Nawal El Saadawi

Two Women in One Nawal El Saadawi

Two Women in One is the story of Bahiah Shaheen, an 18-year-old medical student and daughter of a prominent Egyptian public official. She finds the male students in her class rough, coarse and alien. Her father, too, seems to belong to a race apart, and the young woman has long ceased to be surprised at not being her real self in his presence. But what, she wonders, is this real self? Of one thing she is certain: it is not the hard-working, well-behaved medical student from the comfortable middle-class background familiar to all who know her. One day, while looking at a painting in an exhibition, a stranger engages her in conversation. This proves to be the beginning of Bahiah Shaheen's road to self-discovery and the start of her realization that fulfilment in life is indeed possible.

Two Women in One is, in fact, the story of countless women in the Third World, and speaks to their quest for emancipation and dignity. It is a reminder to women everywhere that hope must never yield to despair, that the future can hold brighter promise.