Egyptian rapper speaks for women's rights
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| In this Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013 photo, Egyptian rapper Myam Mahmoud poses for a portrait in downtown Cairo. Mahmoud, an 18-year-old Egyptian, rapped her way to the semi-finals of the Middle East’s hit TV show “Arabs Got Talent.” While she didn’t win the program, Mahmoud did succeed in throwing a spotlight on something more than just herself. On a very public stage, her songs pulled back the curtain on the slew of challenges that women across the Arab world are fighting to overcome. “I wanted to tell girls in Egypt and everywhere else that they are not alone, we all have the same problems, but we cannot stay silent, we have to speak up,” Mahmoud told The Associated Press during an interview at her home. |
CAIRO (AP) --
As soon as the beat started, the young woman bobbed her head to the
rhythm, raised her hands to get the crowd clapping and then unleashed a
flood of rap lyrics that tackled some of the biggest social challenges
women face in the Arab world.
With the Middle
East's hit TV show "Arabs Got Talent" as her stage, 18-year-old Myam
Mahmoud rapped about sexual harassment, second-class treatment of women,
and societal expectations of how a young religious woman should behave.
The
Egyptian teenager didn't win the program - she crashed out in the
semifinals - but she did succeed in throwing the spotlight on something
bigger than herself.
"I wanted to tell girls
in Egypt and everywhere else that they are not alone, we all have the
same problems, but we cannot stay silent, we have to speak up," Mahmoud,
who wears an Islamic headscarf but not a full-face veil, told The
Associated Press.
In Egypt, a country where
politics have grabbed most of the headlines for the past three years,
little space has been dedicated to addressing social problems. So
Mahmoud, who is a first-year student of politics and economics at the
October 6 University in a western Cairo suburb, decided to draw
attention to women's rights through rap.
"Everybody speaks about politics, but nobody tackles the topics that relate to me the most," Mahmoud said.
She
said she gets the ideas for her songs from the surrounding community,
and that sometimes girls send her their problems to write about and give
them a voice.
"Many girls want to say what I rap about, but they cannot for many reasons," she said. "I speak for them."
One
of the biggest problems for woman in Egypt is sexual harassment. A U.N.
report released in April said the issue had reached "unprecedented
levels," with 99.3 percent of women in the country reporting that they
have been subjected to sexual harassment.
"There
is no single female in Egypt that has not been harassed, regardless of
her looks," Mahmoud said. "As soon as a girl is born in Egypt, she is
repressed with many pressures."
Part of the problem, in Mahmoud's eyes, is that women don't speak out against harassment.
"I wish we would not be silent about our problems," she said. "We have to snatch our freedoms, nobody will just offer them."
Her lyrics take the issue head on.
"Some
of us see the answer is to cover up, and if the girl is hidden she will
not be assaulted," she raps in one song. "My body is only mine."
Initiatives
to counter the problem have increased in the past year in Egypt, where
volunteer groups have started protecting women at street protests. On
the other side of the debate are conservative religious clerics who
blame women, saying they invite harassment and sexual abuse by mixing
with men.
The issue is, in part at least,
linked to the broader expectations that many men in religiously
conservative Egypt have about women and their roles in society. Mahmoud,
with her quiet self-confidence and animated performances in a genre
that has gained more acceptance among younger Egyptians in recent years,
has challenged those expectations.
She said
she received a flood of messages after her performance on TV accusing
her of misrepresenting Islam with her look - read veil - and attitude.
But she dismissed the criticism, saying "religion has never been a
constraint - we put the curbs on."
"The veil
was never a problem for me because it is my personal choice," she said.
"If I'm going to add anything new to my life it has to go with my
initial choices."
