Women

A tough woman,a fighter, a combatant
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Unlike many intellectuals, who went to Damascus, Paris, or London to develop their careers, Haifa Bitar stayed in Latakia, next to her church, to struggle with the pen for women emancipation in Syria. Scott C. Davis

Like other writers and artists I met in Syria, Latakia-based Haifa Bitar had opinions about the September 11th at-tacks and the subsequent US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. 







  
  Gender roles in literature and the media
    
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 Iman al-Ghafari 


Women and men are
usually depicted as having extremely different roles in society, evident in the
way both literature and the media portray them. Before elaborating some gender
roles that confine both sexes to traditional duties and responsibilities, it is
important to reveal the difference between one’s sex and one’s gender. <Sex’
is used to refer to the bio-logical, anatomical differences between males and
females, whilst <gender’ is used to refer to the social and cultural differences
between them. Hence, sex is a biological construct whereas gender is a social
construct. A person’s sex is a biological quality, but a person acquires
his/her gender through a process called gender socialization. The development
of gender roles often begins as early as childhood. Children learn from their
parents, society, and school the conception of «feminine» and «masculine.»