This article is from the public number: interface culture (ID: BooksAndFun) , author: Pan Beyond & Ai Zhe, Photo by Edward Cisneros on Unsplash
We are now frequently discussing women and gender and discussing the various types of injuries faced by women.Harm, oppression, injustice or imbalance. At this point, we tend to treat women as a unified group. In fact, women also have their own internal complexity – as mentioned in the preface to “Housewives, Dancers and Pastors: Seven Women’s Documentary Stories”: Gender, class and social environment often provide reasonable choices for individuals. The explanation, but is the identity of “female” accurate and stable?
In order to witness and discover the social meanings and limitations of women of different identities in different countries, the team created seven young journalists or scholars overseas to interview seven people living in Japan. Ordinary women in India, Sweden, Egypt, France, Cuba and other places.
The Anna and Nina of Sweden are church pastors, professors of theology, or a pair of gays who have been registered to marry, both wearing a wedding ring and a theological professor’s ring. In the Cuban story, 54-year-old Louis is a transgender. He feels like a girl from a young age, and at the age of 22, he is determined to leave his hometown and become a dancer in the long-awaited capital of Havana.
The author attempts to lead us through these two stories to think about the dual framework of “male/female” in most societies, and women are often limited by this framework in family and social life. For transgenders and homosexuals, people need to discuss identity building with a new gender definition.
Cuba, 54-year-old transgender Louis wearing a women’s dress (Source: “Housewife, Dancer and Pastor”)
Since the rise of the feminist movement in the 20th century, the concept of gender equality in the public sphere has gradually been recognized, but the positioning of women’s family roles is difficult to shake. In heterosexual families, women seem to have natural care for their husbands and children, which can be explained by the original gender unconsciousness, but fundamentally, this reflects the social and cultural unconsciousness – “motherhood” becomes female The extended attribute is more like an institutional arrangement that is “good for society.”
In the stories of Japan, Egypt, and India, readers can see the confusion of women in a given role—they are housewives who re-seek public roles in middle age, professional women who work to earn money while caring for their husbands, and refuse Female artist supported by her husband. In the stories of France and the United States, the reader sees the dissolution of “female”. For the French, gender equality has been the topic of the last century. These young women are unwilling to be consumed by topics such as “female beauty”.
Authorized by the publisher, the interface culture excerpts the stories of Egyptian and Swedish women from the book Housewives, Dancers and Pastors, with the intent to compare the lives of women in two societies close to the ends of the gender affirmative spectrum, and Readers have discovered the specificity and complexity of gender issues.
Egypt: Malva: “After getting married, you don’t even have the right to change TV channels”
Graphic | Pan Beyond
Malva is a colleague of my work in Egypt. She is an English journalist and translator. She is very capable at work. At the same time she is also a child’s mother, and plans to have another child.
The years when I was working in Egypt, it was the period of turbulence in Egyptian society. After two “revolutions” initiated by the people, the government changed three presidents, triggering a series of chain reactions: the national economic downturn, society The security is worrying, the people’s lives are not guaranteed, and the problems of unemployment, school loss and loss of trust are serious. The phenomenon of “inequality between men and women” that was originally highlighted in the society is even more caused by the fact that several cases of sexual harassment occurred during the “revolution” caused public concern, which made people think about the social and cultural issues hidden behind them.
In other words, for a modern Egyptian woman, how to find a balance between personal, workplace, family, social and religious roles is indeed a A tricky thing.
Malva Yahya Abdul-Kalim (Marwa Yahya Abdel-Kareem) born in Egypt from 1980 Nile Delta De Gahli Province (Daqahliyah GoveRnorate) A middle-class family who currently works as an English journalist in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
Unlike other traditional Arab families, in the Malwa family, although she is the eldest daughter, she is responsible for taking care of her two sisters and a younger brother, but the family has been very important to her since she was a child, encouraging her to study, she has been Prove your ability with excellent academic performance. The university chose Malva, a literary major, and mastered two foreign languages, English and French. After graduation, he went to Cairo, the capital, first as an English translator in a government agency, and then as an English journalist.
Malva is writing (Source: “Housewife, Dancer and Pastor”)
The deeds of Malva’s work in the capital have been passed down as a story in his hometown. Her aggressive attitude in the workplace is to make the hometown obey the dogma, the housewife who is a housewife or the simple physical labor. However, Malva also has the troubles of professional women. As a reporter, she has encountered many “female-free” situations in religious activities. The opportunity to enter the presidential office is usually given priority to male reporters. These restrictions have had a significant negative impact on Malva’s income and promotion. At the same time, this also limits Malva’s original aggressive and outgoing character, forcing her to reluctantly choose to bury her head in the office.
A few years ago, Malva met her current husband, Majid, in the office. The two men became interested in each other and then gave birth to a healthy son, Adam. The couple worked hard and bought new homes with savings.
