On the Back of Culture and Religion: The Oppression of Arab Women in Nawal El Saadawi’s Women at Point Zero

Abstract

Nawal El Saadawi’s Women At Point Zero points eerily at the reality that in the
Arab world which Egypt represents in the text, a trifecta of sex, religion and
death forms the core of women oppression as espoused through the tragically
unfortunate life of Firdaus, the novel’s major protagonist. This paper is therefore
unequivocal in stating that the Arab world -through the canvas of Egypt- in the
Saadawian text is a space for the pervasive oppression of women. The condition
and oppression of women in the Arab world can be located within a toxic mix of
culture and religion which has engendered virulent misogynistic attitudes towards
women in general. In thislight, the paper embraces Feminism especially its radical
strand as the most potent option available to any woman living in a fundamentally
hostile space as the Arab world, where misogynistic attitudes are constructed
deliberately by men’s contempt for women on the back of culture and religion.