relatives or spouses, because somehow that’s the kind of thing you need men for.
There’s a certain kind of humiliation that cannot be described when it comes to issues like these. See, not only is it humiliating, it’s actually quite confusing too and potentially harmful.
When these hotels turn women under 40 away on grounds of no-men-present and assuming things we don’t even want to imagine, they might be throwing a woman who urgently needs a place to stay into danger outside — who knows what could happen to her now?
This doesn’t just fall into single-shaming women; it also falls into thinly-veiled misogyny. It falls into a category that says this woman (as long as she’s under 40, mind you over-40 women are apparently superhuman!) isn’t a complete person until she’s married or with a man.
But we’re not shutting up. And neither are the women.
In the spirit of fighting all the archaic notions still root-deep in Egyptian society, a growing number of women have decided to push back against this single-shaming through a hashtag called: #singleandhappy.
Present both in private groups and outside it, this new hashtag goes all out to tell tales of women who are single by choice or circumstances.
It highlights the stories of the women who escaped bad marriages or are widows. It centers women who preferred their careers over all else and others who just simply didn’t want marriage.
At first sight, you might think, ‘so what’? Hashtags like these have been present before. But you’d be wrong.
Here’s the thing. This hashtag and the immense popularity it has had in some women-only circles is important for a million reasons.
See, this hashtag isn’t just a slap in the face of an archaic society that still judges women on their marriageable values (despite how enlightened and progressive it tries to pass itself as being nowadays).
It’s also a chance to spread solidarity to other women who have felt like they were the only ones going through what they’re going through. A chance to spread encouragements and help to those who feel trapped between choices with nowhere to go.
With hashtags like these becoming popular in their circles and being discussed in public, our society can maybe finally access the change it still needs. It’ll finally see that women aren’t limited in their choices and it’s about time we embrace them.
