{"id":661934,"date":"2025-03-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2025\/03\/07\/challenging-gender-based-egyptian-taboos\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T00:00:00","slug":"challenging-gender-based-egyptian-taboos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2025\/03\/07\/challenging-gender-based-egyptian-taboos\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging gender-based Egyptian taboos"},"content":{"rendered":"

? Zahra Barri\u2019s debut novel <\/strong>Daughters of the Nile<\/a><\/strong> weaves together the stories of <\/strong>three Egyptian women<\/strong>, each from a different generation of the Bin-Khalid family. The novel delves into themes of religion, sexuality, and feminism while shedding light on Egypt\u2019s complex sociopolitical landscape.<\/p>\n

The novel moves between different timelines. <\/strong>Readers are introduced to Fatiha Bin-Khalid, a feminist fighting for women\u2019s rights in political revolution. We then meet Yasminah \u2014 Fatiha\u2019s daughter\u2014 who faces an arranged marriage after she\u2019s caught having a controversial romance. Next, there\u2019s Nadia \u2014 Yasminah\u2019s niece \u2014 who battles with workplace sexism as she navigates her own identity. The book is controversial, with each narrative tackling some form of cultural taboo. Barri handles these themes with sensitivity to argue that personal freedom is often sacrificed for tradition.<\/p>\n

Barri\u2019s prose is both poetic and sharp.<\/strong> Her portrayal of Muslim women is refreshingly multifaceted, challenging stereotypes and bringing to life the resilience, intelligence, and complexity of her characters. <\/p>\n

You can find the book at <\/strong>Diwan<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The novel delves into themes of sexuality and feminism while shedding light on Egypt\u2019s complex sociopolitical landscape<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7293],"tags":[7419,6653,8511,2397],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-661934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-bookstore","tag-culture","tag-enterprise-weekend","tag-from-the-bookstore","tag-worth-reading","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"9aca7784-6fb3-41d4-8dea-262a96059805","order":"5","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"","related_issue":[661926],"teaser":"The novel delves into themes of sexuality and feminism while shedding light on Egypt\u2019s complex sociopolitical landscape","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2025\/3\/.2b45a03a-d7f7-4267-940c-80726275ab52.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nChallenging gender-based Egyptian taboos - 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