Laura Boushnak, “For these women, reading is a daring act”


Laura Boushnak, “For these women, reading is a daring act” (5:05)
https://www.ted.com/talks/laura_boushnak_for_these_women_reading_is_a_daring_act

If knowledge is power, education is the tool through which this power grows and prospers. Education is the true vehicle that allows an individual the opportunity to climb the ladder in society. It is the vehicle that provides hope. It is the vehicle that provides belief. It is the vehicle that provides a pathway to success. We all agree that education should be free and accessible to all. It is perceived as a right that every young child enters a school and has the opportunity to learn, grow and develop. We have become conditioned to this being the norm. Yet the reality around the world is so different.
Laura Boushnak presents to us a world where the equal opportunity for all to an education does not exist. She shares and relates her own personal experiences with those who have encountered similar struggles. As a photographer, she took photos of Arab women who changed their lives through education while exposing and sharing the barriers that they encountered. She acknowledges an awareness of the differences in Arab countries due to social, economic and cultural factors. She does not criticize these but still manages to highlight the discrepancies between how men and women are treated. She sought to encourage the women to participate in her project by highlighting to them that through sharing their stories, they could become role models for others.
Boushnak highlights how the reality in the Arab world is that education is truly not for all. Yet through working with these women, she has sought to create an environment of hope for all of those women seeking hope, change, and self-improvement.  She shares how there is a sense of not wanting to have to count on men for everything. Some women are completely illiterate and want to educate themselves for even the most basic task such as feeling comfortable counting money when shopping or helping their children with homework. These basic life fundamentals are taken for granted by many, yet are so scarce for others. Boushnak shares how one of the women she photographed had to leave school to be married at the age of 8. She remarried at 14. She had three children and was divorced at 18. It is only then that she could consider returning to school despite opposition from her parents.
The struggle is real. The struggle is overwhelming. One by one, the struggle can become a hope for many. The photography of Laura Boushnak takes this hope and through her TED talk gives a voice to the many women who cannot read and who cannot write. These are the women that we must ensure do not lose hope. 


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