An artwork by Dalia Hamouda, adapted by me.
I have spent my life surrounded by women, each of whom has left an unforgettable lesson about life within me.
Even my profession as a gynecologist has made my patients, their lives, and their experiences an integral part of my understanding of life and of my own human development.
Over the years, I have written a series of articles. In 2021, I published an article titled Me and Four Women. In 2022, the title became Me and Six Women. In 2023, I added the seventh woman: my granddaughter, the crown of my head. In 2024, I added the eighth: my grandmother. And I am certain that every reader has women in his or her life who resemble those I write about.
This year, I will conclude my article with two symbolic figures that frame and embrace the entire piece.
There is no particular order of preference, but I will begin with the second woman and leave the first until the very end, before moving on to the ninth and tenth women I have added this year.
The Second Woman: Every Mother of the New Generation
The second woman represents every mother belonging to this new generation that society persistently criticizes.
Yet what I see around me is the opposite of what people say about them. I see mothers who care for their homes, support their families financially, and work tirelessly from morning until night. They spend, nurture, raise, communicate, help their children study, and make sure every family member has food, clothes, and books. They take their children to sports practice and private lessons while simultaneously fulfilling their professional responsibilities and contributing to household expenses.
These are the same women who carry pregnancies, give birth, breastfeed, and stay awake through countless nights, day after day, hour after hour.
In my eyes, the young mothers of this generation are heroes.
The Third Woman: My Daughter
All my life, I have called my daughter “My Happy Thoughts,” because she is an optimistic, smiling person, beautiful in both appearance and presence.
Then, at the age of twenty-five, she developed type 1 diabetes, the more serious form of the disease. Within just a few months, the illness had progressed to the point where her body could no longer produce the insulin essential to her life, activity, and energy.
This meant a complete transformation of her lifestyle, continuous treatment, injections, blood sugar monitoring, and changes in the nature and composition of her diet.
Suddenly, my daughter—a mother of three, a wife, and a working woman—had to redesign her life entirely.
I watched her, in the prime of her youth, with all her knowledge and vitality, enter a stage of life for which she had never been prepared, while carrying the responsibilities she had always approached with seriousness and commitment.
She transformed her life through sheer determination. Within a few years, she had brought her condition under control. She did so while remaining deeply involved in her daughters’ lives, encouraging them to exercise alongside her, accompanying them to physical training and music lessons, sharing every moment of their lives, attending their school activities, and reading with them and to them. She fills her family’s life with joy and happiness.
And because she is such a beautiful human being, she has dedicated part of her efforts to supporting children with diabetes, helping protect them from the devastating complications the disease can cause over time.
When I look at her, I say to myself: this is a woman who deserves to be a role model. And there are many others like her in our society.
She has neither given up nor grown complacent, nor has she collapsed under the burden. She has faced her challenges with a smile and overcome them through determination. Those around her may never realize what she carries within herself. She does not burden any member of her family with her worries or reveal the moments of sorrow and fear that she must have experienced, and may still experience.
Why do I write about her?
I write because there are young women like her everywhere. Diabetes rates in Egypt are alarmingly high, and I see its complications in my patients every day.
There are thousands like my daughter, and they must take charge of their own lives. They must not lose heart or surrender. They must understand that determination, knowledge, and commitment can turn them into heroes, role models, and examples for others to follow.
To my daughter, and to every mother like her: you are mothers who deserve to be a source of pride and admiration.
The Fourth Woman: My Wife
Every mother loves her children, protects them, cares for them, and gives to them without expecting anything in return or asking for recognition. That is what makes a mother a mother.
But my wife has wrapped her motherhood in friendship with her children, without pretension or pressure. She has maintained a human presence in their lives that they themselves welcome, appreciate, and long for.
After a day at work, the end of a meeting, or an event—whether joyful or painful—the first person who comes to their minds when they are with me is their mother. They call her simply to hear her voice.
She is security without words, a refuge of comfort and reassurance without fuss, and a space where they can express themselves freely, without fear of judgment or hesitation in sharing their happiness or pain.
