Egypt: an economic geography The people of Egypt · 17
nationalism went hand in hand. Thus the women’s ideas mostly conformed
with those of the male fighters for national independence who wanted to mod-
ernize the whole of Egyptian society and considered the education of women
as a precondition, while the situation of the women as such was not an issue.
At the time the Arab world was on the defensive, trying to catch up with the
industrialized countries, and it was believed that women should play their role
in this struggle for progress. But after quasi-independence had been achieved
in 1922 and a new constitution had been introduced a year later, declaring
all Egyptians equal, Egyptian women were not granted the right to vote. In
1923 the Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU), a local section of the International
Feminist Union, was founded by Hoda Sha’rawi. Its programme aimed at full
political rights for women, at social reform as well as a reform of the laws
regulating marriage, divorce and the custody of children, and also at female
literacy. Egyptian women’s cause was boosted at the time by their leaders’
frequent participation in international women’s conferences. Many improve-
ments were achieved. The 1940s saw the beginnings of a pan-Arab feminism,
but this has never really gained impetus to this day, in spite of efforts from
various sides. In 1948 Doriya Shafiq (Doria Shafik, 1908–75; see her biography
by Cynthia Nelson 1996) founded the Ittihad Bint Al-Nil, the Daughter-of-the-
Nile Union, a feminist organization broadly based all over the country, focus-
ing on literacy campaigns and hygiene programmes for lower-class women,
with universal suffrage at the top of the agenda. When Doriya Shafiq saw
that argument brought about no change, she resorted to more militant ways.
In February 1951 she stormed Parliament together with more than a thou-
sand women, demanding an end to the exclusion of ‘half the nation’ from
politics, organized a sit-in and went on hunger strike. The ulama, the Islamic
establishment, stated in various fatwas that suffrage was ‘degrading to women
and against their nature’, a judgment that the Prime Minister felt obliged to
respect. When the Islamists submitted a petition to the King asking him ‘to
keep the women within bounds’, he assured them that women would have
no political rights as long as he remained king. In 1953, one year after Gamal
Abdel Nasser’s revolution, Doriya Shafiq founded a political party, since the
Egyptian Feminist Union, like all other independent organizations, had been
declared unlawful. The new constitution of 1956 made voting obligatory for
men, while women had to give proof of their literacy if they wanted to go
to the polls. When Doriya Shafiq tried to put pressure on the government,
she was placed under house arrest under the pretext that she was an agitator
working for the Americans. Under Nasser’s dictatorial rule, two of the journals
she edited were banned, and many women activists withdrew their support for
the cause for fear of their own safety. The new socialist government claimed
to bring about gender equity and did in fact create educational programmes
and employment for all, but it did not help women to meet their childcare
needs, so that a double burden was laid on them.
nationalism went hand in hand. Thus the women’s ideas mostly conformed
with those of the male fighters for national independence who wanted to mod-
ernize the whole of Egyptian society and considered the education of women
as a precondition, while the situation of the women as such was not an issue.
At the time the Arab world was on the defensive, trying to catch up with the
industrialized countries, and it was believed that women should play their role
in this struggle for progress. But after quasi-independence had been achieved
in 1922 and a new constitution had been introduced a year later, declaring
all Egyptians equal, Egyptian women were not granted the right to vote. In
1923 the Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU), a local section of the International
Feminist Union, was founded by Hoda Sha’rawi. Its programme aimed at full
political rights for women, at social reform as well as a reform of the laws
regulating marriage, divorce and the custody of children, and also at female
literacy. Egyptian women’s cause was boosted at the time by their leaders’
frequent participation in international women’s conferences. Many improve-
ments were achieved. The 1940s saw the beginnings of a pan-Arab feminism,
but this has never really gained impetus to this day, in spite of efforts from
various sides. In 1948 Doriya Shafiq (Doria Shafik, 1908–75; see her biography
by Cynthia Nelson 1996) founded the Ittihad Bint Al-Nil, the Daughter-of-the-
Nile Union, a feminist organization broadly based all over the country, focus-
ing on literacy campaigns and hygiene programmes for lower-class women,
with universal suffrage at the top of the agenda. When Doriya Shafiq saw
that argument brought about no change, she resorted to more militant ways.
In February 1951 she stormed Parliament together with more than a thou-
sand women, demanding an end to the exclusion of ‘half the nation’ from
politics, organized a sit-in and went on hunger strike. The ulama, the Islamic
establishment, stated in various fatwas that suffrage was ‘degrading to women
and against their nature’, a judgment that the Prime Minister felt obliged to
respect. When the Islamists submitted a petition to the King asking him ‘to
keep the women within bounds’, he assured them that women would have
no political rights as long as he remained king. In 1953, one year after Gamal
Abdel Nasser’s revolution, Doriya Shafiq founded a political party, since the
Egyptian Feminist Union, like all other independent organizations, had been
declared unlawful. The new constitution of 1956 made voting obligatory for
men, while women had to give proof of their literacy if they wanted to go
to the polls. When Doriya Shafiq tried to put pressure on the government,
she was placed under house arrest under the pretext that she was an agitator
working for the Americans. Under Nasser’s dictatorial rule, two of the journals
she edited were banned, and many women activists withdrew their support for
the cause for fear of their own safety. The new socialist government claimed
to bring about gender equity and did in fact create educational programmes
and employment for all, but it did not help women to meet their childcare
needs, so that a double burden was laid on them.
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