After her family
accepted her ardor
for learning, Elizabeth
Pantoren earned a doc-
torate and became an
officer for a conservancy
group and a champion
of girls’ independence.
Today’s exhortation, as
she shows a Karare class
a reusable sanitary pad
holder: No girl should
ever have to miss school
because of her period.KENYA
COMMUNITY
ACTIVIST
custom that is widely adhered to across the Arab world, and challenging
it means working against a religious establishment that bases the law on
the interpretation of Islamic texts.
“The heart of the dispute between us is about the family,” Hamida says.
“Their idea of a family is patriarchal, which is the exact opposite to ours.”
She’s referring to people like Halima Maalej, a conservative religious
woman and activist who, while supporting most of the pro-women
reforms, draws the line at equality in inheritance: “Why do they want to
change the foundation of our society and its traditions?” she asks.
A supporter of the Ennahdha Party, she remembers being silenced
during the secular dictatorships of Bourguiba and Ben Ali. She struggled
to find a school that would accept her because she was veiled, before
eventually finding a place in a Christian school. “Our voices were weak,
almost silent.”
Now she and her veiled friends want to be heard. She believes that
SHAPING THE FUTURE 69