Throughout history, there has always been something or another that women were considered inferior in, incapable of, or straight out forbidden to do. Some cultures viewed women as mere baby-makers and restricted them to raising children, while others gave them a little more freedom, allowing them to work in the field, as medics, or in markets.
Some cultures, on the other hand, reversed the traditional roles of women and men. However, I believe that the general rule in most societies in history was that women were not allowed to live their full potential. As a feminist myself, I believe that this was—and to an extent still is—a great injustice.
Despite these circumstances though, there are many examples in Egyptian history that proved women were not always in the bad state they were in by the end of the 19th century. Indeed, we had witnessed ages when women were queens and leaders, and participated in many parts of society. However, with the failing state of the Arab nation and Egypt as a part of it, the situation was far from perfect at that time.
Contact with men from outside their kin was prohibited completely, rendering women unable to work or have education beyond the age of puberty. Many families preferred to home-educate their girls altogether and not even give them a chance to attend a regular school. This all started to change thanks to a handful of brave women who stood up to the limiting rules of society and fought for their rights.
Princess Fatma Ismail
Source: wikimedia.org
Daughter of Khedive Ismail, who ruled Egypt from 1863, for sixteen years, Princess Fatma owned agricultural land in many parts of the country. Rather than enjoying her wealth, she decided to do something positive with it.
When her doctor, Mohamed Elwy Pasha, who was a member of a private committee dedicated to starting a secular university in Egypt, told her about their idea and the financial hurdles it was facing, she decided to help. She donated six acres of her land in Cairo and dedicated a massive 661 acres of her agricultural land’s profit to the funding of the university; she even sold her own jewelry to gain more money. That is how much we all owe Princess Fatma for Cairo University.
The University was founded in 1908, but did not initially accept women; it only started accepting women in 1928, twenty years after its founding. Unfortunately, the patron Princess of Cairo University passed away in 1920, before she could see women attending it. Princess Fatma is credited as a main inspiration for that decision; how could you not accept women in a university that owes its entire existence to one?
Huda Shaarawi
Source: africanfeministforum.com
Huda Shaarawi was born at the height of women’s repression in Egypt. Neither a princess nor a peasant, Huda lived the typical traditional Egyptian life. She was home-educated, she had a younger brother who was always given preferential treatment over her, and she was married to her cousin, Ali Shaarawi, who was forty years her senior.
In her book Harem Years, Huda explains how childhood experience and early marriage fueled her resentfulness toward the patriarchal system in which she was raised. Her personal experience has inspired the role she played in the enlightenment of Egyptian women.
Nevertheless, her marriage proved a mutual benefit as Ali often sought his wife’s council on political issues and he supported her aspirations and activities. In 1908, she founded the first philanthropic society run by Egyptian women, and two years later she opened a school for girls focused on academics.
Huda participated in the glorious 1919 Revolution by becoming one of the leaders of the women protests. She founded a committee for women in the Wafd Party and was its supervisor.
In the 1920s, after having returned from the International Council of Women’s meeting in Europe, which she attended as the Egyptian representative, Huda founded the Egyptian Council for Women. The Council, under her presidency, called for equality between men and women in everything and before law. Among these was, of course, women’s education.
Nabaweya Moussa
Source: wikipedia.org
Nabaweya lived with her mother and siblings in Cairo and was home-schooled as many Egyptian girls of the late 19th century. After having taught herself English and mathematics, Nabaweya felt that she wanted more; she was able to enroll into a primary school for girls. She successfully obtained a diploma in teaching in 1908 then was appointed a teacher in a primary school for girls. It was at that time that Nabaweya started to voice her opinions, which began by her writing in various publications.
Nabaweya noticed that men with her same job were given a higher salary than her. She filed an official complaint to the Ministry of Education, but they rebuffed her, claiming that since the male teachers at her school had a high school diploma, they were entitled to a higher salary. Not willing to give up, she set out to obtain that diploma; the only problem was that there were no high schools for girls at that time! Hence, Nabaweya had to study for the high school exams on her own, and in defiance to the whole society became the first female in the history of Egypt to successfully graduate high school.
The achievements just kept coming; battling the whole society, the major political party at the time—Al Wafd Party—and the British occupation of Egypt, she was still able to prevail against their various attempts to stop her. After firing her from her teaching job for writing what they considered incendiary articles calling for better treatment of women and better education, she sued them and got a hefty reward of over EGP 5000; a very large sum of money at the time.
Using this money, she relocated to Alexandria and built a school; a free institution for primary education of girls there. In addition to all that, she was relentless in calling all over the country for the education of girls, attending women rights conferences, and co-founding the Egyptian Council for Women.
Many More
There are countless women in Egyptian history who have fought tooth and nail for girls, their rights, and their education. We have Malak Hefni, the first Egyptian woman to ever graduate primary school; and Sohair Al-Qalmawi, the first Egyptian woman to be admitted to Cairo University and a prolific writer, political figure, and one of the founders of the International Cairo Book Fair.
Let us not forget the South, where the community was extremely close-minded and where Amina El-Saeed, one of the biggest women’s rights activists in Egypt’s history came from. Last but not remotely least, Dorreya Shafik, to whom women owe the right to vote and be represented in the People’s Council since 1956 Constitution.
Women today are much more liberated than before. However, with the recent economic and political challenges in Egypt, they face tremendous challenges within our society. I, a feminist, hope that things will continue to get better, not worse from here on, and that we can use the new technologies at our hands to empower women and fight harder for their rights, never giving up until they have them all.
References
newsroom.macleay.net
wisemuslimwomen.org
The article was first published in print in SCIplanet, Spring 2015 Issue "Education".
Cover image source: wlahawogohokhra.com