Huda Shaarawi (1879-1947), a feminist nationalist activist, is considered by several Western scholars to be a central figure in early twentieth century Egyptian feminism. Born into a very wealthy family, Shaarawi spent her early years in the harem, an experience described in her memoirs, Harem Years.
Shaarawi was involved in philanthropic projects
throughout her life. In 1908, she created the first philanthropic society
run by Egyptian women, offering social services for poor women and children.
She argued that women-run social service projects were important for two
reasons. First, by engaging in such projects, women would widen their horizons,
acquire practical knowledge and direct their focus outward. Second, such
projects would challenge the view that all women are creatures of pleasure
and beings in need of protection.
To Shaarawi, problems of the poor were to be resolved through charitable
activities of the rich, particularly through donations to education programs.
Holding a somewhat romanticized view of poor women's lives, she viewed
them as passive recipients of social services, not to be consulted about
priorities or goals. The rich, in turn, were the "guardians and protectors
of the nation."
Shaarawi was a feminist activist throughout her life. In 1914, she founded the Intellectual Association of Egyptian Women. In 1923, she founded the Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU), in which she was to remain active throughout her life. The EFU consisted of upper and middle class Egyptian women, and at its height had about 250 members. The EFU focused on various issues, particularly women's suffrage, increased education for women, and changes in the Personal Status laws. While the EFU accomplished few of its goals, it is widely credited with setting the stage for later feminist victories.
Shaarawi was very involved in the Egyptian nationalist
struggle, and was a central player in organizing a march of upper and middle
class women against the British in 1919. In 1920, she became the president
of the Wafdist Women's Central Committee.
Much to the dismay of Shaarawi and other
women activists, following independence, the new government denied women
suffrage. When, shortly afterwards, the government barred women from the
opening of the Egyptian Parliament, Shaarawi led a delegation of women
to picket the opening. Revealing the interrelatedness of their feminist
and nationalist beliefs, the protesters issued a list of 32 feminist, social
and nationalist demands. Eventually, in 1924, Shaarawi split from the Wafdist
Central Committee, and began to devote her time to the EFU.
Ties with
international women's movement
Part of Shaarawi's motivation for founding the EFU
was her desire to send a delegation of Egyptian women to the 9th Congress
of the International Women's Suffrage Alliance in Rome, in May 1923. In
a speech at this conference, Shaarawi advanced her conception of Egyptian
feminism. She argued, first, that women in ancient Egypt had equal status
to men, and only under foreign domination had women lost those rights.
Second, she argued that Islam also granted women equal rights to men, but
that the Koran had been misinterpreted by those in power.
Shaarawi and the EFU maintained their ties
with the International Women's Suffrage Alliance for several years. However,
in the 1930s, increasingly influenced by the nationalist movement in Palestine,
Shaarawi and her colleagues began to define nationalism in pan-Arab, rather
than Egyptian, terms. In addition, they became increasingly suspicious
of Western feminists, and began to cast their feminist struggle in pan-Arab
terms as well. Eventually, they broke their ties to the Suffrage Alliance.
In 1945, Shaarawi and the EFU played a major role in founding the All Arab
Feminist Union.
Badran, Margot. Feminists, Islam and Nation: Gender and the Making
of Modern Egypt. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U. Press (1995).
Baron, Beth Ann. "Unveiling in Early Twentieth Century Egypt: Practical
and Symbolic Considerations." Middle Eastern Studies. 24(3):
370-86.
Hatem, Mervat. "Egyptian Upper- and Middle-Class Women's Early Nationalist
Discourses on National Liberation and Peace in Palestine (1922-1944)."
Women and Politics. 9(3): 49-69 (1989).
Kader, Soha Abdel. Egyptian Women in a Changing Society, 1899-1987.
Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publisher, Inc. (1987).
Shaarawi, Huda. Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist.
Translated and introduced by Margot Badran. New York: The Feminist Press
(1987).
Author: Melissa Spatz, Fall 1996
Links
within this sitePostcolonial Studies at Emory
Introduction Authors Theorists Terms
& Issues(Image of an "Homme Carrefour" from Donald J. Cosentino's Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou [Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995].)