I by no means intend to simplify the challenges women face in any culture. Women are marginalized in all cultures in my opinion, some in more extreme ways than others.

Since a very young age, my mother made sure to tell me about the plight of women... As she raised my awareness about women's issues, she also made sure to ingrain in me the importance of being strong and independent and not to let anybody define me by their images of what women should be.

I grew up with injustice and could do nothing about it. But once in America, I had freedom of choice.

Everything is give and take. The solutions are in the middle not in the extremity of the situation.

Women in the Arab world have a rich history in their active participation in political change from the Algeria revolution against the French occupation to the most recent revolution in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya among other countries. The question is not their participation. Their question is the incorporation of women's voices fully in the new definitions of the countries where change has happened.

Sometimes you just have to jump off the cliff without knowing where you will land.

Where has change ever been clean and nice? It has always been messy and painful.