Pari Publishing

Reviews

Literary Review of Canada
July/August 2010

Bridging the Divide
A Canadian business executive finds common cause with the women of Yemen.

As Greg Mortenson describes it in Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, his fervent desire to build a school for the Afghan village of Korphe was about to bear fruit after much self-sacrifice. Mortenson had sold all of his worldly possessions, navigated through the complexities of village politics and secured resources for the arduous task in the rugged Afghan terrain, when he was stopped in his tracks by Korphe's village elder Haji Ali. Before any school could be built, explained Haji Ali, a bridge over the chasm leading to Korphe was essential.

The bridge metaphor was not lost on the author, and it provides a humbling reminder in an era of cultural flashpoints across the globe. Before either side can seek to influence the other, we must engage in the arduous, yet necessary task to understand our common humanity, thereby bridging our cultural divides. Given the enormous popular success of his books, it is clear that Mortenson's humane approach resonates with the wider public. Most people recognize that conflict resolution begins by doing away with caricatures and acknowledging human weaknesses and strengths on all sides.

Within the Mortenson paradigm, enter the vision of Donna Kennedy-Glans, author of Unveiling the Breath: One Woman’s Journey into Understanding Islam and Gender Equality. Kennedy-Glans is a Canadian lawyer and businesswoman with 24 years of experience guiding organizations in the management of ethics in more than 30 countries. She was the first female vice-president of international energy giant Nexen Corporation. At the invitation of female leaders and host governments in countries such as Yemen, Egypt, Oman, India and Nepal, in 2005 Kennedy-Glans founded the aptly named Bridges, a volunteer organization that trains and mentors Yemeni community leaders in health care, law, journalism, education and politics.

Unveiling the Breath begins at a seaside restaurant in the town of Mulkulla, Yemen, introducing us to the author's good friend, Dr. Ahlam Binbriek. We learn that Ahlam has become more conservative since 9/11, adopting the niqab. Yet that has not prevented her from striving to improve maternal health in her native land, where one in nine mothers dies in childbirth. Theirs is a special friendship, for each woman serves as a mirror to the other, allowing for deep introspection, mutual understanding and evolution of thought. In the words of Kennedy-Glans, Ahlam “has, over the years, helped me put the pieces of my own kaleidoscope into some kind of recognizable order.” This book recounts Kennedy-Glans's philosophical ruminations about gender relations gleaned through her travels in Muslim societies and, in particular, through her work with Bridges in Yemen.

Throughout the book, Kennedy-Glans provides examples from her own life about the challenges faced by women in Canada—most notably, in the corporate worlds of law and business. In addition, she reminds us about gender-based violence in North America with mind-numbing statistics, and compares it with a concerted and sincere effort she has encountered in Yemen to begin working toward genuine gender equality there. She also provides examples of female and male pioneers working side by side in the health sectors of Muslim societies. The book is peppered with wisdom from ancient scriptures and ancestral teachings of the East and West. Yet we are provided with a modern context by the author's extensive use of international development reports and surveys (for example, the United Nations Arab Human Development Report)...
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Alberta Views
April 2010

The French diarist Anaï̈s Nin once said that “We don't see things as they are; we see things as we are.” Donna Kennedy-Glans, a self-identified white Christian woman of some privilege, has undertaken a noble effort to see, feel and comprehend things as they are for Islamic people in Unveiling the Breath: One woman's journey into understanding Islam and gender equality. The author—a lawyer, businesswoman and humanitarian—was the first female Vp of a Calgary-based energy company operating in the Middle East. She travelled throughout the region, negotiating with local officials and earning a reputation as a businesswoman with a sharp eye for the bottom line and a big heart for the less fortunate. In 2001, Kennedy-Glans founded Bridges, a charity with a mission “to build capacity in locations where others do not go.”

Unveiling the Breath details this lofty, ambitious exercise. In settings as diverse as the Bedouin townships of Yemen, the streets of Tehran and the farming communities of her prairie youth, Kennedy-Glans deconstructs and reconstructs her impressions and prejudices, all to further her dream that “we might see each other as we are.” Again and again she is drawn back to Yemen to “learn more about universal gender equilibrium.” Kennedy-Glans writes: “I've found that patriarchy exists in subtle ways in the West that we might not want to acknowledge; conversely, patriarchy in the Muslim world isn't as extreme as our Western view of it, either. Which brings us closer than most people realize.”

In addition to her impressive intellectual rigour, the author has a most appealing capacity for self-reflection. A gentle narrative about yearning to accept and to be accepted is woven using an eclectic mix of references and sources. Nadia, a Yemeni woman, hosted the author in her community. The Yemenis peppered the Canadian with questions betraying a fear that Bridges' programs were designed to “westernize” young Yemeni girls. A sense of trust and solidarity seemed to settle over the room and the women sat down to share a meal. At the end of the evening, however, Nadia cornered Kennedy-Glans and demanded that she swear an allegiance to Islam. The situation escalated until “the pressure suddenly broke—calmly and from the bottom of my heart, I looked into her eyes and asked: ‘Nadia, can you understand that my values and beliefs mean as much to me as yours do to you?’ And then I hugged her, really hugged her.”

Unveiling the Breath is a bold work, rich with insights into the murky realm of culture, religion and gender. One senses that the author could have shared even more; hopefully in time she will.

—Alison Azer