Young Single women in Cairo have it tough. Odds are if you haven’t met your match by the time you start work, you’ve officially entered the jungle.
Imagine that scene from “Mean Girls” where all the kids at school turn into animals and start ripping each other, that’s what life is like if you are a single working woman in the big City.
A number of girls meet their matches in private lessons at high school, or land their dream guy at university where you have the time to look gorgeous every day of the week, the lucky few land themselves a nice mo3eed (teaching assistant) who sweeps them off their feet with his charming wits and more mature circle of friends.
As the final months of college drag on, one can’t help but feel like there are walking towards the un-known. While Sherine and Azza are planning their engagement, Dina and Sara are checking out honeymoon destinations, the single girl is focusing on loosing those last three kilos to make sure she can land someone in those last few months left.
Single women in Cairo are categorized in two main groups, those who will, and those who won’t; by that I am referring to the big giant industry of arranged marriages.
Depending on whether you’re part of one or the other group, you lead a very different life.
Say you are one of those who will accept arranged marriages. This automatically puts you on the path of getting a nice, decent un-ambitious job going out with good girls, hanging out in café’s and restaurants and girl’s houses. You take your mom’s advice on what to wear and how to accessorize, you go to all weddings, engagements and family gatherings –to be seen and all, you smile and say thank you while blushing politely, you’re friendly to all your mom’s friends, you are very agreeable in public and do not voice your opinions unless you are in an intimate one-on-one conversation with a close friend. If you are smart, intelligent and have a brain you make sure you are very subtle about it and you do not challenge anyone or be too noticeable in big gatherings. You spend your summers vacationing in Marina with your family and go to parties with all the kids in your family.
Now if you are one of those who won’t accept an arranged marriage, life gets tougher. You have to go out and find one, which means you have to act in a way that impresses the boy himself and not his mother. Wardrobe suggestions from your mother are strictly ignored; instead you rely on Cosmo, Glamor and Instyle. Your job is important, when it sucks it has a big impact on your overall mood, so you end up doing or trying to do something you really like; which leaves less time for accessorizing and mixing and matching. It also makes beauty sleep scarce and turns make-up into something you associate with dressing up for a party. Your hang-outs extend to pubs, house parties and sexy roof top bars leaving less time for family gatherings and casual polite conversations with your mom’s friends. Being charming and witty and engaging in light conversations that swiftly move from traffic and weather to the state of the economy and the new social trends is an art that needs to be mastered. An aura of effortlessly chic is also necessary – after all you are a smart young urban professional – you don’t have time to look too over done. Since you’re out there experiencing life you have more to contribute to conversations which makes it hard to nod politely when someone looks your direction after an interesting statement. You spend your vacations with friends, hoping to get to know more people and the concept of getting to know someone sitting next to you in a café or a bar doesn’t seem that appalling any more. At weddings you dance and have a good time mixing and meeting people instead of standing next to the bride smiling and clapping, trips to the buffet with family members are replaced with trips to the bathroom with the girls to go over the “potentials” on the dance floor.
All in all, depending on whether you’re type A-Single or type B-Single – your life is not the same. Tune in for an insight into the life of single women in Cairo, it’s a jungle out there. Enjoy
