The Filly Became a Mouse by Layla Ba ’labakki is about a woman’s desire to be successful in several fields—motherhood and her dancing profession, ballet. This is a yearning which I personally believe is acceptable and just right for each individual in this world—to excel in his choice of career. From this written story, I will write an essay understanding it from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Just after the basic and emotional needs of an individual is the esteem needs and lastly would be the need for self-actualization. (Maslow, 1970)
Every girl desires to be a mother—she was bred to be a wife and mother of her husband, but this does not close the doors for other careers—any career she prefers. In the readings, the mother is a professional dancer but her husband would not support her. This is a manifestation of the patriarchy in the Arab region. She is a mother and a career woman, a ballet dancer, yet her husband will not support her that drove her to decide to be a single mother and pursue the career she has chosen for herself. The woman pictured in the story is a woman who is very different from the Arab woman in the early times, in the readings, she is an empowered woman—she knows what she wants and asserts to be what she wills in her life.
However this is again not seen exceptionally perfect in the Arab world, some women who have the courage to go against their husbands are empowered women who have the capability to decide for themselves. However, there are still other parts of this region, specifically the suburbanized, who are not educated and not empowered, and still stick to the traditional woman who is submissive and passive. But this should not be the case. Women should be empowered and we should continue to expand our society and allow the coming educated empowered women who can stand up for themselves and push towards a more gender sensitive society, where there is equal opportunity for both male and female—that we do not get stuck in the status quo.
