Wallada Bint Al-Mustakfi and the Role of Women Essay

The role of women in society has always been a disputable question as for centuries, their position in society had been vulnerable. There was a tendency to decrease the importance of their contribution to the evolution of various aspects of the world. The same can be observed in the sphere of poetry. For instance, speaking about the emancipated women and their role in Andalusia, the authors try to outline stereotypes peculiar to that period and refute them by offering various examples from the life of female poets who impacted political relations. Using the quotation “I am, by God, fir for high positions”, the author outlines the fact that even at that hard epoch prominent women were able to impact society and the way it evolved (Mourtada-Sabbah and Gully 183).

Thus, one of the persons mentioned by the authors is Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, the poet of that historical era. They emphasize the fact that the existence of her poetry and themes raised by her evidence the fact that women in Andalusian society had a high level of freedom and independence, especially if compared with women in Muslim communities (Mourtada-Sabbah and Gully 184). Holding powerful positions and possessing high authority, they were also able to create poems about such themes as relations with men and even write sharp satires reflecting peculiarities of the society in which they lived.

In such a way, the authors use Wallada as a controversial female poet that proves the existence of certain freedom among poets of that age and their ability to interfere with the functioning of the society, which essentially differed them from counterparts belonging to the Muslim world.

Works Cited

Mourtada-Sabbah, Nada and Adrian Gully. “‘I am, by God, fit for high positions’ On the political role of women in al-Andalus.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, 2003, pp. 183-209.