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Egyptian single mother who spent 43 years living as a man to work and provide for her daughter honou

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Egyptian single mother who spent 43 years living as a man to work and provide for her daughter honoured as the 'ideal mother' - Africa - World - The Independent

An Egyptian single mother who spent 43 years living as a man in order to work and provide for her daughter has reportedly been honoured as the “ideal mother” in Cairo.

Sisa Abu Daooh, 64, received the “woman breadwinner” award from the Social Solidarity Directorate of Luxor for working so hard to provide for her family,Al Arabiyareports.

Ms Abu Daooh was left without an income when her husband died while she was pregnant. The newspaper reports that her situation was made more difficult by the fact that working as a woman was frowned upon in her community in Luxor.

Faced with a lifetime of begging on the streets, she disguised herself as a man by wearing loose, full length robes and took on manual jobs making bricks, working in construction and polishing shoes.

“I preferred working in hard labour like lifting bricks and cement bags and cleaning shoes to begging in the streets in order to earn a living for myself and for my daughter and her children,” she said.

“So as to protect myself from men and the harshness of their looks and being targeted by them due to traditions, I decided to be a man … and dressed in their clothes and worked alongside them in other villages where no one knows me.”

Her daughter Houda went on to marry a man who later fell ill and was unable to work, leaving Ms Abu Daooh once again responsible for the family. She now works mostly polishing shoes, which she says earns her a “decent income”.

Houda praised her mother for providing for the family and said she still gets up at 6am every morning to go to work.
 
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Mother from Egypt lives as man for 43 years to serve her family
By The Times Of India
Published: March 20, 2015
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They say one has to be an ideal woman to become an ideal mother but sometimes it happens conversely. Meet Sisa Abu Daooh, 64, an Egyptian single mother who spent 43 years ‘living as a man’ in order to work and raise her daughter. And guess what, the lady has been honored as the “ideal mother” in Cairo.

A report says Houda received the “woman breadwinner” award for being so hard-working to provide for her family.

She found herself in a financial predicament when her husband died while she was also pregnant. What made matters worse was that she lived in a society that raised eyebrows on working women.

Instead of choosing to become a beggar for the rest of her life, she actually disguised herself as a man, validating it with wearing loose and taking on jobs from construction and bricks to polishing shoes.

Faced with a lifetime of begging on the streets, she disguised herself as a man by wearing loose, full length robes and took on manual jobs making bricks, working in construction and polishing shoes.

Describing this situation, Houda said, “I preferred working in hard labor like lifting bricks and cement bags and cleaning shoes to begging in the streets in order to earn a living for myself and for my daughter and her children,” she said.

She now works mostly polishing shoes, and is happy to learn that this earns her a decent pay.

“So as to protect myself from men and the harshness of their looks and being targeted by them due to traditions, I decided to be a man … and dressed in their clothes and worked alongside them in other villages where no one knows me.”

Houda not only sustained an initially difficult situation but also became responsible for the entire family’s financial status to help her daughter Houda whose husband fell ill and was unable to work.
Admiring whatever that was bestowed on her, Houda praised her mother for working so hard and highlighted that she still gets up at 6am every morning and goes to work.

The story was originally in The Times of India.
 
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this is nonsense... why didn't she move to a better city??
 
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this is nonsense... why didn't she move to a better city??
I read in some other news that their were laws against women working. So city would be irrelevant. And may be she was too poor to be in a big city?
 
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we have no rules against women working
I am not sure where I read it, it was middle of the night, and I wasn't paying attention. May be it was that working was hard for women. Whatever the case, she found it to be easier to pretend to be a man.
@jamahir
Regardless, she led a hard life for her daughter, respect for her.


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Second post:
What made matters worse was that she lived in a society that raised eyebrows on working women.
May be this was the case.
 
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yes, she has led a difficult life ( even if self-inflicted ) and must be appreciated.
Here we are trying to pay respect to her, and you are trying to prove her a masochist! Go with the flow dude!
 
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