In many people’s eyes, Malva’s marriage is very happy. But in a few conversations with Malva, I still feel the confusion of her role as a wife and mother. She said half-jokingly: “If you want to change the world, you should do it before you get married, because after marriage, you don’t even have the right to change the TV channel.”
Talking about her husband Majid, Malva complained about her husband on both the honeymoon and the children’s education: because the husband did notIn preparation, the honeymoon location changed from the originally planned Turkey to the seaside city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt; the husband seems to have not been too responsible for the newborn children, and even taking the children to swim is half-pushing. Fortunately, she is somewhat satisfied with her introverted character of her husband’s incompetence: At least he will not like to provoke women like many Egyptian men.
When the couple are innocent to take care of their children, they use a way that seems to be common to many families around the world to solve the problem: throwing the child to the parents. Malva took her mother from the countryside to the city, rented an apartment not far from home, and her son Adam lived with her grandmother.
July 17, 2015 is the “Eid al-Fitr” of Islam, which means the end of the month of the fasting period. Egyptian Muslims took a reunion dinner with their families after attending the morning gathering. I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in a family dinner in Malva on this important festival.
This day, Malva’s mother, sister, husband, son and other family members gathered in this rented apartment. I saw the image of Malva as a virtuous family woman – she skilfully cleaned up the room and cooked the food, in stark contrast to her confident, capable workplace image. The food of the day was very rich, and Malva was happy to share the food for everyone. After the meal, I also presented a delicate homemade dessert.
There are not many times when I met Adam. He gave me the impression that it was naughty. Except for Grandma, almost no one can discipline him. Also because of naughty, Adam will be sent to the hospital at three days, rubbing medicine, sewing needles are commonplace. However, Malva has no blame for her son, but she is deeply apologetic. She firmly believes that this is because the child is not too lonely with her companion.
Malva embraces son Adam for dining on Eid al-Fitr (Source: Housewife, Dancer and Pastor)
If people used to have children in order to increase labor and anti-aging, then most of the reasons for living now are to find a play for children.With this in mind, Malva and Majid have been trying to give birth to a younger brother or sister for Adam. However, their plans are not smooth. In August 2015, Malva induced a second induction and will die. The fetus in the abdomen was buried. The last induction of labor was a year ago, when she was sick, she was tired of the fetus in the abdomen; this time because of an accidental fall, the amniotic fluid was lost, resulting in fetal disability. According to the doctrine of non-abortion, Malva waited for two months after the fall, until the fetus died naturally, and then induced labor.
In the meantime, Malva has traveled to private clinics 20 km away from home for color ultrasound inspections. The cost of each inspection is up to 800 Egyptian pounds (at that time One dollar is about 7.83 Egyptian pounds), which accounts for about one-fifth of her monthly income. She told me that “fear” occupied her heart during that time. By contrast, high expenses, precarious work and weak physical conditions are nothing.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to see Malva’s smile again. The sun was very pleasant that day, and she was going to the American University of Cairo in the city center to see the professor of translation courses. If all goes well, she can take the exam and get an English interpreter certificate. After graduating from college, Malva received a certificate in English translation. Later, due to the relationship between work and marriage, the plan for the interpreter was stranded.
Now, in her view, the social situation tends to be stable, and she personally experienced some misfortunes. It is time to do something exciting. According to Malva’s character, even if she does not get a certificate, she can enjoy herself and enjoy the state of learning. Even if the certificate can’t bring her career development, Malva is very satisfied, “At least one more temporary job can be translated to increase income for the family.”
When I was talking to Malva last time, she was taking a taxi and took her son Adam to the hospital. It was said that this little mischief was hurt because of the climb. I didn’t ask much, just ended the conversation with a greeting used by Muslims: I wish you peace.
Sweden: Anna and Nina: “We are both in their 60s, and the focus of life is still growing in love”
文 | 寇爱哲图 | 寇爱哲王家敏
I used to work for a Swedish news agency in China for many years. After leaving office, in July 2015, I went to Sweden to visit my former colleague Hannah. Hannah lives in Uppsala, a city only 70 kilometers from the capital, Stockholm, Sweden.European Christian women’s meeting. At this meeting, Anna met Nina for the first time. During the conversation, Anna found Nina to know her own friend who had just passed away. So, in addition to the meeting, two people talked about death while walking. When the dice were opened, they couldn’t be completely closed. They decided to be together.
Anna and Nina at Uppsala Cathedral (Source: Housewife, Dancer and Pastor)
Nina Edgard Beckman (Ninna Edgardh Beckman) grew up in Stockholm and his parents are psychoanalysts. Unlike Anna, who is from the pastor family, Nina’s parents are liberals. They don’t want to instill too much religious thought into their children. I hope that children can choose their faith freely. After graduating from the School of Journalism at Stockholm University, Nina became a journalist.
