Dubai: Despite all the obstacles, criticism and judgement they faced as Arab female writers, Inaam Kachachi, Mai Al-Nakib and Badriah Bishr say they never let any barriers stop them from moving ahead.

The eminent women were speaking at a session titled Female Focus — Overcoming Barriers during the seventh edition of the Emirates Airline Literature Festival on Thursday.

They said they looked at opportunities and realised what was best for them even though in some cases, the societies they grew up in found it unacceptable for them to express themselves as women.

As an acclaimed Iraqi journalist and novelist, Inaam Kachachi said when she worked in Iraq before the American invasion, she came across men who would underestimate her abilities just because of her gender, but she learnt to eliminate such societal barriers through courage and gaining mastery over her work.

“During the 1970s, it was rare to see a female reporter going around searching for stories and interviewing people. Iraqi society found it unusual and in many cases the men I interviewed would underestimate my capability because I’m a woman,” she said.

Inaam said she had to go the extra mile to prove that she was strong and capable of doing what a man can do.

“People may have spoken about me, questioned my morals and cursed me, but I believe if women master their work, they can break all barriers. Women should never feel ashamed of what they write.”

Badriah Al Bishr, a successful Saudi journalist and an author of several novels and collections of stories said “every age has its own challenges, but I’m thankful to have gotten the education I wanted in a society that had convinced people that women should stay at home and not go out.”

“I was questioning everything around me and was upset that I had to cover my face and was unable to go out,” she said. “During that time at least we were able to go to school and university, but when I wanted to work in a newspaper it was considered taboo for my byline to be on the paper.”

She said her passion, commitment and determination allowed her to overcome major barriers in her life. She now writes about the experience of women in the region and presents a program on MBC 1 discussing controversial issues in the Saudi society.

Mai Al-Nakib, an associate professor of English at Kuwait University and an author of several novels and short stories, said growing up in Kuwait was a bit different because it was more open and ahead of other societies in the GCC.

“I grew up in a society where women were active, independent, and not afraid to engage in the world. The government supported women on many fronts and gave them scholarships and had opened universities for them, but after the 1990s things changed,” she said.

“There was a shift towards a more conservative sensibility. Young ambitious women were not able to do what they wanted because their families had a conservative mindset, but that was the time when I left Kuwait.”

Mai said she has always been fearless and adventurous. “I either don’t see barriers, or see them as an opportunity,” she said. “Through fiction, I was able to express what I couldn’t express about the everyday life of people living in the region.”

The three said female writers still face some prejudices. “when the work is good, they think someone had done the work for us, and when the story is about a girl who may have gotten abused, they think we are speaking about ourselves through the character. This is complete nonsense,” said Badriah.