I'm no fan of Sarkozy, but I support a ban on face veils because they erase women from society and are promoted by an ultra-conservative ideology that equates piety with the disappearance of women.
Mona EltahawyRead
As a feminist of Egyptian and Muslim descent, my life's work has been informed by the belief that religion and culture must never be used to justify the subjugation of women.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of protecting women's rights against oppressive cultural and religious practices.
Mona Eltahawy, as a feminist, highlights the conflict between cultural practices and the rights of women. She asserts that neither religion nor culture should serve as tools for the oppression of women, advocating for a stance that prioritizes gender equality and the empowerment of women regardless of their cultural or religious backgrounds.
Themes
FeminismWomen'S RightsCultureReligionOppression
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in speeches advocating for gender equality.
More from Mona Eltahawy
All quotes →It is the harassers and assaulters who make us 'look bad,' not the women who have every right to expose crimes against them.
Mona EltahawyRead
I can write about my culture and religion because I am a product of both. Even when I'm accused of giving ammunition to the Islamophobic right, in the struggle between 'community' and 'women,' I always choose the women.
Mona EltahawyRead
I believe at the heart of any revolution for social justice and human dignity are consent and agency, the unequivocal belief that I own my body - not the state, not the church/mosque/temple, not the street and not the family.
Mona EltahawyRead
I will never ally with Islamophobes and racists. But in the choice between 'community' and Muslim women, I will always choose my sisters.
Mona EltahawyRead
I detest the niqab and the burka for their erasure of women and for dangerously equating piety with that disappearance - the less of you I can see, the closer you must be to God.
Mona EltahawyRead
Similar quotes
Never underestimate the desire to bolt.
Pema ChodronRead
Could it be ... that the hero is one who is willing to set out, take the first step, shoulder something? Perhaps the hero is one who puts his foot upon a path not knowing what he may expect from life but in some way feeling in his bones that life expects something of him.
P. L. TraversRead
It is not in our hands to prevent the murder of workers… and families… but it is in our hands to fix a high price for our blood, so high that the Arab community and the Arab military forces will not be willing to pay it.
Moshe DayanRead
As far as this business of solitary confinement goes, the most important thing for survival is communication with someone, even if it's only a wave or a wink, a tap on the wall, or to have a guy put his thumb up. It makes all the difference.
John MccainRead
As African-Americans, people of that generation felt pretty much if they were going to see changes in the world, they had to make sacrifices and step up to the plate. I'm very proud that my parents happened to be people who did. They were not privileged to have a formal education.
Ruby BridgesRead
I was only a working-class boy from a Nationalist ghetto. But it is repression that creates the revolutionary spirit of freedom.
Bobby SandsRead