The Image of the French-Speaking Woman in Egypt: Between Fiction and Reality; in Light of Imagological Theories and the Sociocultural Perspectives of the CEFR

Snob, adorned with a European-style hat and little gloves, epitomizes the character of Bakiza Hanem el-Daramali, as depicted in the Egyptian television series "Bakiza w Zaghloul" during the 1980s. Since the airing of this series, the character of Bakiza has become a stereotype of the Francophone woman in Egypt. Concurrently, significant Francophone female figures, such as Inji Aflatoun, emerged prominently in Egyptian society. Thirty-five years later, in 2022, this image of Bakiza was revitalized with the character of Farida Hanem el-Hamamsi in "Ahlam Saida", despite the increasing presence of Francophone women across various domains of Egyptian society, exemplified by figures like Amina Rachid. Employing a comparative imagology methodology, this study aims to juxtapose four female figures from 20th-century Egypt, drawing from both television art and literature. On one hand, the analysis includes two fictional characters: Bakiza Hanem and Farida Hanem. On the other hand, it examines two real-life female icons through monographs: Madame Inji Aflatoun, as portrayed in "Mothakerat Inji Aflatoun" (1993) by Saïd Khayyal, and Madame Amina Rachid, as depicted in the monograph "La traversée vers l’autre" (2020) by Salma Moubarak. This study seeks to address whether a Francophone Egyptian woman can transcend the boundaries between social classes that lack a French education, given that sociocultural values are considered an inalienable condition by the CECRL and the derived theories.