Both Right and Left Handed: Arab Women Talk about Their Lives

by Bouthaina Shaaban

Book by Shaaban, Bouthaina

Genres: Middle East

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Bouthania Shaaban (Arabic: بثينة شعبان) has been professor of English literature at Damascus University since 1985. In the 1990s, she served as principal interpreter for President Hafez al-Assad and was an active participant in the Middle East peace process. She is currently the political and media adviser to the President of Syria.

Dr. Shaaban's life and work are the subject of Ziad Hamzeh's film Woman, which was awarded the Golden Palm for best film at the 2008 Beverly Hills Film Festival.

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book points up the stunning paradoxes of the Syrian Civil War. Here we have a strong pro-feminist Arab woman, advocating for change in the face of traditions like honor killing. On the face of it the book is eloquent. But then she was invited to help her government and took a high-level position in the Assad administration, hoping to promote her vision. She ended up serving the dictator, because she believed his enemies were reactionaries, as the country descended into a fratricidal bloodbath.

[Yezzen Alrawi · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was actually so unbelievably fascinating and could actually be one of the most interesting i have ever read. its a compliation of interviews with like a million arab women in the 80s in syria, palestine, lebanon, and algeria. the format in which the book is written allows me to pretty much live vicariously in the arab world.
damn women were not treated well back then. whats interesting is that because men did not fw with women back then, homosexuality amongst women in the arab world ran rampant(prolly still does today).
the main takeaways really is that women face limitations economically, legally, and socially but the social pressure is the loudest out of all them.
the last section focusing on berber tribes in south algeria was really refreshing and totally gave me a whole new perpsective on islam in society.
the author is from syria and also high up in the Assad regime, so she kinda glazes the regime pretty hard. crazy that her position changed in the time that i was reading this book.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah woah woaaaah. Depressing yet uplifting, such an informative read to help deepen my understanding of the struggles Arab women face. Looking forward to researching the changes (as it was written in the late 80s) to current conditions for women in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Algeria. A whole new appreciation for Bouthaina Shaaban.