education systems in harem

There were different generations of women who were open minded and against the harem system yet some were satisfied with it. There was modern and traditional classes of women behind the closed doors of the harem with a common problem that had “no name”. This problem had affected these women’s lives very seriously. However, they could only solve their problem if they knew the causes, and one of the main reasons they got such great problems was
their illiteracy and lack of access to a traditional educational system. There was no widespread

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modern educational system for women in Morocco at the time of Merissa’s Dreams of Ttrespass, They could attend Koran courses or a French school only with their father’s permission. Some girls were allowed to have secular educations in some cities, but older women did not have chance to obtain that kind of education. Those who were not able to achieve their goal would try to ensure their daughters had better educational opportunities.
The male members of the family like grandfathers, uncles, fathers, brothers, and male cousins tended to support limited education for women. Their aim of keeping women under strict controls in harems might have two reasons: first, they might have been afraid of women‘s power, second, they felt empowered when they limited women’s freedom. Men knew that knowledge is power for everybody especially for women, and only comes through a real education, not by imitating or blindly following traditional beliefs in traditional Koranic schools. They knew that teachers like Lalla Tam, who was the headmistress of the Koranic school where Fatima was sent, was teaching lessons like: “Education is to know the hudud, the sacred frontiers.” (3) Men also knew that powerful women would never accept sharing their husbands, so polygamy would come to an end; Hududs were established to keep women within limits.
Being educated or not had no difference for most women in the harem. Cousin Chama was a good example because although she was literate, she was not allowed to listen to the radio or read newspapers. To resist presented many theatrical plays to the women in the harem. Chama was seventeen and always talked about “women’s invisible wings” and taught Fatima that her wings would develop when she was older. Perhaps she was talking about the knowledge which she would gain through education. (22) Aunt Habiba’s tales in the other hand made Fatima “long to become an adult and an expert storyteller myself.”(19) Thus Fatima was able to treasure her French education all the more because she saw the women around her being deprived of basic knowledge.
The men of the harem decided that, the children within the harem would be allowed to go
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to schools just to learn religion. Letting little girls like Fatima go to Koranic lessons would benefit the patriarchy because it would fill their raw brains with dominant ideas about domestic life. This would allow men to capture, and keep women in harems like properties, without
resistance or disobedience from women. Fatima was discontent with this system and desired a modern secular education that would allow her to learn the subjects the boys were learning.
Fatima was taught about “Qaida” and how it was man made against women. The women taught her that these rules had no warning signs and that they were invisible, but would harm her if she disobeyed. Grandmother Yasmina, explained Fatima that women do not know why they are deprived of everything, even education. “Maybe the rules are ruthless because they are not women made.”(63) Fatima would be the first generation to challenge these boundaries and trespass into the modern world. Fatima’s question of whether she would be a happy woman she said “of course you would be happy!’…you would be a modern educated lady …you will learn foreign languages, have a passport, and devour books ….you will certainly be better off than your mother.” (64)
Although men limited women, women like Lalla, the teacher, with their religious beliefs had major effects on misguiding young female students who were studying at their schools, like Fatima who learned that, “To be a Muslim was to respect the Hudud.” (3) Fathers let their little daughters attend such schools to create a truly obedient generation which would stand behind the frontiers of authority. Unlike them, Yasmina told Fatima not to “accept inequality, for it was not logical.”(26)
The older woman, Grandmother Lalla Mani and Chama’s mother Lalla Radia were pro harem and supported traditional education. The younger generation resisted and disobeyed. Fatima’s Mother, Chama, and aunt Habiba displayed their discontent through their attitudes towards prohibitions. Lalla Mani believed that: “if women were not separated from the men,
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society would come to a halt and work would not get done…women had to stay in their place at home.”(40) Tamou opposed Lalla Mani, because she “could shoot a gun, speak Spanish …she
had grown up to confuse life with fighting,….She made people aware of their inner force and their capacities to resist all kinds of fates.” Gaining these were possible through modern education not the traditional one. (55)
Women like Melika’s mother, and Uncle Karim’s wife, who liked music, were eager to
learn and gain their lost identity so “they left the harem and went to her father’s home …rather than forfeiting her marriage.”(77) Women not only needed freedom but also modern education. They were not even allowed to listen to the radio, which was locked in men’s salon. Secretly they unlocked the door and tried to decode the MW, LW, and SW, the radio waves. Chama knew French but not English so the women who wanted to listen to popular singers had to get help from cousin Zin who knew English. They were in need of his knowledge to translate the lyrics of Asmahan to them. Asmahan is a singer who had become a feminist because of her dancing life style, she “entranced both men and women with the idea that failure or success did not matter in the adventurous life, and such a life was much more enjoyable than a life spent sleeping behind protective doors.”(107)
The modern Educational system was not supported by men like Fatima’s father, because they believed learning non-traditional foreign subjects would make the young men to lose their interest in farming. That’s why he wanted the children to stay with him in the countryside during the summer. Young male members of the harem could speak in Arabic and French, listen to songs in both languages, and read the newspapers too. Fatima and other young girls had to attend Koranic schools in which, teachers like Lalla taught religious doctrine. This was the reason why anti-harem women believed that traditional education was not enough for women. They needed to benefit from new information, so they supported the modern educational system for female
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family members. They were liberated by Egyptian feminist writers, such as Qacem Amin, but
because of the inherited problem of illiteracy they could not fully practice their desires. Fatima’s mother was unable to read the feminist literature herself and wanted her husband, who knew a
foreign language to read it for her. Mother loved it, but because she was illiterate, she could not read it herself, so she did anything to persuade him to read it to her. Qasem Amin’s book was like a treasure for Fatima’s mother, because it freed a lonely and helpless woman.
Men in harems lived a very different life from the women. Most men were educated, could read newspapers, books, and listen to radios. Perhaps this was the reason why Samir looked down on Fatima and said: “you do not know anything.” After national schools for girls were opened, Fatima’s mother wanted the family council to let her to attend those classes, and asked for special permission. Mother wanted Fatima to be like Princess Ayesha and be able to swing between two cultures, two personalities and two languages. Permission was granted and Fatima finally could attend a modern school.
According to Fatima “modern school was so much fun ...from eating to speaking.”(199) Fatima’s mother wants education herself but is told that “schools are for little girls.” When she realizes that she is trapped she asks Fatima “‘you are going to transform this world, aren’t you?’...long silence would follow her speeches, but the beauty of her images would linger on, and float around the courtyard like perfumes, like dreams, invisible, but so powerful.” (201) As Qasem Amin concluded in his book, “by urging Arab men to find ways to develop strength within themselves and overcome their fear, women could shed the veil.” However father complained that “Qasem Amin would destroy the harmony of Arab marriage.” In fact, modern education targeted those lessons of traditional education which had marginalized women.(122) It also destroyed men’s power over women, gender discriminations and polygamy which was practiced in harems . Thus modern education proved to be map of freedom that would liberate Moroccan women.