One of the cartoons shown in the article was done by Doaa El-Adl, and it is dealing with the marriage issue in Egypt. When Young girls reach the legal age to marry (18 years old), they are married off to a much older and foreign man. A law was passed that if a foreign man wishes to be married to a young girl who is 25 more years younger than him, he then has to pay the equivalent to $6,000. This makes this practice more frequent because to wealthy men this is not a big price to pay, however to the families whom the bride belongs to this is a great deal of money and can help a poor family make ends meat. Many families sell their daughters to these wealthy older men which -as depicted in the cartoon- treat their brides/ wives as property as if they were from a store.
I knew vaguely about the older men marrying younger women in that kind of culture and society but wasn't aware of the money that was being exchanged. Though profitable to families in need of financial support, this is the selling of women in a form that is seemingly justified. I'm glad there are people out there aware of this issue and are spreading awareness.
ReplyDelete-Katie Schuldenberg
I think that illustrated cartoons are a great way to inform and help understand the impact of a current issues to the people.
ReplyDeleteOftentimes illustrations are a quick and effective way to get a point across and for a issue like this it works especially well.
ReplyDelete