After 10 years in the media, Nina realized she was interested in Christianity. After meeting Anna, she returned to university to study theology, became a pastor in 2010, and became a professor at the University of Uppsala Theological Seminary in 2011.
In my usual cognition, Anna and Nina are very special–they are women, gay, and priests, which is quite rare in churches in other countries.
It is necessary to introduce the Swedish church here. Like other European countries, Christianity plays an important role in the historical process of Sweden. The 16th century religious reforms removed Sweden from the control of the Holy See and became an independent country. Although the number of believers has been decreasing in recent decades, the Swedish Church still assumes government responsibilities in population registration. In particular, in the context of Christianity being widely regarded as a conservative camp, the Swedish Church supported gender equality, shouted for homosexuality, and became a liberal front.
As mentioned earlier, in 1958 the Swedish church allowed women to becomeFor the pastor – you must know that the Swedish society at that time was still relatively conservative, and women had to take up the work of the husband and wife. Today, Swedish female pastors account for 40% of church pastors, which is rare in other Christian countries.
Anna’s brother KG Hamar (Antje Jackelén) was successfully elected in the seven years after Anna’s campaign and became the first female archbishop in Sweden. Created history.
Between 1986 and 1990, Anna reached the peak of her career: she was elected director of the Geneva World Council of Churches. During her tenure, she focused on women’s issues and went to countries to visit local churches and women’s groups. When Anna took office, it was the end of the “United Nations Women’s Decade” plan (Ecumenical Decade of Churches for Women) activities. In 1995, she also came to Beijing to participate in the Fourth World Conference on Women.
The attitude of the Swedish church towards homosexuality has always been more tolerant. Anna and Nina have never been treated unfriendlyly. Especially Anna, she showed that she was gay when she was a pastor at the beginning, and the church has always supported her behind her. In 2009, the Swedish church appointed Ava Bruen
Anna and Nina show their rings like urchins (Source: Housewife, Dancer and Pastor)
“Christian interior is also full of debates about homosexuality. Especially in recent years, many theological researchers have proposed a positive description of homosexuality.” Anna believes that Christianity needs to face this problem. The book “Love Lost in Translation” published in 2013 (Love Lost in Translation) considers the early church’s translation of the Bible deliberately Go to the chapter on homosexuality.
Anna’s brother has repeatedly voiced gays when he was in office, calling for gay people to adopt their children’s rights. “I don’t think my brother is doing this for me because he has a lot of gay friends, he is doing it for everyone.”
Why does the Swedish church become a pioneer in gender equality? This can be seen in the liberal political tendencies of the Swedish society.
From 1930 to 1990, during the 70 years, the Swedish Social Democratic Party won 40%-55% of the votes in each election and was elected to the ruling party, becoming one of the most successful liberal parties in the world. . In Congress, it has a majority of seats for 100 years.
Sweden has many public policies that promote gender equality. Anna said: “I think the better is the maternity leave system. Part of the time is reserved for my father.Mother can’t use it.
Anonymous maternity leave is a major feature of Swedish society. Sweden’s paid maternity leave lasts for 480 days. The most important thing is that both father and mother have three months of compulsory maternity leave. This way, Dad can’t throw the responsibility of taking the child to his mother alone. So on the streets of Sweden, I often see my father with a tattoo on my shoulders feeding her baby.
The biggest beneficiary of the Swedish gender equality policy is the family. Whether men, women or homosexuals, as long as they are involved in the family, they will receive a full subsidy from the government. This makes the Swedish child the happiest child in the world. A large number of children’s literatures that advocate freedom are born in Sweden, including “Long Socks Pippi”, “Little Flying Man Carlsson” and various types of picture books.
Several countries in Sweden – Denmark, Norway, Finland – like Sweden, have topped the list of various “happiness index”, so the “Nordic model” is regarded as the object of study by many countries. At the 2016 US and Northern European Summit, Obama joked: “Why not try to let these countries manage the world?”
Although both of them are over 60 years old, Anna and Nina have not slacked off in their careers. As a professor of theology at Uppsala University, Nina is also training pastors while doing theological studies, while Anna continues to run for Palestine refugees.
Anna believes that the best part of marriage is companionship and sharing. “Yes, we are both in their 60s, and now the focus of life is still growing in love – love for oneself, love for wife, love for family, love for foreigners, for people who have seen Love.”
“Housewife, Dancer and Pastor: Seven Women’s Documentary Story” Wang Jiamin Editor-in-Chief CITIC Publishing Group · Spring Tide July 2019
Abstracts section of this articleExcerpts from “Housewife, Dancer and Pastor: Seven Women’s Documentary Story”, published by the publisher, the subtitle is the editor’s self-written, written by language: Huang Yue, editor: Huang Yue, Chen Jiajing, can not be reproduced without authorization.
This article is from the public number: interface culture (ID: BooksAndFun) , author: Pan Beyond &;寇爱哲