As someone who has witnessed her life closely, I tell her that this is her greatest achievement: our children’s emotional well-being, the integrity of their lives, the beauty of their behavior, and the wisdom and decency of their relationships with others are all the fruit of her uninterrupted love. Her love shaped their inner lives, softened their hearts, and gave each of them the opportunity to bring out the best in themselves.
Then our grandchildren arrived, like birds singing in the sky of our lives, bringing a new flavor and fragrance of happiness we had never known before.
And suddenly, she became an extraordinary grandmother—one who combines tenderness with knowledge, presence with responsibility, and love with wisdom. She does not interfere excessively; instead, she offers overflowing affection and emotions that have given our lives a new priority.
As a husband and father who understands her role in her own life and in the lives of our children, I know that a significant part of God’s blessings upon me comes through the love my children feel for me—a love nurtured by a mother who instilled in them everything beautiful toward their father and deepened within them respect for his person.
I love you, thank you, respect you, and appreciate you.
The Fifth Woman: My Friend
She is the wise friend who remains close, however far away she may be, and who offers counsel when it is needed.
Friendship with a woman holds immense value, if only people truly understood.
Do you know why?
Of course, friendship in general brings affection and peace of mind. But the beauty of friendship with a woman lies in the absence of blame and the need to justify one’s actions or explain one’s absence.
Friendship with a woman is free from the pressures associated with marital commitment. It allows for companionship without requiring either person to constantly seek the other’s approval. You can simply be yourself.
In friendship, there is joy without pretension, support without a price, trust that is not tested at every turn, and love that never has to sit an examination because it requires no certificate to prove its existence.
If you have a female friend, cherish that friendship and its joy, its enduring affection, and its freedom—always with purity of intention and respect for boundaries.
The Sixth Woman: My Sister
She is the strong, supportive sister who is worth a thousand men.
When a sister is tender, friendly, and passionate, as mine is, God has given me through her an abundance of affection and a lifelong source of support.
And what if she is also a scientist, a strong woman, and a physician who cares for our mother, our siblings, our children, our grandchildren, and her husband at every moment and in every circumstance?
No one in our family has an influence quite like hers, nor is anyone as consistently present—not only for her immediate family, but for all our children and grandchildren.
She is always available, always influential, and always ready to care for and guide them all. She is the first person every mother in our family thinks of when she needs help or fears for her children.
She is the pillar of support for every smaller family within our extended family—not merely because of her medical expertise, but because of the reassurance her heart provides.
Remarkably, even as the children grow older, she remains their physician and their beloved confidante, regardless of their height, age, or weight.
She is my sister, my first friend, and my lifelong guardian.
What an extraordinary woman—worth a thousand men.
The Seventh Woman: My Granddaughter
She is the young lady who keeps me company, bringing a new flavor to life that one can only appreciate after becoming a grandfather.
I watch her grow and marvel. I observe her maturity and feel joy. I follow with fascination as her horizons expand, and my heart opens with happiness. I take pride in her achievements at school, as though life itself were beginning anew through her.
My granddaughters, aged eleven, sixteen, and eighteen, are gifts from God. May He keep them in my life and in the lives of every grandfather like me, as sources of hope and energy who bring the gift of renewal to our lives.
The Eighth Woman: My Grandmother
Although my grandmother lived in a time when she had no formal education, she was a source of wisdom and the balancing force within our Egyptian family.
I remember one brilliant saying of hers:
“Too much of anything, my son, becomes too little.”
I leave it to the reader to reflect on the wisdom behind those words.
Today, when I look at my wife, my sister, and my patients, I see educated grandmothers—and there are many like them in this generation. I am amazed by them and proud of the roles they play, almost as if they were second mothers to their grandchildren, offering support, emotional security, care, and a positive presence.
They have transformed the traditional image of grandmothers who once needed care into that of today’s grandmothers, who nurture, contribute, and teach.
