I swayed The Economist She highlighted the problem of obesity suffered by the majority of women around the world, and said that women in Arab countries suffer from this health problem more than others in other regions.
The magazine reviewed statistics, and testimonies of women from the region, the reasons behind this, which are mostly due to the position of women in society, and rooted habits that prevent women from maintaining their weight.
The report refers to the case of Iraqi Zainab, 60, who works in a restaurant in Baghdad and cannot afford to buy healthy food, and relies only on what her manager gives her of food that contains a lot of oil. She and her four daughters receive fruit rations, only one day a week, from the donations they receive from the people of the neighborhood in which they live.
The report says that Zainab weighs 120 kilograms, and most likely her daughters will also be obese in the future, because she prefers to remain in their current economic condition, rather than go out to work and be harassed by men.
Worldwide, 15 percent of women are obese, compared to 11 percent of men, which means their body mass index (BMI) is 30 or higher.
But the obesity gap varies around the world, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, which has the largest gender disparity.
In the Middle East, 26 percent of women are obese, compared to 16 percent of men. In 2019, eight out of 11 Arab countries had the highest mortality rate due to obesity (mostly due to heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure).
Since 1975, the rate of obesity among women in Arab countries has increased at a faster rate than men, with the spread of fast food steadily.
The World Bank says that only a fifth of women in Arab countries get jobs, and in Iraq the ratio is as high as one in 10.
This means that most women in the region spend most of their time at home, and while working women in other parts of the world are active in hospitals, classrooms and restaurants, in the Middle East and North Africa many of these jobs are held by men.
Another reason is the lack of exercise. When they reach puberty, exercising in public is sometimes “reprehensible”.
“We don’t like girls on the street,” says an Iraqi man who plays soccer outdoors, but doesn’t let his sister do the same. He says she has a treadmill at home.
Women are harassed if they decide to run in the streets. “When I walk with my dogs, I have to turn on the music to prevent hearing the harassment,” says an Iraqi woman.
Picnics are only in air-conditioned malls, and although some sports clubs cater to women, they are often in major cities.
The report indicates that poor women in Egypt are more obese than wealthy women, who get the opportunity to leave the house, and women in Egypt have the highest body mass index (BMI), except for some Pacific islands.
The reason is largely due to the diet, as Egyptians get 30% of their calories from bread, and most of it is subsidized.
Wafaa Al-Khatib, a housewife in Baghdad, wants to lose weight and is trying to resist the temptations to cook. “The problem for Iraqis is carbohydrates,” she says, noting that her family eats rice and bread at almost every meal.
Another reason for obesity, according to some women, is that many Arab men prefer plump women.
Shereen Rashid, another Iraqi housewife, fears losing some weight because it “loses her femininity”. She says that her husband does not want her to lose weight at all, and fears that “it will feel like a piece of wood in the bed,” as she puts it.