Notes from Jehan Sadat's talk at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts
Photo: allaboutgeorge
What follows is a sort of bullet-point list (without the bullets) and my own commentary. I don't take shorthand, so I only wrote down certain remarks, and obviously there are omissions, and sometimes generalities where finer points were made by Madame Sadat.
Thanks to George Kelly (Negrophile, All About George) for inviting me to this event. George had two tickets and when the other person cancelled he contacted me; it was good of him to think of me.
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Madame Jehan Sadat (JS) opened by saying she divided her time between the United States and Egypt, spending six months here and six months over there. She said she could understand the wait for peace but she didn't understand the delay in women's equality. She expressed impatience for women's equal involvement in society, and the role that poverty and disease, as well as tradition, that held women back. (I thought the reference to tradition was a bold - even radical - thing to say, but unfortunately she didn't touch upon this directly in her address.)
JS encouraged women's participation in all aspects of life, but also in public roles (and she listed some examples, such as newscaster). I took this to mean it was important that women were given not just paper rights, but full representation and visibility in public spheres; legal rights, yes, but the right to positions of high visibility and thus power (this is my interpretation).
JS saw no conflict between being a good (effective) social activist and being a good wife and mother. I wanted to hear more about how this can be achieved, but she didn't speak as to the finer points.
JS then told a very amusing detailed story involving an event that took place 30 years ago, involving Queen Nefertari's tomb, a tour, shoes, and a check for 1 million, but that won't translate well here so I'll just footnote it. It got a big laugh from the audience, though.
She spoke about how she considered her relationship with her husband, President Anwar Sadat, to be more than just "husband and wife". She didn't elaborate but I took this to mean their relationship transcended the traditional (conservative) gender roles and expectations that are so strongly associated with the words "husband" and "wife".She said they shared a deep love for each other, for their country, and for God.
JS also emphasized that she couldn't have accomplished anything without the support of women and men. She talked about her SOS project, and the legal rights she pushed through. (You can read more about her work at the Jehan Sadat Wikipedia entry.) (I see George has uploaded his photo of her that night!) Briefly, she talked about the legal reform which they call "Jehan's Law" in Egypt. These laws gave women new rights, including to alimony and custody of the children. The focus was on granting women new rights, of course, but also ensuring the welfare of the children.
She had two job offers in the States—should she leave Egypt? She moved to Washington, D.C. in 1985. Currently, she is Senior fellow at The University of Maryland, College Park. At this point, having heard all that she had accomplished, and how she worked with her husband and in the public sphere, I thought she was a great leadership figure for women.
She then shared a bit more of her personal life by reading out a fax she had received from her grand-daughter (or was it great-grand-daughter?). It was very humorous and, again, I'm bowing out of repeating it here as jokes don't go so well in print form sometimes!
JS then mentioned three of her personal feminist heroes, and I'm sorry to say that I did not catch all their names. I believe the first one was Amita Said [sic], another was her Ph.D. advisor, and the third whose details I don't have in my notes. These were Egyptian feminists whom she called her heroines. So I think she was trying to show how women need mentors, as well as leaders, whom they can look up to. The importance of having your own personalheroess who demonstrate alternative (feminist) ways of being in the world (my interpretation). [If I find the names of her Egyptian feminist heroines I'll add them to these notes.]
She also mentioned that she was very into social activism before she met Anwar Sadat; she said her social activism began three days before her 19th birthday. This was a mysterious statement and one that I wanted to hear more about, but she didn't go into that. But she was very much involved in following politics in the news, etc., before she met Anwar Sadat.
JS also made people laugh when she said that whenever a birthday or anniversary rolled around, her husband would ask her what she wanted, and she would say, "I don't want a present, I want this for women, I want that for women…" etc., which is a pretty right-on alternative to asking for a material gift! Especially if you are in a position where you can make things happen, or are married to someone who can make things happen (my commentary).
There was a big emphasis in her talk about the need for education of women, and for women to be able to participate fully in all aspects of public life. I read this as a way of saying, "Hey, there's a great resource here that is hindered by out-dated, useless ideas about gender. Let's get rid of the old rules and free women up to fully contribute." My interpretation, though.
She said it has been 25 years since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. She called him a great statesman and a visionary leader. I have to chime in here and say I agree with her. (You can read more about President Anwar Sadat at Wikipedia.)
One of her concluding statements was:
"The future belongs to those who live and work for peace."Which I thought was a moving and visionary thing to leave us with. She displayed great leadership qualities—the role of a leader being, of course, to motivate us towards working together to achieve what is commonly thought to be impossible.
She did say one final thing, but I was busy writing down the above sentence, so I didn't catch it…! I guess I lose the "best transcription of a talk" award…
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We all clapped and then there was a question and answer period. I hoped she would take questions from the audience, so there would be more direct contact between her and the audience, but no; there were these cards outside the theater that you were supposed to write your question on and hand in. Contra Costa Times publisher John Armstrong walked on stage with a microphone and read some pre-screened questions.
