There is a woman for every season

“The leaves fall one by one” an expression we hear every time a famous man of politics, sociology, economics, culture or the art world passes away in Morocco. I, however, as we prepare to bid farewell to a year full of events and accelerating changes, have chosen to speak about the women of my country who have died this year, one by one, and who are less fortunate than their male counterparts in the annals of media and celebrity. I give special mention to HRH Princess Lalla Amina, one of the most humble and modest princesses who had elected to live away from the limelight and adored hunting, horse riding and gold. The late princess adopted the cause of the disabled in her homeland, becoming herself a symbol of forbearance and giving, which is not odd for a princess born in exile at the height of the revolution of the king and the people. The second honest woman is fellow journalist Amina al-Harrak: one of the pioneers of the Arab Maghreb News Agency who has not been given justice in the history books of the Moroccan press. Her love of the troublesome occupation trumped her interest in the plastic arts which had had her spellbound since her tender years. Her paintings displayed a childlike spirit haunted by the memory of Tétouan in which she first saw light. The third is Amina al-Filali, the child whose suicide occupied public opinion after she was married to her rapist, bringing back to the foreground the marriage of minors and rapists escaping punishment. The year 2012 also took anthropologist Zakia Zouanat, Moroccan Sufism expert and author of The Kingdom of Saints, the seminal work on the various extensions of the legacy of Sufi mysticism around the world which she had dedicated to HM King Mohammed VI. Death’s current also swept away human rights champion Assia al-Wadie, who fought ferociously for the humanisation of Moroccan prisons and the re-assimilation of prisoners within society, earning her the nickname “Mama Assia.” We do not forget our colleague Latifa Bousadon: a rare dove who has sounded her call most wonderfully from the tree of Moroccan press. She is a media person who stood out in political interviews and analysis, contributing hugely in the struggle of the Moroccan woman for progress and liberation. Now that they have taken the seats of absence, we can all contemplate them more clearly. There they sit proudly next to Thouria Saqqat Fatima al-Fahriya, Rajae Belmlih, Malika Moustadraf, Kharboucha, Zainab Ennafzaouia and that long line of the products of knowledge, artistic innovators, bringers of rights, news investigators and seekers of freedom and equality. But I will not mourn time’s treachery or lament the icons of my homeland. The leaves do indeed fall one by one, but so long as the tree remains rooted firmly in the soil, reaching upwards towards the sky, it is certain to grow fresh green leaves instilling joy in people’s hearts and having its day in the sun before departing, vacating its place for another. This is how the daughters of life will continue the march and the struggle each in her field, whether she is a teacher, a doctor, a researcher, a politician, a homemaker, a human rights activist, a journalist or an artist. As there is a man for every season, so there is a woman also. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.