How To Teach Feminism as an Arab-American Woman: Rum’s A Woman is No Man (2019)

The present study is a feminist reading that concentrates on the fictional novel A Woman is No Man (2019) by the Arab-American novelist Etaf Rum. With the consideration of women’s marginalization as the “second sex” proposed by Simone De Beauvoir, the current study aims to emphasize how the society restricts women with boundaries like honor and tradition. Rum depicts a society where religion is a cover for men’s claims for ownership. The novelist’s biography, her social and political background including the Arab diaspora that influenced her writing are surveyed. Since Rum is oppressed and suffered from the restrictions of her patriarchal society that threatened revolutionary women, she portrayed oppression against diaspora women who live in America. It is concluded that patriarchy is not related to any geographical location. Whether Arab-American women reside in the Arab countries or diaspora, still they are oppressed. Even in the land of freedom, they are controlled by the traditions of their homeland and are under the dominance of patriarchy which forces them to obey the rules written by men and for men and dictated to women.