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As an Arab female photographer,

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I have always found ample inspiration
for my projects in personal experiences.

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The passion I developed for knowledge,

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which allowed me to break barriers
towards a better life

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was the motivation 
for my project I Read I Write.

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Pushed by my own experience,

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as I was not allowed initially
to pursue my higher education,

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I decided to explore and document
stories of other women

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who changed their lives through education,

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while exposing and questioning
the barriers they face.

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I covered a range of topics
that concern women's education,

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keeping in mind the differences
among Arab countries

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due to economic and social factors.

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These issues include female illiteracy,
which is quite high in the region;

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educational reforms;
programs for dropout students;

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and political activism
among university students.

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As I started this work,

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it was not always easy 
to convince the women to participate.

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Only after explaining to them

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how their stories
might influence other women's lives,

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how they would become role models
for their own community, did some agree.

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Seeking a collaborative
and reflexive approach,

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I asked them to write
their own words and ideas

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on prints of their own images.

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Those images were then shared
in some of the classrooms,

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and worked to inspire
and motivate other women

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going through similar educations 
and situations.

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Aisha, a teacher from Yemen, wrote,

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"I sought education in order
to be independent

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and to not count on men with everything."

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One of my first subjects
was Umm El-Saad from Egypt.

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When we first met, she was
barely able to write her name.

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She was attending
a nine-month literacy program

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run by a local NGO in the Cairo suburbs.

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Months later, she was joking
that her husband

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had threatened to pull her
out of the classes,

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as he found out that his now literate wife

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was going through his phone text messages.

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(Laughter)

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Naughty Umm El-Saad.

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Of course, that's not why
Umm El-Saad joined the program.

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I saw how she was longing to gain
control over her simple daily routines,

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small details that we take for granted,

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from counting money at the market
to helping her kids in homework.

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Despite her poverty
and her community's mindset,

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which belittles women's education,

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Umm El-Saad, along with
her Egyptian classmates,

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was eager to learn how to read and write.

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In Tunisia, I met Asma,

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one of the four activist women
I interviewed.

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The secular bioengineering student
is quite active on social media.

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Regarding her country, which treasured
what has been called the Arab Spring,

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she said, "I've always dreamt
of discovering a new bacteria.

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Now, after the revolution,
we have a new one every single day."

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Asma was referring to the rise
of religious fundamentalism in the region,

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which is another obstacle
to women in particular.

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Out of all the women I met,
Fayza from Yemen affected me the most.

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Fayza was forced to drop out of school
at the age of eight when she was married.

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That marriage lasted for a year.

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At 14, she became the third wife
of a 60-year-old man,

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and by the time she was 18,
she was a divorced mother of three.

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Despite her poverty,

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despite her social status as a divorcée
in an ultra-conservative society,

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and despite the opposition of her parents
to her going back to school,

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Fayza knew that her only way
to control her life was through education.

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She is now 26.

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She received a grant from a local NGO

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to fund her business studies
at the university.

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Her goal is to find a job,
rent a place to live in,

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and bring her kids back with her.

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The Arab states are going through
tremendous change,

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and the struggles women face
are overwhelming.

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Just like the women I photographed,

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I had to overcome many barriers
to becoming the photographer I am today,

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many people along the way
telling me what I can and cannot do.

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Umm El-Saad, Asma and Fayza,
and many women across the Arab world,

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show that it is possible
to overcome barriers to education,

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which they know is the best means
to a better future.

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And here I would like to end
with a quote by Yasmine,

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one of the four activist women
I interviewed in Tunisia.

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Yasmine wrote,

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"Question your convictions.

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Be who you to want to be,
not who they want you to be.

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Don't accept their enslavement,
for your mother birthed you free."

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Thank you.

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(Applause)