I find myself thinking that the grandmother of today deserves a standing ovation.
I now turn to the symbolic figures represented by the ninth and tenth women.
The Ninth Woman: Every Egyptian Woman Throughout History
When it comes to women, I find no better teacher than history.
The Egyptian woman is extraordinary: a wife, a mother, a farmer, and a worker. When education became available to her, she excelled and distinguished herself. And when she ascended the throne of Egypt in ancient times, she inspired and led.
She gave birth to a civilization, raised generations, and has always been the balancing force within the Egyptian family and society.
In ancient history, Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for twenty-one years, during which the country became a major power and its economy flourished—a prosperity still attested to by history and by the temples that stand to this day.
When the Egyptian woman sang, she became Umm Kulthum, the Star of the East, whose voice transcended Egypt’s borders to become the voice of an entire nation.
She was also the woman who piloted the country’s first aircraft, and whose voice rose above the voices of men during the 1919 Revolution and, later, the June 30 Revolution.
Today, she is a physician, a scientist, a teacher, a nurse, an artist, and a writer.
And I continue to tell every Egyptian family:
Your daughters’ greatest weapons are education and knowledge.
Nothing protects a woman against the injustice of ignorance as effectively as knowledge.
To every woman in Egypt, to every young woman in Egypt, to every remarkable woman in Egypt:
Your past is a civilization. Your present is strength. Your future is a light that illuminates the nation’s path.
The Surprise: The Tenth Woman
After writing about nine women in my life, I discovered that there was a tenth who had accompanied me throughout my entire existence, from the day I was born until today.
She was not a member of my immediate family, yet I have always belonged to her family—in time, in place, and in existence itself.
The tenth woman is Om El Donia—Mother of the World: Egypt.
She is the mother who embraced my grandmother and my own mother.
My sister grew up on her soil. My wife and my friend learned on her land. My daughter grew up in her schools, and my granddaughter continues to grow beneath her skies.
She is not merely a land in which we live; she is a magnificent spirit that lives within us.
She is a patient woman who has endured centuries of glory and hardship, yet has always remained standing, teaching her children that civilization never dies and hope never fades.
And so, as I write during Women’s Month, I say:
There are ten women in my life—eight living women and two symbolic figures. And the greatest of them all is Egypt, Mother of the World.
Returning to the First Woman: The Queen of All Women
The first woman is, in truth, the queen of all women.
She is the dearest, most precious, and closest to my mind, soul, and heart.
She is my mother.
How did this mother manage to become the gentle, dreamlike music of our lives, without making a sound and without ever asking anything of any one of us?
She was the source of love, affection, joy, and commitment among us. Without interfering in any of our personal affairs, she managed to remain an active and essential presence in each of our lives.
Her love for our father, may he rest in peace, became a model for every wife in our family. Her contentment and serenity quietly found their way into our hearts. Without asking or demanding anything, she made gathering around her a source of pleasure, joy, and security.
This is my beautiful mother—the most beautiful woman in our family.
Beautiful in her gentleness, her elegance, her silence, and her smile.
I loved you, Mother. I love you still, and I miss you after your departure.
I cherish the message of calm and gracious acceptance you spread among us, effortlessly and without ever needing to announce it.
I love your patience and the love you give.
I love the way you have embraced and understood us throughout the years, without complaint or a sigh of pain.
My mother, you were—and remain—the inspiration behind our innermost feelings. You continue to radiate your light, always and forever, through a gesture, through your silence, or through a smile.
I am not writing poetry about my mother now. I am simply describing her as she truly was, and my words can never do justice to who she really is.
We make pilgrimages to her without her ever summoning us. And when we meet her, she replenishes our hearts with her smile, without blame or reproach for those who arrive late or those who never come.
These are eight examples of women in my life, and I suspect that many men will find their own lives reflected in them.
So let us tell our grandmothers and mothers, our wives and daughters, our granddaughters, our friends, our sisters, and all women:
You are the very source of life, and the place women hold in our lives has no equal.
