Women’s season

Whether they are students or the wives of students at al-Azhar University in Egypt, or even traders or businesswomen in the metropolis of Cairo, women from sub-Saharan Africa are following trajectories where the desire to succeed comes up against difficulties of integration and relationships with the local society—as well as with their close acquaintances. On the basis of exploratory fieldwork carried out in Cairo, our contribution raises a number of questions concerning the roles they assume in migration and the reconfiguration of their place within a couple or of their relationship with religion. It also considers the differences that these dynamic and entrepreneurial women encounter in a new society and the influence of alternative imaginaries of womanhood.