This post is also available in: Français (French) العربية (Arabic)
Since the first episodes of the series Wlad Badia (Badia’s Sons) started airing, female roles emerged clear and strong, breaking away from the stereotypical portrayal of women. Badia, who has two “illegitimate” sons, lives in a society that shows her sympathy and does not condemn her for her mental impediment.
This doesn’t mean, though, that Syrian society has not previously condemned women who did suffer mental difficulties after having children without being married, women who were killed for “honor” under the full protection of the law—a law which was later repealed. There are many such stories.
Various female roles
The show tells the story of a conflict between siblings, set in the Dabbagheen (tannery) area ofDamascus across two different timelines. It was written by Yamen al-Hajli and Ali Wajih and directed by Rasha Sharbatji. Women are shown in different types of work circumstances, ranging from a high society Damascene woman to a prostitute. Every woman has a different story, a cause or idea that she defends.
Sukkar (played by Sulafa Mimar) does not know her parents. She decides to live her life her own way, without fear of her surroundings. She dances, sings, and runs a restaurant that throws parties and serves alcohol—things that are unacceptable in Syrian society. This exposes her to attacks and accusations from those around her, but Sukkar continues to confront society in her own way, regardless of whether she is right or wrong. What matters is she found a lifestyle that she adapted to the fragmented society in which she lives.
As for Marwa (played by Lynn Ghara), she leads two opposite lives. At night, she sells her body, and during the day, she asks for forgiveness in a place of worship. Marwa forces viewers to sympathize with her, for she is also a victim. She works as a prostitute to pay off a large sum of money that she was deceived into. Despite how harsh her life is, Marwa is aware of her rights, and she is shown to be literally fighting for her rights with her own two hands.
The show’s portrayal of female characters like Abeer, Umm Salim, Umm Mukhtar, and others is non-stereotypical; they are not presented as less-than, as representative of family honor, or even as saints. Each of them is simply human, first and foremost, and it is on this basis that the story was built and directed.
Women breaking stereotypical images of work
What’s noteworthy in this series is how women are involved in professions that were previously exclusive to men. War and armed conflict contributed to changing the stereotypical image of the work and fields that women can have access to. Thus women are now being portrayed as breadwinners, like Umm Jumaa (played by Nadine el-Khoury), who drives a tertayra, a simple means of transportation, taking animal hides from slaughters to tanneries. She works as the middleperson doing the buying and selling, and she is at the same time shown as a strong mother capable of thinking logically and making right decisions.
Hadeel (played by Nadine Tahsin Bey) manages work at the tannery with her father. She is more experienced than he is, and after he dies, she attends meetings with the (male) elders and takes her father’s seat without being met with any disapproval or strange looks. On the contrary, she is respected, and she appears confident in her opinions. Others trust her too, and in her private life, she falls in love and declares her love and her choices without any hesitation.
The character of Zuhoor (played by Walaa Azzam) works in a kiosk far from residential areas, closer to where all the tanneries are. She works to help her mother with household expenses and is not deterred by her gender or her beauty. She is shown as just another human being trying to earn a living through her work.
And when it comes to Badia (played by Emarat Rezk), the protagonist, her character is not shown as broken, humiliated, or weak, despite her mental state. Instead, she works hard cleaning the tannery and earns her living from the sweat of her own brow. She fiercely defends her children and stays close to them after they grow up. Her children think highly of her, which shows the strong influence she had over them without having uttered a single word to them throughout her life.
Similarly, Umm Mukhtar (played by Dima al-Jundi) was treated unjustly by her husband but defended her son how she could, even if it was ultimately a wrong move that impacted him negatively. The point is that she tried; she did not give up her place easily.
The show’s portrayal of female characters is non-stereotypical. Each of them is simply human, first and foremost.
Women searching for their passion
Love is also present in the lives of female characters this year. It shows up in different forms and is arrived at in multiple ways. Abeer (played by Rouzaina Lazkani), a smart and skilled lawyer, has many relationships throughout the show and a cultural and legal background that help her in her work. When she falls in love with Mukhtar, she initially defends him and stands by him, but she eventually leaves him when she realizes that he is not the right man for her, even if she loves him.
Umm Salim (played by Lina Hawarna) is a woman in her fifties who wants to get married over and over again. In soap operas, it’s usually the men who take up this role, who have a “wandering eye” and are attracted to young women despite their old age. But with Umm Salim, this is reversed, and she is the one presented as having a wandering eye. She feels things and has qualities that we have never seen before in a woman in a Syrian soap opera—a major step in itself.
A feminist activist: “The series shows women as influential - but…”
But did these female characters really succeed in breaking the stereotypical image of women, did they manage to change how society views their roles?
Medfeminiswiya met with feminist activist Salma al-Sayyad, director of the Nisan Cultural Forum. She expressed that the show really did portray female characters in a better way and said, “The series managed, to some extent, to break the stereotypical image of a woman who is always shown as weak, dependent on her (male) guardian. The character of Hadeel, who’s the tanner—Abu Hadeel’s—daughter, is strong and expresses her opinion about how the work process should occur. She makes plans to improve workflow and get her father out of the dilemmas he got himself into. She enters headfirst into a field exclusive to men, a field in which work is difficult and arduous. She excels and deals well with the other tanners, especially after her father’s death.”
Al-Sayyad continued, “We also see the daughter of the fur king who decides her own fate and chooses herself who she will marry. She prefers pursuing higher studies to getting married, and her father supports her and does not interfere with her decisions.”
Al-Sayyad praises the role of Umm Jumaa and believes that it might be the first time that a Syrian woman in a soap opera drives a tertayra to support her children, in a traditionally male field of work no less.
She adds, “But in my opinion, women’s work in prostitution perpetuates the stereotype of exploiting women’s bodies, like with Marwa and her friends. And Sukkar, after entering the world of commerce and fraud, is shown as a leader surpassing the men around her in intelligence and planning, but she is a leader who fits into bad society. I personally found the characters of Abeer the lawyer and Zuhoor to represent ordinary women who are emotionally exploited—the likes of which are abundant in society.”
“I think that this series presented different types of women in a way that reflects reality. It shows them as influential, but if the plot had been stronger and better dramatically weaved, it could truly have been a revolution, breaking stereotypes and really showing women as being more than their reproductive function, as partners in all roles of life” al-Sayyad said, evaluating the female characters on the show.
In the end, art can contribute to changing society, urging viewers to come up with legal, economic, or social solutions by provoking them into thought.
