For this post I decided to interview my mother, Wafaa Mohamed. During the 70’s my mother was 9-19 years old and lived in Alexandria, Egypt.

Q: when you were living in Egypt was there any women’s rights activists?

A: Yes, there was but that happened after the Russian alliance.

Q: Why did Egypt ally itself with Russia at that time?

A: During the 70’s Egypt was at war with its neighbor Israel and seeked an alliance since Israel had an alliance with England and France.

Q: How did Russia cause social change during this time?

A: Well, before the alliance women were much more conservative and by this I mean women wore conservative clothing, women mostly wore chanel lengths(a skirt or dress that went past your knee). Once the alliance was formed cultural appropriation occurred. During this time there was more emphasis on women to show their beauty rather than hide it. Women decided to embrace this new change and wore mini jubes and later micro jubes(a type of skirt or dress that was above the knees).

Q: How did this effect society?

A: This caused a lot of conflict within Egyptian households, the elders/parents of women would argue with them and try and convince them to be more conservative with their clothing. That they should revert back to chanel lengths and that skirts were far too revealing and thus shameful. I heard stories of women being disowned by their families for failing to change their appearance.

Q: Did any policies/ laws change because of this?

A: Yes, laws for divorce and custody changed after about ten years of cultural appropriation.

Q: Did you decide to embrace the new fashion trend at the time?

A: I was very interested in fashion back then as I am now, So yes I did. I kept it a secret from my family to avoid conflict. I would wear a long skirt and fold it once I was away from home.

I decided for this post that i’d watch one of my favorite series, Mad men. Mad men takes place during the 60’s and highlights the social upheaval for both men and women at the time. One of the characters that really stuck out to me in this series was Joan, she started off as a office manager and initially believed that she wanted to find a husband and quit her job so that she could be a “respectable” housewife. Of course many women at the time were expected to do so. In fact in the 60’s people assumed that the only reason a women would work is if they failed to find a man to support them. The reason why I like Joan’s character is because she rejected these expectations and decided to work anyways. As I stated earlier Joan started off thinking she wanted what was expected of her from society, however as time passed and responsibilities grew so did she. She turned out to be a strong individual that didn’t need a man to lead a happy life. In fact she eventually divorced her husband and it didn’t effect her negatively one bit. I think what would have been the most damaging thing that could have happened to Joan was not working. Not working would have meant that she would have lost the excitement and validation she got from running the administrative side of the advertising agency. Not only that but, without her job she wouldn’t have had been able to leave her husband in the first place, thus no independence or freedom. It goes to show that the societal norms in the 60’s actually held women back from being financially independent / individually free. Those brave women that chose to work despite the stigma learned this truth firsthand and were better for it.

My mom was born in the early 70’s in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but lived most of her life on the island on Mustique before coming to the USA in the early 2000’s.

Q: When you were living back home did you see a lot of movements and activism for women’s rights?

A: No

Q: Did you feel like women during your time had a voice or a dominant place in society?

A: I am not sure, because I lived in Mustique [small private island]. So I did not really question or was not really exposed to things like that. I never felt that division while living there. But I did remember the Teachers Union March in St.Vincent.

Q: What was that about?

A: A group of teachers walked out to protest their rights on certain things, it was a powerful thing, but still sad.

Q: Was it successful? Did it bring about any change?

A: Very little change. The Prime Minister at the time, ordered troops to tear gas them during the protest.

Many countries are not as powerful and educated as America. We just go with the flow sometimes. Women knew their place and stuck to it. I never questioned my role as a woman.

• My mother also detailed to me about a time she was slapped by my grandmother for not giving food to her step-father at the time. She felt like as the man of the house he had a responsibility to take care of them. But my mom had to support my grandmother and her 5 other siblings, along with her step-father. My grandmother enforced obedience to men in the household. My mom also mentioned that her role as the care-taker and the bread-winner gave her a sense of independence and she thinks it made her the strong and assertive person she is today.