An Egyptian Woman’s Struggle with “Mafish haga gaya fel seka?”

One might think that getting married will save them from these snaring comments; one couldn’t be more wrong. Getting married seems to only accelerate the rate at which these comments come. This time, you are not being asked if you’ve managed to snatch up a man, but if you’ve managed to get yourself pregnant!

Yara El Guindy

Yara El Guindy

Yara’s voice is recognizable by most Egyptians. She has been greeting us for years on Nile FM and Nogoum FM. This hasn’t stopped people from making these comments, though. To Yara, it all  boils down to stereotyping, “realize that a woman’s accomplishment in life isn’t based on finding a husband”, Yara says. Sadly, this is how most of our society think, and when Yara, who is now married, is asked about when she plans on having children, she answers with the generic, “inshallah”, accompanied by a smirk; she walks away almost immediately afterward.

Sara Romany

Sara Romany

Entrepreneur Sara Romany, Founder of Mint & Company, has been recently married. Since then, she has been bombarded with questions about when she will have children. A private matter as it is, Sara finds it extra awkward when asked about it by strangers, “I get asked that from clients because they’re worried about their business”, she tells. Surprisingly for Sara family are the ones that don’t pressure her a lot about it, “they’re very supportive and understanding, but of course they say ‘okay not now’, but they can’t stop asking about when it’ll happen”, she explains. However, Sara knows what she wants, and is happy with the way her life is now, “I’m really enjoying my marriage; traveling with my husband, living and going out with him. There’s also work and it satisfies me, gives me purpose and makes me feel proud and accomplished”, she tells.

“One might think that getting married will save them from these snaring comments; one couldn’t be more wrong.”

Sara Demerdash

Sara El Demerdash

Sara El Demerdash is a Communications and Outreach Program Officer at UNDP. Her work in human rights and women’s rights is admirable and inspiring. Since her marriage, she’s had her fair share of unneeded comments about children. To Sara, those are harder to evade than questions about marriage, “you can respond to questions about marriage saying you haven’t found the right person, it’s out of your hand”, she says, “but when you’re married there’s no excuse”. Sara doesn’t always say what comes to her mind when she gets asked about children, “what I really want to say sometimes is that the world is overpopulated already, we don’t need to add more children to the world”, she tells.

Natalie Ghamrawy

Natalie Ghamrawy

Natalie’s work is as delicious as it is inspiring. Founder and Owner of Fondue Pot, she is one of our favorite entrepreneurs. After getting married recently, she has been dealing with comments about children, “I do especially from families, and my extended family too”, she says, “I give them the ‘inshallah’ since I get it a lot”. Natalie still counts her blessings, though, especially when it comes to her parents, “I’m lucky with my parents; I’ve been married for two years and they haven’t commented”, she tells. Natalie’s work is still blossoming, and that is something that she works hard for, “I still have a lot to do in my career, I’m not even 30% done with what I want”, she tells, “I’m always looking at what I need to do, I look at the dark side to grow even more”.

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