MOTIFS:

GENDER ROLES

Many of the women in Midaq Alley hold power over men. Husniya is strong and fierce and shows domestic abuse - she beats her husband. Hamida has power over all the men she attracts, but refuses to become servile and pregnant because she thinks that she deserves better. Mrs. Saniya Afify is a self-sufficient woman who only wants a husband for companionship.

“Down the street they saw Husniya, the bakeress, beating her husband, Jaada, with her slippers.”