I cannot understand the reason behind our girls’ schools not having proper names. Every girls’ school is known by a number. In other words, we see signs reading “The Seventh Elementary School,” “The Fifth Intermediate School” or “The Third Secondary School.”
Numbers are only numbers which in themselves mean nothing — except of course when we can use them to find out how many schools there are at each level of education and the dates when the schools were built. The same also applies to road accidents, birth and death rates and the number of boxes of potatoes unloaded from a truck.
I may be wrong when I say this seems to indicate some strange social problem. Otherwise, why apply such bizarre methods to identifying our girls’ schools? There are many among us who consider revealing a woman’s name to be something disgraceful. A man never makes public the names of his mother, sisters or wives. This is no doubt the reason girls’ schools have not followed the same system as boys’ schools which bear the names of the companions of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or the names of other famous personalities. Girls’ schools must evidently not be named after famous women because women’s names must not be made public.
There must be a hidden reason for trying to turn women into mere ciphers. It is part of the concealing and hiding many people insist upon when women are concerned.
We have thankfully passed the stage when there were many objections to girls’ education and it is now an accepted reality. The time has come for us to review things. Our 15 centuries of Islamic history is rich with the names of many famous women who are worthy of being remembered by having schools named after them. This would end the pointless custom of shrouding absolutely everything to do with women in secrecy. It would also enable both sexes to become familiar with the achievements and accomplishments of many outstanding Muslim women who would also be excellent role models today.
Arab News From the Local Press 3 March 2003
