International Women’s Day 2020: Egypt's ‘Karate Kid’

For a young woman in Egypt, wanting to learn karate is a pretty extraordinary ambition. Women in Egypt are often seen as second-class citizens, whose dreams are frustrated and whose opportunities are cut off.

All too often they are subjected to discrimination and domestic violence. But thanks to you, that is changing. Nailah has been going to workshops run by the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), one of Embrace’s partners, teaching men and women about equality and rights.

At a recent workshop stereotypes were turned on their heads when the boys were encouraged to prepare Molokhia, a traditional Egyptian dish, while the girls fixed machinery. In these workshops, Nailah also took a karate class and discovered a passion she never knew she had. She asked her mother for permission to continue with karate classes. Nailah told us:

‘I have learnt that women can play any role. Women can do anything – education is not just for boys.’

Teenage girls like Nailah will grow up in a very different society than their mothers and grandmothers did, thanks to the work of CEOSS.

By inspiring the young, they are highlighting the worth of women to Egyptian society, letting female voices be heard, and turning the tide on common issues like domestic abuse.