If there’s one thing the world finds challenging, it’s a woman who knows her own power.
Assert yourself, and you’re “too much”. Show care and compassion, and you’re “not enough”. This confusion comes from centuries of undermining female power – a woman’s right to lead, own, decide and shape the world – and reducing feminine power to something soft, decorative and second tier. But female power isn’t unnatural, and feminine power isn’t weak.
Female power is about women’s inherent rights, dignity and agency – access to education, leadership, economic independence and personal autonomy. Feminine power refers to qualities traditionally seen as “feminine” – care, empathy, collaboration and intuition – that exist in both women and men. Society mistakenly equates femininity with women alone, stereotyping and dismissing it as weak, rather than seeing how it complements and enriches power.
People often confuse the two because power has been defined in rigid, male-centric ways. The world needs both. Female power ensures equity, while feminine power reshapes how power is understood and wielded for the greater good.
Female power resides in women’s bodies. But women’s bodies have been, and sadly continue to be, locations of control and shame – control by society and men, and shame when women control them or when they do things that men’s bodies don’t: periods, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, breastfeeding, enjoyment of her own body. Every incredible thing that a woman’s body does – her female and her feminine power – are historically taboo subjects, and categorised as problematic, or shameful.
It is only with age, and having two daughters, that the incredible act of being able to create a human being has made me realise the extraordinary power of female bodies.
On Saturday, February 1, two events mark different expressions of female and feminine power.
World Hijab Day, now in its 13th year, was founded by Bangladeshi American Nazma Khan to promote religious freedom and cultural understanding by inviting non-Muslim women to wear a hijab for a day.
I doubt the people of Gaza, Sudan or Yemen – or the countless women who have survived sexual violence – would agree that what the world needs is more aggression
As a Muslim woman who wears hijab, I have mixed feelings. For me, it’s an act of spiritual commitment and a reclaiming of my body from commodification. Someone wearing it for a day won’t experience that same journey. I don’t need women to dress like me to know we are allies. And yet, despite my reservations, I appreciate the power in what World Hijab Day represents: reclaiming autonomy over our bodies, refusing to be dictated to about what we should or shouldn’t wear. Even if you don’t wear hijab, the fight for bodily autonomy matters to all women. A pride in the female and the feminine.
Women are socialised to exist in a constant state of dissatisfaction that aims to suck away our power. We are told our value lies in our beauty and selflessness, to please others. When I talk to girls about how beauty standards are constructed, I tell them the most revolutionary act a woman or girl can do is to look in the mirror and be happy with what she sees. That’s power.
February 1 is also Saint Brigid’s Day, honouring Ireland’s only female patron saint. Brigid was originally a triple goddess of healing, fire and poetry. Later it was the name of a saint, born around 450 AD and now the patron of poets and midwives. After a three-year campaign by the feminist group Herstory, Ireland established the first Monday after February 1 as a public holiday in her name.
The poet Laura Murphy was part of that campaign. She sees the recognition of Brigid as a restoration of female and feminine power: “The feminine has been written out of history and out of our society. Honouring a woman as eminent as Brigid signals a new era for Ireland based on her principles of equality, unity, truth, compassion and love.”
This is Ireland’s own local cultural reclamation of female and feminine power, just like World Hijab Day attempts to do.
It is part of a wider appetite for this shift. But the fact that expressions of female and feminine power continue to face public and social resistance tells us just how significant – and threatening – they are seen to be.
Case in point: Mark Zuckerberg recently declared that workplaces need more “masculine energy”. On a podcast, he argued for celebrating “aggression” in work culture. I doubt the people of Gaza, Sudan or Yemen – or the countless women who have survived sexual violence – would agree that what the world needs is more aggression.
His comments reinforce a deeply flawed belief: that power and success come from aggression, and that female and feminine power are second best or irrelevant. Undoubtedly, hunger and ferocity are important, but such views reinforce the idea that neither female nor feminine power is valuable or leads to success.
It also misdirects people to see society’s bedrock as aggression – or masculinity – rather than what should take a greater share of our conversations about what is the bedrock of human society: creation and care.
This mindset is woven into history. Early human societies are framed around the “hunter-gatherer” archetype, centring the men who hunted while ignoring the women who gave birth, nurtured and ensured survival. Even today, care work – overwhelmingly performed by women – is undervalued. Feminine power, which is seen as connected for bodily reasons to creation and care, is dismissed as secondary to money-making and aggression. But if female and feminine power were removed from society, everything would collapse.
It’s time to rethink power. True power isn’t about destruction, exclusion or forcing women into a constant state of discontent. True power is in creation, in care, in reclaiming women’s autonomy and their stories. Men and women need to work together to value both female and feminine power. We must do that in public, in the home, in the workplace and most of all, in ourselves. Not just for one day, but every day.
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
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The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
RESULT
Liverpool 4 Southampton 0
Jota (2', 32')
Thiago (37')
Van Dijk (52')
Man of the match: Diogo Jota (Liverpool)
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The team
Photographer: Mateusz Stefanowski at Art Factory
Videographer: Jear Valasquez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Model: Randa at Art Factory Videographer’s assistant: Zanong Magat
Photographer’s assistant: Sophia Shlykova
With thanks to Jubail Mangrove Park, Jubail Island, Abu Dhabi
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
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More coverage from the Future Forum
Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
