As Egyptian diplomat Dr Nourane Helmy prepares to leave Poland after four years, she is also closing an important chapter in her family’s life.

Dr Helmy, deputy head of mission at the Egyptian embassy in Warsaw, has spent her posting balancing a demanding diplomatic career with motherhood and academic ambitions. Looking back, she explains why she believes young women should strive to be independent, not only financially, but in all areas.

I was very eager to interview Dr Helmy as she is a woman in a position of power in a very male-dominated field.

When I arrived at the embassy, she greeted me with a warm smile, and I could immediately feel how positively she approached our conversation. Her office was filled with boxes, packed to the brim. It was obvious she was preparing to make the big move back to Egypt after her posting had finished.

She regards her years in Poland very positively. The embassy, she said, was filled with men, and she enjoyed being the one to add a female perspective. “Looking back, I’m really proud of what I assume I added to this embassy,” she said.

 

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‘We will succeed together’

Four years ago, her children didn’t want to come to Poland. Now they don’t want to leave.

“It’s your career. We are supporting you, you can go but don’t make that decision on our behalf. We don’t want to change our friends and our school,” she recalled her son, then aged ten, telling her.

Dr Helmy learned how much balance it took to be a professional woman in diplomacy and a mother at the same time. She had to make sacrifices, which was difficult at some times.

“It’s really very important not only to have an anchor and a constant source of strength, but we also have kids that can understand how to embrace any new adventure with open hearts,” Dr Helmy added.

“I cannot succeed in my job without your support,” she told her children. “If you help me succeed, we will succeed together.”

When making the move to Poland from Egypt, she had to stress to her children that change and exposure to new experiences are what help people grow. Even though her children were very unhappy about the move at first, they quickly learned to adapt and actually became very attached to Warsaw. They learned Polish and formed lasting friendships.

“Now, they are telling me how proud they are that we made it together,” she said.

‘Independent means all kinds of independence’

Dr Helmy said that Egyptian women are gaining positions across different fields and she is proud of their growing participation and economic empowerment. She believes women are reaching more senior positions within the diplomatic world too, although progress at the highest levels is still taking time.

Dr Helmy was finishing a PhD in political science when she started her diplomatic career, and also raising a four-month-old baby. She was determined to finish her PhD because she felt it would add so much to her knowledge and future.

During our interview, Dr Helmy was kind enough to give me some books about Egyptian society and recommend writers who could help my research into women’s economic participation in Egypt.

At this point, our conversation began to feel less like an interview, and more like a heart-to-heart conversation with someone who had my best interests in mind. She believes literature can help us understand another society, something that was made evident by her generous gestures.

“Whenever you read these kinds of books, you understand society,” she told me.

She believes independence should extend across every aspect of life, including financial independence, the ability to make decisions and independence of mind. All of this, she believes, is crucial to building your own personality and perspective.