Kaity A. Williams
Professor Jennifer Goodland
Hon 2760
Nonfiction Analysis
The majority of Arab Americans are Christian. Only about 12 percent of Muslims
worldwide are Arabs. In fact, there are more Muslims in Indonesia than in all Arab
countries combined. Today, Arab Muslims represent the fastest growing, albeit still
minority, part of the Arab American community. Religious practices that direct personal
behavior–including the five-times-daily prayers, month-long fast at Ramadan, beards for
men and the wearing of the hijab (headcover) for women make Muslims more visible than
most religious minorities and thus more vulnerable to bigotry.
In this paper I will examine the relationship between Islamic Arabic women and their
socio-economic culture in relation to the positive and negative outcome regarding
economic and financial situations that has and can occur starting at the time of the first
introduction of feminist activism in the 70’s and 80’s, through the Arab Spring to the
present. And I would like to expound upon how the movement has had an effect on the
present economic situation for women in the Middle East, especially in Egypt and the
surrounding countries. I would like to discuss Middle Eastern women and the invisible
economy that exists. The book I would like to use as my jumping off point will be
Memoirs from the Women’s Prison. I will also used many other books, websites and
journals to elaborate and provide depth to the topic. I am interested in this topic because I
am an American woman who will obtain my undergraduate degree in finance and
international business and will then obtain a dual masters degree in finance and economics
and I would like to show the difference between womens roles and the effects of theses
roles in these two very different cultures. I believe that the most challenging aspect to
success in life whether it is personal or professional is access to education and an
opportunity to express free will. When one lives in a culture lacking in freedom or having
the ability to create one’s own existence a person’s life is limited by the confines of
someone else’s master plan. I am majoring in finance as I came from a position of meager
means and I not only want to learn how to control money so as it does not control me but I
want to be able to assist others in learning how to take back control of their financial future
