March is for All Women: Rula Jebreal

posted on: Mar 4, 2020

Rula Jebreal, Haaretz

By: Emily Devereaux/Arab America Contributing Writer

March is for Women

International Women’s Day, European Commission

Women’s History Month had its origins in the United States since 1981. Initially, Women’s History had a commemoration period of only one week. However, the six-year marathon of petitions, resolutions, and perseverance resulted in March as Women’s History Month in the United States.

While this was a step in the right direction, what about women outside of U.S. borders?

In August of 1910, an International Socialist Women’s Conference was organized to come before the general meeting of the Socialist Second International, which was a gathering of various international socialist and labor parties. This summit took place in Copenhagen, Denmark that year. Part of this motion was inspired by the National Women’s Month established by the United States. However, the movement for an International Women’s Day was catalyzed by German Socialist Luise Zietz.

This International Socialist Women’s Conference worked tirelessly to establish this international day for all women. This day was an excellent strategy to promote equal rights, including suffrage for women. The following year, this conference inspired over a million people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone to hold over 300 demonstrations, which paved the road for the recognition of this day by the UN.

Intersectional Feminism 

Intersectional Feminism, Pinterest

The primary origins of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month can be traced back to western countries, specifically European and American. Therefore, advocating for all women, whether they are Black women, Muslim women, Arab women, or any other type of woman, is equally important.

To honor International Women’s History Month, Arab America will recognize every Wednesday some honorable Arab women. The first in the series is Rula Jebreal.

Rula Jebreal 

Rula Jebreal, Aesthetica

Early Life & Heritage

Dar Al Tifel, Gulf News

Rula Jebreal is a Palestinian of 45 years old who was born in Haifa, inside Israel to a Nigerian-born Palestinian Imam father and a Palestinian Arab mother. Although she has Israeli citizenship, she is Palestinian at heart. Therefore, she grew up as a minority in Israel, which is a challenge in and of itself.

However, Jabreal faced a few challenges in her life. At the age of five, her mother, Zakia, killed herself, which contributed to severe childhood trauma. Abuse is an issue many women and girls may have to endure in certain regions in the Arab World.

Following the death of her mother, Jabreal’s father placed her and her sister, Rania, in the Dar El-Tifel orphanage. Here, she lived between 1978 and 1991 and today she praises the orphanage and recognizes Hind Husseini, who is the founder of this orphanage, for acting as a mother and a teacher, as well as saving Jabreal’s life.

Heading to Italy

The University of Bologna, Top Universities

In 1993, Jabreal earned a scholarship to the University of Bologna from the Italian government. This permitted her to study medicine. This prompted her to move to the northwest Mediterranean, where she graduated with a degree in physiotherapy. However, she contributed to many different newspapers and magazines, which was a side-passion of hers.

While working as a physiotherapist, Jabreal decided to go back to school at her alma mater and earn her Master’s degree in Journalism and Political Science. After earning her Master’s degree, Jebreal worked as a journalist in Italy for twelve years, where she became the first foreign anchorwoman in the history of Italian television. Following her role as an anchorperson, she hosted multiple political talk shows in Italy.

Move to the United States 

Rula Jebreal, Talking Points Memo

In 2009, before Jebreal moved to the United States, she produced and hosted a television show in Cairo. Aired on Egyptian television, she was known for her strong one-on-one interviews with members of the Egyptian regime, dissidents, critics, and academics. This show thrived in its single season, where she featured guests such as Lebanese author, Elias Khoury, Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali, and the Minister of Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid. However, it soon became clear to the Mubarak regime that Jebreal’s questions were seen as a challenge and an insult to them. This provoked forcing the show off of the air after only one season.

Upon her move to the United States, Jebreal worked as an on-air foreign policy analyst for MSNBC. In addition, she contributed to many different news outlets such as The Daily Beast, Newsweek, and Salon.com. She has also appeared frequently on CNN and Bloomberg; in addition, she wrote op-eds for the New York times and the San Jose Mercury News, among various media outlets.

Through her work, Jebreal was able to provide deep insight and knowledge about Islamic extremism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the shifting order in the Arab world. She has won awards praising her for her international journalism, which was exemplified by her courage in reporting the Iraq war. 

Novels & Art for Activism 

Aside from her extensive work in the field of journalism, Jebreal also exercises her writing capabilities through novels. Miral is one of her three books; it is named after her daughter and tells the story of the Dar El-Tifel orphanage. This story is literary fiction but is based on very real events that happened to Jebreal. This work is an excellent way to pay homage to those who cared for her.

Her second book, The Bride of Aswan, earned the International Fenice Europe Prize. Divieto di soggiorno (Permission to Survive but not to Thrive) is her third book that addresses immigration in Europe. More specifically, it focuses on the relationship between the marginalization of communities and how this plays into extremism. Her central argument is that Europe needs to learn from the United States, such as the lessons of the failed “war on terror” and integration versus alienation of Muslim immigrants.

Today, Jebreal resides in New York City with her daughter.  She’s a lecturer in college, speaker and writer.  Currently. she is working on her documentary. Rula Jebrael is a shining example of a brave woman and a great role model for Arab American women as well as all women around the globe.

Rula is commemorating International Women’s month by accepting to speak on March 8, 2020, at the banquet held by National Arab American Women Association (NAAWA) in the DC area.  (naawa.org or arabamerica.com — events)

For more information about Rula Jebreal click here.

 

 

 

 

Check out our Blog here!