Personality of the Month — Dr. Saniya Habboub Nakkash

Personality of the Month

"There is no intellectual or social emancipation for woman so long as she is not materially emancipated, supporting herself without depending on the wealth of her father or her husband."

"Every mother has ample time to carry out all her duties toward her children. All she needs is to know how to organize her time."

"I want woman to be a complete human being who thinks with her own mind and acts as it dictates to her; for true maturity and sound thinking come to us only by way of learning and knowledge."

Dr. Saniya Habboub Nakkash stands in the front rank of Lebanon's women physicians, and she was among the first who called for the girl to go out into the field of work and to share with man the burden of the responsibility of married life. She took up the study of medicine at a time when her companions among the daughters of Lebanon still made their houses their shields and sheltered behind the veil from the glittering appearances of society. While still a young girl playing in the innocence of childhood, she felt that she had a duty she must perform; for she never ceased to see that the girl's material dependence on her husband or her father had made of her a cheap bondmaid in his hands: he gives her his material protection and asks of her in return that she submit to him, act by his opinion, and be to him a driven slave, not a free-choosing partner. She felt this yoke under which woman groaned, and she worked hard to draw her out of the depths of darkness, having come to believe in woman's ability to keep pace with the caravan of civilization if only the chance were given her. And the child Saniya Habboub always took the leader's part in all the games with which the girls of her sex and the companions of her age amused themselves; so she grew up seeing before her nothing but the president's chair, in the belief that a girl's ambition ought to be bounded by nothing in the world!!

I went to her torn by all manner of feelings. How would she receive me, and in what way would she answer my questions? Could I really manage to talk with her? — she for whom I had drawn in my imagination a beautiful picture, whom I had wrapped in a halo of shining light and made a model of daring and boldness. But I found myself in the presence of a complete lady, who opened her heart to me and poured out upon me such gentleness that I felt ashamed of myself and disowned the creeping of those black thoughts into my mind. I sat with her in the office of her clinic, surrounded by her various diplomas, which she has hung on the wall to bear witness before her visitor to that unfettered spirit which went in pursuit of learning and knowledge before any other girl of her sex.

Q — Tell me, madam, about your first steps in life?

A — I grew up, miss, thinking of freedom. I saw the difference in the treatment of boy and girl, and I felt that there is no intellectual or social emancipation for woman so long as she is not materially emancipated, supporting herself without depending on the wealth of her father or her husband. And so I went after a profession. A girl's dependence on man requires that she give him something in exchange for the material things he bestows on her, and the least that can be said of this something is that it is submission, or total effacement in his hands. The beginning of knowledge, my girl, starts with a person's serving himself, and the sensible individual is the one who does all his own work without leaning on anyone. Determination decides everything: if one of us sets his mind on a thing, he is bound to reach it, however many obstacles cross his life. And had I not become a doctor, I would have chosen for myself any other profession that would help me to material independence.

Q — Some say that the woman who practices any profession sometimes falls into what they call the "sense of guilt," feeling that every harm or every shortcoming that occurs in her house has its source in her absorption in her work and her turning away from the care of her home. Do you agree with this view, and has anything happened in your own life to support it?

A — Never — quite the contrary: there was a feeling of greatness, a sense of pride and of standing tall. And to prove this feeling I went forward into marriage, so as to show everyone that the woman with a profession can combine her profession with the demands of her home... I worked, and still work, night and day, in my house and in the care of my patients. I carried a child and gave birth without breaking off from work for a single moment. I buy all my household supplies myself, and to this very day I remain without a cook or a nurse for my daughters. And I have been able to find the fitting time for everything. I am proud to say that woman is a complete, working creature, who does not consent to be waited on by anyone. A feeling of divinity floods the human heart when a person sees himself standing independent in his own right; and woman is very strong — only she has not had the opportunity to use her strength and to shine in it as she ought.

