I’d like to begin by wishing everyone a wonderful International Women’s Day (IWD). For just about a hundred years, March 8th has been set aside to commemorate the contributions (great and small) made by women everywhere. For a really interesting short video, produced by Russia Today, on the history of IWD in the Soviet Union and Russia, click here, and if you’d like to see a country-by-country list of events planned for the day, stay on that same page and scroll down just a touch. The list will be on the right-hand side of your screen.
Last Friday, I was sitting in one of my favorite restaurants in my neighbor, a place I’ve blogged about before called The Green Mill. While I was waiting for my lentil soup to come out of the kitchen, I was looking at the day’s edition of The Egyptian Gazette, one of several English-language newspapers published in this North African country. (By the way, the soup I was preparing myself to eat is also made by the Turks and is called “mercimek.” Unfortunately, I don’t know what the Egyptians call it, but I’ll be sure to find out as soon as I can.) Anyway, so I was reading the newspaper and came across an article that had a nice little factoid: It seems that women are the primary breadwinners in 60% of all Egyptian households. My immediate reaction was that that percentage seemed too high, but then I thought about it some more and came to the conclusion that it sounded about right.
After downing my soup, I strolled back home, got online and did a little research for my next blog topic. While doing so, I ran across the clip I’ve embedded. It’s such a nice little video that I don’t want to include any spoilers here. I will say this, though. It shows a wonderful example of why this world needs a day that is set aside for thanking women for doing all the things that they do.
After watching this CNN video on Gamma Gamma Chi, America’s first “Islamic-based” sorority, I had a look atthe group’s website, read about the organization’s history, and learned that it was founded, in 2005, by Dr. Althia F. Ali and Imani Canty. This “mother-daughter team” started the honor society as a way to “help improve the image of Muslim women and Islam in general.” Since its inception, the group has flowered and now has chapters located in several towns and cities throughout the United States.
I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Ali talk about Gamma Gamma Chi’s mission in the CNN piece. She came across as a great spokeswoman, especially as she discussed the ways the sorority could help “defy stereotypes” and then argued that this mission was needed because so few Americans have the opportunity to meet Muslims and interact with them. Toward the end of the video, Ali made it clear that the sorors were hoping to be as inclusive a group as possible and would welcome non-Muslims to either join the sorority or partner with it as it conducted various community-service projects.
I was drawn to this video because I’m an American who currently lives in Egypt and has spent most of the last twelve years living in the Middle East–firstly, in the United Arab Emirates and then later, in Turkey, before moving to Cairo. One of the reasons I continue to reside in this part of the world is related to something that Ali said. She pointed out that Muslim women should engage with non-Muslims and not shut themselves off. Actually, her point is an extremely important one. All of us should actively seek to meet as many different kinds of people as possible.
It’s only through interacting with others who are “different” that we learn and become (hopefully) tolerant of diversity. I have understood this ever since I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to live among Eastern Europeans. That experience helped me realize that I have a duty (to myself and to others) to learn as much as I can about the world and those who inhabit it, especially about those who live in places that are so often misunderstood by so many Americans. After educating myself about other places, peoples, and cultures, I can then do my part to educate those who have not had the opportunity to live in as many different countries as I have.
I hope I don’t sound too preachy here. That’s the last thing I want to sound like. I just very strongly believe that borders and boundaries (of all types) separate people, so we should do what we can to tear those walls down.
I found this brief CNN video that profiles Rosena Sammi. In the clip, Sammi, once a corporate lawyer but now a jewelry designer, discusses her career change and why she gave up such lucrative work to start her own business. According to the now-ex-attorney, making jewelry, which she considers “wearable” artwork, provides her with a “creative outlet” that was lacking in her former job. Though she’s made a dramatic change in her work life, she believes that the skills she gained as a lawyer are helping her succeed as an artist and designer.
The whole subject of changing careers is one that I’m interested in because I sometimes think (more like fantasize) about what it would be like if I could get out of teaching and do something entirely different. (Actually, a few years ago, I did just that and worked, for a time, as the director of a nonprofit museum.) Anyway, all this writing about leaving one type of life behind for another prompted me to go online to see if I could find out how many people are truly happy with their occupations. My feeling, before even looking at what the stats showed, was that many feel that the work they do is not the sort that is conducive to self-actualization.
I found this MSNBC article from 2007 that shows that most Americans (I wasn’t able, during the few minutes that I looked, to find numbers on people living and working elsewhere) are not terribly satisfied with their careers. OK, the article is a bit outdated, but I don’t see any reason why those numbers would have changed (for the better) in the last three years. Bottom line: dissatisfaction abounds in the workplace.
Like I said, none of this surprises me. The whole system is designed in such a way that career dissatisfaction is pretty much a guaranteed outcome. Students, when they first go to college, are asked to choose majors at an age when they have very limited life and work experience. Thus, at that age, most don’t know themselves well at all, yet they are asked to make very personal decisions that will shape their lives (and limit their options) well into the future. The way many of us go about choosing our careers is, I think, a recipe for much unhappiness.
