"What is your opinion of the American woman? Is she similar in her ways of life to the woman in your country?"
This question was put to me many times by American ladies, and my answer was: "It is very difficult to compare the two. The American woman lives in a country that has been working for her welfare for two hundred years, since the day America freed itself from English colonialism, while the Arab woman is still at the beginning of the road, and it cannot be said that her country has yet been entirely freed from foreign interference."
There is no doubt that the American woman has qualities by which she surpasses her Arab sister, while there are also qualities in the Arab woman that carry great weight in the casting of her character and personality.
The credit for America's present greatness and prosperity belongs to the activity of man and woman together. There is no country in the world where woman enjoys such comfort and security as the American woman — so much so that someone has gone as far as to say that America is "the woman's world, and
We are pleased to present Miss Dunya Marwa in this delightful study of the American woman in her various roles and responsibilities.
Miss Dunya Marwa holds the degree of Bachelor of Science from the American University of Beirut. She has practiced journalism in the field, and then had the good fortune to specialize in it for two years at the University of Michigan in the United States... There is no doubt that her stay of that length in America, on a journalistic mission, opened before her wide horizons of no little charm and enjoyment, which it pleases us to have her share with us.
the women in it are the rulers."
There is much truth in this claim, for seventy percent of the wealth of the United States is owned by its women; moreover, eighty percent of American industry is built upon woman's demands and directed toward her. Nor should we forget that the number of women there comes to 76 million, exceeding the number of men, which gives their votes in government elections the decisive say in determining the winner, whether in the elections for the presidency of the Republic or in the local elections of each state taken separately. This appeared plainly in Eisenhower's winning of the presidency, for women's balloting for him was among the most important factors in
his success.
The American woman is equal to man before the law; and in the rules of inheritance and of legal right, the law in most states is more indulgent toward the woman than toward the man. Take, for example, the circumstances of divorce: the law in America requires, as a general rule, that the woman be given her children and her house, whether it was she who asked for the divorce or her husband. Thus — save in exceptional cases — the woman stays in her house with her children, while the husband leaves it carrying only a suitcase, like a guest! And on top of all this it is laid upon him to bear the children's maintenance!!
And if the American woman has obtained this ample share of her liberty, it is due not to the generosity of the law but to her own toil and perseverance. One of them commented on the Lebanese woman's obtaining her political rights, saying:
"Truly, you are the lucky ones. Here in America we fought hard, at home and in the street, and we went to the prisons too, before the government granted us our political rights. Whereas your women's activity was confined to
sending petitions, and with one stroke of the government's pen your woman got her political rights by the easiest of roads!"
Never in my life have I seen a woman who works and bustles like the American woman. The easier the ways of American life become and the simpler the methods of household management in the American home, the more her activity outside the home increases and the more varied grow the branches of her interest, until today she combines the responsibilities of man and woman together. As for how far she has succeeded in combining these two responsibilities, the future and history will be the judge of that.
How, then, does the American woman live? What is her outlook on life,