Women at the forefront: a feminist approach to intercultural dialogue

Food for thought: Women, revolutions and citizens’ movements, from feminism as avant-garde movement in Arab countries to European political activism during last years / Women as driving force in the practices for active citizenship on the two shores / Women’s movements as a tool for a common civic and political engagement and for promoting intercultural understanding.

Objective of this dialogue: Letting women’s pivotal role emerge, as core element for emancipation and for building citizenship, while reaffirming the values of respect and compliance with fundamental rights and practices of intercultural mutual contamination.

Summary by Sara Borrillo, University “L’Orientale” of Naples, Italy (moderator)

Participants: Costanza Matafù, Italy, Gender Focal Point for Al-Hayat, Centre for the development of civil society (Jordan), formerly volunteer for the Sisterhood is Global Institute; Takoua Ben Mohamed, Tunisian woman residing in Italy, graphic journalist and screenwriter, founder of “Fumetto Intercultura”, a series of comics talking about intercultural issues that has had a great media and political success over last years; Esraa Abdelfattah, Egypt, (via Skype, has she is under a travel ban imposed by the Egyptian government), political activist who had a pivotal role in the mass protests of January 2011 in Tahrir square. She works as a consultant on civil society for the Egyptian Democratic Academy at the moment,  as well as a journalist and consultant on social media for the newspaper El-Youm7 and the magazine 7Ayam.

The three guests talked about their own life and work experience both as women, thus object of discrimination, and as part of a community, facing different challenges.

As far as Takwa Ben Mohamed is concerned, she testifies her personal historical memory of discriminations against women in Tunisia through graphic journalism. Moreover, she is engaged in deconstructing the different stereotypes she faces regarding Islam in her daily lifeasf young Tunisian Muslim woman living in Rome, which is the capital of Italy, western country).

Regarding Costanza Matafù, she is engaged in Al-Hayat, an Arab organization working also for women’s rights, where however she still finds some difficulty in making the association adopt a point of view focused on universal compliance with human rights for everyone, without any distinction.

As far as Esraa Abdelfattah is concerned, her struggle for women’s rights is part of the struggle for human rights and freedom for the Egyptian people. The activist is forbidden leaving her country because of her political engagement.

The experience of these three young women witnesses their common engagement for a wider acknowledgement of women’s rights beyond cultural borders, regardless of their sense of belonging to the feminist movement.