The Fearless Girl

Strolling through the bustling market streets on the way home from school, I can feel the

judgmental gaze of men boring into my skull. Not only is the sun reflecting my caramel-toned highlights, but I’m also wearing shorts—in Morocco, I may as well have branded myself with a scarlet letter!

It is not only men that are penetrating me with their gazes, a young girl with box-blonde hair and cut-off shorts. I can read the judgement and scorn in women’s eyes, too, already blaming the way I look for any potential incident. However, I ignore their glances and focus on my music, as I make the long journey home.

As I approach my neighborhood, reality starts to gradually shift. I start feeling more relaxed, feeling safe surrounded by people who shaped my personality and a community that endorsed me to go against the norms of a conservative society.

I see old women sitting in wicker chairs, gossiping while cleaning sesame seeds, men playing Dominoes on the ground, boys rolling tires, and girls playing with woven dolls. Sometimes, the girls and boys exchange toys, which is one of my favorite aspects about my neighborhood: no gender is expected to act in a certain way.

You see, Ben Debbab is one of the biggest, oldest, poorest, and most crowded

neighborhoods in my city, Fez. It is often compared to Rio de Janeiro—as much for its

poverty and high crime rates as for its colorfulness and beauty. Because residents are so busy hustling to survive, they don’t have time to bother with frivolities like gender norms, and hence, they transcend their limitations. For example, you can find a woman peddling makeup on the ground, and alongside her, a man doing the same. Women drive taxis and lay bricks, and men unabashedly work as nurses or secretaries.

Growing up in this environment was truly defining, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

In the mornings, boys and girls would play soccer together, and in the evenings, we’d sew doll clothes. Seeing women as equal to men early on was transformative. In kindergarten, I denied help from male peers when relocating my desk. In middle school, I took up karate although I was the only girl in the studio. Even at home, gender differences were never acknowledged.

Over dinner, my dad would tell me stories of women like Zineb Fasiki, a civil rights activist, and men like Kamal Oudghiri, a NASA Engineer—both who grew up just a few blocks away. He told these stories to ignite hope in me; to inspire me to never give up on my goals, however hard or seemingly far off; and to not let my current circumstances decide my future. When I mentioned my plans to study abroad, my dad smiled in pride and promised to support me in any way possible. He isn’t afraid of me foraying into the greater world: he has faith that I will use my judgement and values to make the right choices.

In these home and residential communities, I grew up with blinders on - but rather than

limit my vision, they prevented me from seeing any limitations. Consequently, I live unfettered by the constraints that an ultra-conservative society tries to impose. I wear what I want, have opposite-sex friendships, and see value in challenging myself academically. And thus, I carve my own path—Manar’s Path—in which societal expectations will have no place.

In college, I will study the male-dominated field of finance. Not because I want to prove a point, but because I genuinely love the field—from its quantitative and practical nature, to its ubiquity and applicability in both one’s individual life and the broader world. I am not trying to shatter any ceilings—to me, there are no ceilings, just endless skies of possibility.

I won’t squander any opportunity to amass as much knowledge of and experience during college, so that I can be the real-life version of Wall Street’s Fearless Girl statue. Yet while she’s boldly facing the charging bull, I will be facing the hurdles thrown my way due to my socio-economic and female status. I will charge right back at these metaphorical bulls and ultimately, smile proudly, joining the Fearless Girl’s ranks as an ambitious, confident, and competent woman amongst a sea of gray flannel suits.