Question #1
The first question concerned the age difference (14 ½ years) between Jehan Sedat and Anwar Sadat when they first met and what her parents thought of it all (that Sadat had recently been in prison, his social activism, etc.). I thought this was a fairly low-risk question, and also one a middle-class Western audience could easily relate to. I also thought it was a wasted question. (And one which JS didn't really answer, although she talked more about the details of their courtship.)
There is an inherent power dynamic at work when one person in a relationship is much older than the other one, but a) I wasn't interested in hearing about that right then, and b) I don't think JS was interested in addressing that. But it was certainly an issue that the audience could easily relate to.
JS talked about her family background—that her mother was British, and that her mother and her father had met at university in Great Britain. JS also explained that her cousin knew Anwar Sadat and that was how she met him (although she had been following his work in the newspapers).
Question #2
There was a slightly awkward moment when the moderator read the second question, which asked about the money that was associated with the Nobel Peace Prize; someone from the audience said, "She's already talked about that!" but I don't think he heard. JS good naturedly answered the question.
The upshot: when Anwar Sadat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 (along with Menachem Begin), there was a "dispute" between JS and her husband over what to do with the money. Of course she was joking, but she had a good time ribbing her husband a little bit. (The money was used to make improvements to Anwar Sadat's home village).
Question #3
I didn't write this one down but it was something like: what changes must take place in Western and Middle Eastern Muslim cultures to achieve peace?
JS cited how President Jimmy Carter's negotiation role was instrumental in achieving an agreement at Camp David. (For further information on the history of the site of Camp David, see Wikipedia.)
President Anwar Sadat, President Jimmy Carter and Prime Minister Menahem Begin at Camp David in 1978. Source: Wikipedia
The citation of President Carter's accomplishments at Camp David only served to underline how lacking our current President is in these areas. Although I hasten to add this is my own response and JS never aired direct criticisms of the U.S. President—in fact, just the opposite. She made a couple of statements that displayed her belief that the Bush Administration could step up to the plate and use it's power as a world leader to effect peace in the Middle East. I found this a bit naive, but perhaps she was just putting a brave (public) face on it?
Anyways, she said the U.S. has the power to bring Palestine and Israel leaders together.
Question #4
What are the common misconceptions Americans have of the Middle East?
JS said Americans need to self-educate themselves more about Middle Eastern culture - especially those who are in roles where they have direct contact with people from the Middle East.
She also said she thought exchange programs weredesirablee, such as having professors from the Middle East come over here.
Question #5
Is there anyone on the horizon who can fill the leadership void since the assassination of your husband?
JS immediately answered, "There is no one like Sadat." Which got a warm and agreeing laugh from the audience.
She said there are Middle Eastern leaders, but they need the push and leadership from the U.S.
Question #6
What best action can the U.S. take for world peace?
JS: "Do like President Carter did." She was speaking, of course, of his aforementioned role as negotiator and leader.
Question #7
If you could say just one thing to the women of the world, what would it be?
JS: 1) Educate yourselves. (She meant make sure you get educated.) She pointed out that education is a wonderful thing with many benefits. She gave some examples but I can only recall that she said, "Educated mothers make better mothers."
Education opens doors.
2) She is optimistic about the future for women, and she encourages other women to be optimistic as well. She said it is much better now than it was 20, 30 years ago. (My interpretation: Take heart in that and push further. It can be done!)
3) Nobody is going to help you unless you help yourself. She then repeated education three times like Tony Blair did at the Labor party conference some time ago.
Question #8
Can you read a poem?
Well this was another soft question but given all the other hard ones, and that she's a poetry scholar and writes poetry, it was a well-judged feel-good question to end on. Besides I wanted to hear her poetry.
She read a poem which she said she wrote in Arabic, called "An Answer to a Question". She reminded the audience that when poems are translated they lose their cadences and rhythms.
I have located a transcription of the poem in another talk Madam Sadat gave in Tennessee (from Google's cache), and have copy and pasted it here, puting in some line breaks:
How often have you asked, with a tremor in your voice,…
'What love do I have for you?'
'Love', you asked.
But what do I, in my guarded life, know?
If love means a bit of memories to be recounted,
if love means we talk of souls,
and that spells magic,
and that quickens the beat of my aching heart—
then, my dear, I love you.
If love it is a constant image that ever holds my mind,
that fills my eyes with beauty unsurpassed,
a beauty that is meek at times,
at times, raging, conquering the unattainable—
if love is this,
then, my dear,
I love you.
If love it is an aching yearn that rages like a holy storm,
or soothes with its calm but always boosts me up,
to come face-to-face with you,
heavens high, and then,
the eloquent words, with silent folds—
if love is this,
then, my dear,
I love you.
If love is enchantment with your every move,
with every tremor of your voice, with every step you take,
if love is this
My dear, I love you.
Thus end my notes. I hope they were of interest, and my apologies to Madam Sadat for omitting so much of what she said, and possibly mangling what she did say!
She did talk more on international peace than my notes convey. She also emphasized several times the need to demand and work towards equal rights for women on a global scale. Finally, another bit I remember is that she said that Anwar Sadat was the greatest teacher she ever had.
Camp David photo: Wikipedia.
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