Mum Who Dressed As A Man For 43 Years To Provide For Family Honoured In Egypt
64-year-old Abu Daooh, an Egyptian woman who disguised herself as a man for 43 years in order to provide for her daughter after the death of her husband was honored Tuesday by the government as the “ideal mother” of Luxor governorate.
The Social Solidarity Directorate of Luxor said it was awarding the “woman breadwinner” award to Sisa Abu Daooh for her years of hard work providing for her daughter and her grandchildren, after losing her husband while she was pregnant.
Her situation was complicated by a local culture opposed to women in the work place, which forced her to dress as a man and work outside the home to support her baby daughter Houda.
She worked making bricks and polishing shoes in the street among other jobs. Eventually, she married off her daughter to a man who later fell ill and couldn’t work. So, being a resourceful woman, Abu Daooh kept up her work as the breadwinner of her family.
She donned a local “jilbab” – a loose, full-length robe with wide sleeves – as well as a white turban, or sometimes a men’s hat known as a “Taqiyah” and black masculine shoes.
“I preferred working in hard labor like lifting bricks and cement bags and cleaning shoes to begging in the streets in order to earn a living for myself and for my daughter and her children,” she said.
“So as to protect myself from men and the harshness of their looks and being targeted by them due to traditions, I decided to be a man … and dressed in their clothes and worked alongside them in other villages where no one knows me.”
She added that she worked in an array of jobs, from “polishing shoes, to construction to agriculture.”
At the moment, Abu Daooh says she is polishing shoes, which earns her a “decent income.”
Her daughter Houda said: “My mom is the one who still provides for the family. She wakes up every day at 6 a.m. to start polishing shoes at the station in Luxor. I carry the work kits for her as she now advanced in age.”
Source: alarabiya.net
Motherhood…. God bless her
It’s only God Himself, the Almighty that sees the labor of love that mothers show to their families that can reward women who go extra miles to make different sacrifices for their families. Human beings doesn’t have enough reward for us cos a mothers love for her child is immeasurable.
very nice. God bless him more
Wooow what a super mom!!!
She is a supermom,,,Thank God for her for not givin up on herself after d death of her husband.
Wow!!@ super mom she is.
waoooi she is more than a super mum. God bless you.
Super woman
May God bless and strengthen her. This is a true mother
Super mum
Super mother
She deserves it and more
Awww..very strong woman.God bless her
Wow wonder woman.lf only her daughter would take after her n be hardworking.Societal norms did not stop her,it goes 2 show there is no excuse for laziness
Viva umma!
Ouch what arole model and a super mum.
What a woman,tnk to dy govt for recognizesin ur effort
What a sacrifice!
Thank God 4 mothers like u
Super mum
Super mum
Strength of a woman…
She is a superwoman
She’s a super mom
Wow. She really deserve the award. She really tried by going that extra mile
Awwww, how touching,this is the true meaning of a mother
Epitome of motherhood. God bless and reward her abundantly
Awwwww super mom, God bless her big