See Grandma that acted Man for 40 years

See the woman who masqueraded as a man for 40 years just to feed her daughter

An Egyptian widow masked herself as a man for over 40 years to maintain odd sources of income and backing her little girl and excellent grand children.

Sisa Abu Daooh, 65, was six months pregnant with her first child and living in a highly conservative community in the city of Luxor when her husband died.

Unable to support her family as a 21-year-old single mother and unwilling to marry a man she didn’t love, Abu Daooh decided to shave her head, dress herself as a man and seek employment – first as a brick-maker and then as a shoe-shiner once she got older.

Free from the threat of sexual harassment, Abu Daooh enjoyed her life as a man so much that even though she has now revealed her true gender, she says she will continue to spend the rest of her life living and dressing as a man.

She has worked for more than 30 years among the shoeshine men of Luxor. She sits with men in coffee shops, prays with them in the local mosque and dresses just as they do in pants or a traditional floor-length tunic known as a galabeya

“When a woman lets go of her femininity, it’s hard,” she said. “But I would do anything for my daughter. It was the only way to make money. What else could I do? I can’t read or write, my family didn’t send me to school, so this was the only way.”

Eventually, this fame paid dividends. This year, the local government in Luxor named her the city’s most devoted mum – documented on a certificate she cannot read – and gave her a kiosk to help support her income.