Al-Jazeera, Qatar
Sept 20 2004
Saudi-American woman seeks political office
By Linda Isam Haddad in Los Angeles
An Arab-American woman has set her sights on political office in the
United States, hoping to impart social change and create a positive
impact on women’s rights in the Arab world.
About 50 years ago, a young girl shocked her conservative Saudi
neighbourhood when she showed two boys how to ride a bike. They
stared at her with a confused daze as she rode the bike down the
street.
Today, that little girl is all grown up and has shocked her
neighbourhood – and the rest of her country – as she attempts to
become the first Saudi-American woman to win political office in the
US.
“My look on life has always shocked people in my country,” says
Ferial Masry, who is running for the 37th district of the California
Assembly, an assembly seat which represents Ventura County and parts
of Los Angeles County.
“All my life, I was interested in social change,” Masry, also a
teacher of American History and government at Cleveland High School
in Los Angeles, tells Aljazeera.net. “I always had it in me to do
something that may be different that can affect my community.”
Against the odds
Masry filed her candidacy registration papers late, and ended up
running as a write-in candidate in March 2004 for the Democratic
primary election and was able to get enough votes making it to the
general election where her name will appear on the ballot this
November.
“I barely had enough money to run a campaign,” she says, citing her
opponent Audra Strickland, conservative Republican candidate and wife
of the incumbent Assembly person Tony Strickland, who has spent
nearly half a million dollars with two months left in the campaign.
Masry (C), an active Democrat,
was very visible at the convention
Masry says if she wins her grassroots campaign will certainly be a
case study for the entire nation.
The US constitution is just a tiny little document with so much
power, she says. Masry believes with such powers citizens should feel
responsible to become more involved in the political process, whether
one votes or runs for office.
Win or lose, Masry says her running for a political seat will not
only bring awareness to important issues in her community, but it
will also have an impact on women in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the
Arab world.
Growing up
When she was only nine, her mother sent her and her sisters to be
educated at the American Boarding School for Girls in Cairo, Egypt.
Up to that point, the only schooling Masry had had was at the local
Kutab in Makka, a place where children were taught how to read and
learn the Quran.
Masry’s favourite subject in school was history. “The more we know it
and study history, the more we can learn from it to be better people
and [a] better society,” Masry tells Aljazeera.net. “History brings
us close to our roots.”
After earning a bachelor of arts degree in journalism at Cairo
University and living in England and Nigeria, Masry moved with her
husband Waleed to Southern California, a place she first fell in love
with while vacationing.
Waleed, born in Nigeria to a Lebanese father and Armenian mother, did
not like the idea of moving to America, “but he also didn’t mind it”,
Masry says. “I decided on it because I knew it was the place to
pursue the future.”
She counts on her family for
support and encouragement
In 1979, they did just that, opening a small photograph-processing
business, and becoming US citizens three years later.
During that time, Masry pursued and earned a master’s degree in
school administration at California Lutheran University.
Today, Waleed works as a civilian electrical engineer in the US army.
On the issues
“She’s a smart woman because she brings the best of both worlds,”
says Zella Brown, 80, of Thousand Oaks, a city in the district Masry
is running in.
“Her background is tremendous and I enjoy learning more and more
about her.”
Brown has been a Democrat since she first registered to vote, and
believes Masry brings forward not only Democratic principals to the
table, but as well ideas and values most politicians do not have that
may help her campaign.
One of Masry’s biggest concerns, especially as a teacher in the Los
Angeles Public Unified School District, is how public education is
being handled.
She ran on a shoestring budget in
the primary election
One of California’s biggest crises is that its educational system is
lagging behind other states’ public school systems. It is a struggle
trying to balance a budget deficit without hurting the public school
system.
“The beauty of [America’s] system is that you can be educated until
the day you die,” Masry says. “But the unfortunate thing is the
politicians have a hold of our education, and the first thing I would
try to do is to take education out of the hands of the politicians.”
Masry stands firm on the issue of not hurting public schools’ budgets
when trying to balance the states’ budget.
“As a high school teacher, I stand for a good public education, which
should be a normal thing and not a privilege,” Masry says.
Defeating stereotypes
America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is considered a
controversial one among some Americans, especially since it was
revealed that 15 of the 19 hijackers in the September 11 attacks were
Saudi-born.
With America’s ever-growing efforts to combat “terrorism”,
stereotypes of Arabs have also been growing in the minds of some
Americans.
“There is a stereotype [about Arabs], but it all depends on how you
receive it,” Masry says. “Stereotypes about Arabs and anyone else
disgust me, yes, but I do not and will not allow it to hurt me. We
[Arabs] are a people with a proud heritage.
The Saudi-born Masry wants Arab
women to believe in themselves
“Stereotypes may even come from your own community,” says Omar Masry,
the candidate’s oldest of three children.
Unfortunately, Omar says, some Arabs automatically assume that
because his mother is Saudi Arabian, she is rich, and so they will
not donate money to her campaign.
Omar is very hopeful his mother will win, despite the fact the
district she is running in is predominantly Republican. “[My mother]
is able to bridge differences,” Omar says. “She is not your average
white bread Ryan Seacrest look-a-like wannabe politician who cannot
relate to average Americans.”
Creating social change
Masry has certainly attracted much attention since her determination
to run for the assembly started this year.
“People like me because I am funny and not threatening, but at the
same time I’m very serious when it comes to seeing things change for
[the] good,” she says.
“Unfortunately, women in [the Arab] culture feel oppressed and blame
the culture,” she says. “Part of the problem is not our culture, but
the woman herself.”
She hopes women in the Arab world will stand up and believe in
themselves and go against any force that oppresses them.
“Unless you take yourself seriously, know you can have an effect on
your community and respect yourself and believe in yourself first, no
one else will believe in you,” she says.