MFA Advising 2017: Hala Gabr

Women Self Actualization: A Narrative of a Performative Gender Constitution

By Hala Gabr

Thesis Committee:

Main Advisor: Diane Derr

Secondary Advisors: Basma Hamdy, Rachel Cohn

Reader: Sadia Mir

In a traditional Middle Eastern society, men and women have been confined within gender definitions. Those imposed social constructs condition men differently from women by dictating behaviors and establishing a hierarchy of gender positioning that limits women’s abilities and potential. Based on postmodernist philosopher, feminist and social theorist, Simone de Beauvoir and postmodernist philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, gender is not an inborn role, but rather created through stylized repetition of acts informed by society, named performative acts. For de Beauvoir and Butler, gender can never be a stable identity (Butler 1988). Informed by Butler’s phenomenological nature of gender constitution, this research explores Arab women self- actualization in the workplace. Via an online platform, called KOONI, the design aims to help women rethink the nature of gender and gender roles in the workplace and introduces the concept of performative acts as a role-playing mechanism to induce change.

This research resulted in an online tool for women self- actualization in the workplace. The online platform is called Kooni, the Arabic feminine verb meaning ‘be’. As the name suggests, the platform aims at helping women become better by self-actualizing themselves in the context of their workplace. Kooni encourages women to break workplace gender roles and self-imposed internal barriers that fulfill society’s expectations. Kooni has been designed as a digital platform to fall in line with today’s digital world. This encapsulates the power of accessibility in Kooni, to reach more women on a larger geographical area. Furthermore, a digital platform also allows the potential of communication, where Kooni could communicate with the women through the platform and on a future perspective.