Fatema Mernissi quotes
1940 – 2015 · Morocco, 20th–21st century · sociologist, feminist writer and public intellectual
About Fatema Mernissi
Born in Fez in 1940 and died in Rabat in 2015, Mernissi studied at Mohammed V University, the Sorbonne and completed a PhD in sociology at Brandeis (1973). Through scholarship, essays and public engagement she questioned patriarchal readings of religious and historical sources and advocated women’s access to public life and citizenship.
Works: Beyond the Veil; The Veil and the Male Elite; Dreams of Trespass; The Forgotten Queens of Islam
Quotes
“A woman could be totally powerless, and still give meaning to her life by dreaming about flight.”
Source: Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood, p. 154 (1994) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence appears in Fatema Mernissi's Dreams of Trespass (1994), linked to the character Aunt Habiba; the attribution to Mernissi is verified.
- What remains uncertain
- The book blends autobiography and fiction; wording, punctuation and page numbers vary by edition, and the line functions within a larger narrative, not as a standalone doctrine.
Mernissi's line shows how inner life becomes a form of sovereignty: when movement is barred, imagination can create meaning and sustain resistance. It comes from Dreams of Trespass and describes Aunt Habiba's inner flights amid domestic confinement.