JOURNALIST
Stephie Joyce
Stephy joice writes an advice column for a local magazine. Most of the letters she receives are about relationships and sexual issues, which were a taboo in Abidjan until not so long ago. Every woman in Abidjan knows her name and she believes that her column is an important way to start breaking down the walls of silence that have built up between mothers and daughters as a result of personal issues being taboo for so long.
A white French woman used to write her column and Stephy is proud to be the first African woman to address such provocative issues.
SALLY OUATTARA
Sally is a highly educated woman who has 20 years of experience as a journalist. Currently, she is chief editor of an Ivorian newspaper for women.
When we meet, we talk for a long time about women in Abidjan and in Islam. Sally’s dress is modern and she speaks eloquently on a range of issues: her opinions give me some perspective and she impresses me.
The Muslim women I’ve met in Abidjan appear to embody a delicate mix of traditional and modern values: they are smart (some are well-educated), independent to varying degrees and very religious. Sally is no different in this respect. We meet during Ramadan, which she keeps, and although she engages with my provocative questions about Islam, she does it with respect towards her position as a Muslim woman and the responsibilities that entails. She has a peaceful way about her.
Sally surprises me when our talk turns to the issue of abortion, which is illegal in Abidjan. Women that go for ‘back street’ abortions here put their lives at risk, and I was sure that the feminist in Sally would be supportive of legalizing abortion. Instead, she emphatically tells me, “No! They shouldn’t have abortions”. I ask her if she feels the same about women that become pregnant as a result of being raped, or who simply cannot care for the baby, and she tells me that she believes that abortions are wrong no matter what.
She doesn’t agree that we (women) should have the power to abort, and believes that women who do so harm themselves – their own souls - more than they know. She explains that Abidjan has extensive adoption facilities, and that adopted children are well taken care of. She tells me that many women choose to have babies adopted and that very few believe in abortion for much the same reasons as her.
Sally is 38-years-old and married. She has no children and is not sure she will have any. Her job takes up most of her time and her husband already has children from a previous marriage.