article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Every morning, Sissa Abu Dahou puts on traditional male dress, known as a jalabiya, and heads into the streets of the Egyptian city of Luxor for a day of hard work.
article_snippet.sent: The grandmother of two has dressed as a man for 43 years to avoid oppression and eek out a living in the conservative Muslim state.
article_snippet.sent: A widow at just 21, Sissa Abu Dahou was forced to fend for Sissa Abu Dahou in Egypt's patriarchal south, where decades ago it was unheard of for women to earn women own living.
article_snippet.sent: Sissa Abu Dahou Sissa Abu Dahou said, "People talked but I said I decided to be a man
article_snippet.sent: Even if I die, I will not take it off," Dahou said as Dahou pulled on the male jalabiya in front of a TV camera, "When I had to dress in a woman's jalabiya when I went to Cairo
highlights_snippet.sent: But for 43 years Sissa Abu Dahou has dressed as a man
highlights_snippet.sent: so Sissa Abu Dahou could work in the conservative country .
  