Colonel Adib al-Shishakli Talks to the Correspondent of The Woman's Voice

About two months ago a delegation representing the magazine The Woman's Voice visited Damascus to strengthen the bonds of friendship between Syrian and Lebanese women's circles.

The delegation at that time addressed to His Excellency Colonel Adib al-Shishakli a series of questions on his position regarding the Syrian woman; but unforeseen circumstances and lack of time prevented the meeting, and consequently prevented the obtaining of answers.

The Woman's Voice, however, believing in the importance of Colonel al-Shishakli's message, sent its correspondent, Miss Karam Tanir, to Damascus last month to obtain the answers herself. The way for this interview was prepared by Mr. Qadri Qal'aji, head of the press bureau at the General Staff headquarters.

Our correspondent describes her impressions of His Excellency the Colonel, saying:

"I sensed in his personality a hidden strength unknown to those who have never sat with him. He is not merely the stern military man, the devoted strongman who knows his country's needs; beyond that he is a generous host, of the utmost gentleness and courtesy. It is no wonder that at his hands Syria should gain every useful measure among the reform steps calculated to raise up the people and lift its standard of living, until it equals in civilization the other advanced peoples."

(The Editors)

Q — The Arab woman envies her Syrian sister, for she was the first to win her political rights — even if incomplete. Do you favor granting the Syrian woman her full political rights on an equal footing with man, or do you consider the present situation sufficient for her?

A — The Syrian constitution has guaranteed woman her rights, though its reference to this subject lacks clarity and detail. In Syria today there is a new national movement around which we wish to gather all the good elements in our country: the "Arab Liberation Movement." In the program of this movement there is a clause devoted to woman, providing that the state shall work to raise her level and prepare her to perform her national duties within the sphere of the family and of society alike. This, in fact, is our point of view on the question of woman. We believe that the basis of this question is culture and awareness: the aware and cultured woman has the right to exercise her rights on a wide scale. As for the ignorant woman — and this holds true of men also — she has not reached the level that qualifies her to share in deciding her country's destiny and directing its policy. That is why we see certain electoral systems give the cultured man two votes while giving the ignorant man one vote.

Q — Does the program of the Syrian army provide room for the formation of women's reserve units?

A — We have begun, in relative measure, to include woman in the military service that suits her particular aptitude. In the military medical service we have women doctors and nurses, and we have sent some of them to Europe to specialize. General mobilization ordinarily conscripts a tenth of the population, but the figures published on conscription in Israel show that mobilization there has risen from a tenth to a fifth, and there is no doubt that this is due to the conscription of women alongside men. In a country like Syria, whose population density is counted low, no defensive force of any weight can be formed unless its women join with its men in defending it. For this reason I support woman's participation in the forces of national defense within the limits of her capabilities.

Q — In your capacity as honorary president of the "Soldier's Family" association, do you believe that the Syrian woman, as a citizen, is performing her duty toward the army in your era?

A — The answer to this question is almost bound up with the answer to the previous one. The citizen's sense of his national duty depends on his cultural level. There is a by no means small portion of Syrian women citizens who understand this duty and perform it in the best manner. I was moved once when I learned that one of the girls' schools had donated to the armament-support project a sum modest in its value, great in its meaning, because each of the pupils who joined in paying it had given up all the pocket money she possessed, prompted by the patriotic feeling surging in her breast. There are, of course, ignorant women — and ignorant men too — who do not perform their duty as they ought, and this goes back to their weak appreciation of the importance of national defense. I believe, as I have said, that the more a person advances in the field of culture, and the more a people advances in the arena of civilization, the more his sense of his national rights and duties grows.

Q — I know that you attended the ceremony of the distribution of diplomas at the Syrian University and saw the abundant number of young ladies who passed in the various branches of specialization. Do you support the Syrian girl in her pursuit of higher education?

A — You will have learned from my previous answers that I find a strong bond between a person's culture and his national feeling; the more his culture increases, the more this feeling grows and matures. It is natural, then, that I should wish to see higher culture spread among all citizens, women and men.

Q — The number of young ladies holding higher degrees is increasing rapidly. Do you encourage their entry into state posts, considering competence alone?

A — The mistaken curricula of instruction laid down by the colonizer aimed at creating an army of functionaries — that is to say, the student's whole purpose in studying was to obtain the diploma, and his whole purpose in the diploma was to obtain a post... I personally am against the policy of officeholding, and I wish we had to search for the employee with difficulty and could not find him; but it is regrettable that most of our young men now aspire to nothing but the post... and perhaps that is the case with some cultured young ladies as well... I prefer, for man and woman alike, work in the free professions, and I believe that woman's broad field is the social field: it is her vital sphere, in which, with her gentleness and her femininity, she can render the finest and most fruitful services.

Q — What is your advice to the working Arab woman?

A — My first advice is that she perform her fundamental mission: that she equip herself with the knowledge and experience that raise her level and broaden her personality, and that she devote her care to bringing up the generation of the future as it ought to be brought up: strong, sound, and conscious of its national duties. My second advice, to her and to every Arab woman, is that she take from modern civilization all its merits, and that she not corrupt her personality in the name of civilization!...