DEC 16 ― In A world where one-dimensional stereotypes about Muslim women abound, it’s so refreshing to discover that there is a small but growing movement of women editorial cartoonists working to dispel this image.

With dry witty humour, these women from Muslim majority countries are using editorial cartoon strips for social commentary about everything from gender discrimination to AIDS to girls’ education marriage and even suicide bombers.

In Pakistan, there is Gogi — the impossibly long-lashed, pixie haircut coiffed, polka-dot wearing, unveiled young woman who is the alter ego of celebrated female Pakistani cartoonist Nizar Nagar.

In one strip, Nizar shows two friends talking about their birth. “When my grandfather was born, they passed around sweets,” says Gogi’s animated, podgy friend as she salivates over stems of corn. The friend then adds: “When my father was born they passed around cakes.”

Finally, Gogi asks what happened when Mariam, the friend, was born. “They passed out,” Mariam replies coyly.

In a country that remains largely steeped in patriarchical cultural tradition, Nizar is the embodiment of the modern Pakistani woman. She is the CEO of Gogi Studios in Islamabad and between 2002 and 2003, she was a Fulbright Professor at the Art Department of the University of Oregon in the United States.

“Gogi is my mouthpiece,” says Nizar. “She represents the educated, enlightened and progressive women of Pakistan.”

Through Gogi, Nizar has tackled topics such as AIDS, arranged marriages, domestic violence, government corruption and sectarian strife, and even health and hygiene illustrations that she was assigned to do by Unicef.

In Palestine, Omayya Joha’s editorial caricatures reflect a personal story. She suffered Israeli aggression that killed both her first husband and her second husband by denying him the right to seek medical help under the siege. 

Omayya does not focus exclusively on women characters. She chooses to reflect the Palestinian struggle, life in refugee camps, Israeli and American foreign policy and the indifference and hypocrisy of many Arab regimes.

She is chairman of Juhatoon cartoon production and works with several newspapers such as Al Quds newspaper (the most popular newspaper in the Palestinian territories) and Al Jazeera’s news website.

When a Danish cartoonist provoked the anger of Muslims with offensive cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Egyptian female cartoonist Rasha Mahdi used the same medium to counter his message.

Her cartoon People are Equal — Like the Teeth of a Comb was designed to show that contrary to Western stereotypes, Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.

Rasha sees cartoonists as defenders of human rights. She doesn’t use a lot of words in her cartoons she says because “this allows me to produce hard-hitting social and political criticism.”

The Internet has played an important role in Rasha getting her message to a wider audience. It has also allowed her to speak her mind, as she says she feels “freer” to publish what she wants.

Perhaps the biggest breakthrough to deconstruct Muslim women stereotypes comes a new cartoon series — Burka Avenger.

In July this year, there was a great deal of global buzz about the launch of this Urdu-language series. The brainchild of (male) Pakistani pop star Haroon Rashid, it features the adventures of a female teacher who fights against those who want to close down the girls’ school where she works.

In an interview with CNN, Haroon said the inspiration came from the many articles he was reading about girls’ schools being shut down by extremists. In fact, he says they were “stunned” when Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban because he and his team were working on the “exact same” storyline at the time.

The main character Jiya is a demure school teacher by day, but transforms into the burka-clad avenger at night to fight evil.

The other girl in the series is Ashu who delivers a powerful monologue about the right to education when the girls’ school is shut down in the first episode.

Another is a female news reporter whose response to the closure of the school is just as impassioned: “What will they do next? Stop women from eating?”

The recurring theme of girls’ education and empowerment is fundamental in Pakistan where the illiteracy rate for women is at 40 per cent.

“The Burka Avenger is all about women’s empowerment,” Haroon told CNN. “All superheroes have disguises. The burka simply is hers. But she is not invisible.”

Indeed, the Burka Avenger and her message will likely be very visible in over 60 countries around the world soon. The pen it is said is mightier than the sword. The drawing pen of these women and men are certainly proving this to be true in a muddled world of stereotypes.

 

* Faridah Hameed is the creator of the Language of Power for Women training programme. Connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn or her website www.faridahhameed.com

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.