Q — The upbringing of girls calls for much skill and care. What, in your view, are the foundations of sound upbringing which you have followed with your daughters, and which every mother ought to follow in bringing up hers?

A — Every mother must raise her daughters on the truth as it is, treat them firmly, guide them with open eyes, and lay bare before them every matter great and small, without being ashamed to answer their questions, however thorny or early they may be for their age. My daughters' presence at my side is the best proof of my faith in woman's strength and capacity, and I am very proud that they were raised on my guidance alone: no servant ever came between me and them. Every mother has ample time to carry out all her duties toward her children; all she needs is to know how to organize her hours.

Q — They say you have acquired some property through your work — something you are surely proud of. Has this success caused you any trouble in your relations with your husband, or do you understand one another?

A — There has grown up in my husband a feeling of pride and high ambition; he never stops saying: "I knew how to choose my partner." He is, besides, a complete master of the house, who performs all his duties as husband and as father. He does not lean upon me; rather we are all agreed upon work. Parasites, however genteel, have no existence in our life, and the law of our family is unity and work: each of my daughters, my husband, and I myself has a particular task to perform.

Q — Do you favor medicine as a profession for the girl, and would you like your daughters to practice it?

A — The profession of medicine is no bad thing for a girl, but I shall never try to impose it on my daughters; they have their own inclinations, and they must know how to profit from the studies they are receiving today. What matters to me is that every girl arm herself with a profession that will shield her from the ravages of the days; and I respect the woman who works and does not lean on others. I want woman to be a complete human being who thinks with her own mind and acts as befits it; for true maturity and sound thinking come to us only by way of learning and knowledge.

Q — In the course of your work you must have met with incidents whose cause was woman in general and the mother in particular. What is your word to mothers, that they may guard against this matter and prevent its happening?

A — I have nothing to say on this head, except to ask the woman who is a mother to be watchful and aware, learning the consequences of things and training her mind to follow what is right and to keep far from what is false. We must, miss, teach our ignorant sister, so as to protect her from the consequences of the things into which she falls through her ignorance and her want of understanding. We must teach her everything that cultivates her mind and refines her thoughts. I personally despise the fanciful woman who sets up barriers between herself and the facts, so that the current of fancy sweeps her off and carries her far from the shore of safety. I pity every woman who does not blend the sciences into her culture, for these nourish the mind and light before it the straight road.

Q — Do you believe the husband has any effect on the success of his wife's profession, and do they complete one another when they work together?

A — To a certain extent, yes; there must be understanding between the two spouses if their life is to run in good order. The husband may sometimes not believe in his wife's profession, and their temperaments clash on that account; but this state of things does not hold back the success of each in his own field. And I ask of you, miss, to be a daughter of nature: let no storms, however they roar, shake your being or curb your boldness.

Q — Can woman, in your view, succeed in political work as she succeeds in the liberal professions?

A — Politics is like any other profession, and the woman who can school herself in life and teach herself how to succeed in the field of the professions will be able likewise to manage all the affairs of politics. My faith in woman is strong, and I believe she will reach her goal before long, so long as she has a creed and so long as her watchword is struggle.

Q — What is your last word to the girl of today? Are you content with her activity and her work as compared with your own days? How do you see her taking up the professions?

A — I believe that the girl of today is marching forward toward the intellectual, social, and material emancipation which I want for her, and which was my guide in life. I am confident that she will win; but she must not forget that she is still at the very beginning of her course — she has not yet passed beyond the stage of transition. Whatever obstacles she may meet must not halt her advance, for her life is still full of dangers, and I can only pray God to protect her, to steady her steps, and to place the progress of the country and the nation in her hands. On you alone, miss, falls the burden of raising the homeland up from where it has fallen; to you alone our eyes look and our hearts yearn. Long have we appealed to the men before you, and our supplications availed nothing, and our prayers bore no fruit.

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... and the spur to rising. And I thank Dr. Habboub, for she is — truth be told — our pioneer in free thought and fruitful work.