History of Egyptian Feminism
Ezz Al-Turkey
In recent years, women's empowerment and the fight for equal rights for women in Egypt has reached an all-time high. Feminism isn’t a new concept in Egypt, since the beginning of Egyptian civilization, women have played crucial roles in making history. From iconic rulers like Pharaohs Hatchepsut, Cleopatra, and Sultana Shajaret El Dur, Egyptian history is known for its strong female rulers. In ancient Egypt, women were allowed to own and inherit property. They owned businesses and acted as their own attorneys in court. Women were also free to leave their possessions to anyone they pleased when they passed away.
In modern Egyptian history, the social upheaval in Egypt during Mohammed Ali's rule (1805) is credited with giving rise to the feminist movement. The question of whether female education was crucial to the country's advancement was a topic of discussion at the time. Proponents of reform, like Kassim Amin, used the Quran to support their positions against polygamy and in favor of education for women. Women were granted complete ownership over their riches, which the wealthy Egyptian women of the time utilized to build training facilities, schools, and hospitals. There were fourteen magazines focused on women's problems by 1914.
Women actively participated in the 1919 revolution, with Safia Zaghloul as the leader of the female protests, pressing for Egypt's freedom. But even after their male allies were allowed to assume political leadership in 1922, women were still denied political rights.
As a result, they turned to unofficial activist networks, including the ones established by Huda Sha'rawi in 1923 (the Egyptian Feminist Union), Zaynab al-Ghazali in 1936 (the Muslim Women's Society), and Doria Shafiq in 1948 (the Daughters of the Nile Union, or Bint al-Nil).
Though this period is sometimes referred to as "State-feminism," the majority of these organizations were co-opted during President Gamal Abdel Nasser's rule, when legislation was passed to place all civil society organizations under state control. President Sadat's open-door economic policies caused this period to slightly change during his rule.
The greatest accomplishment of Abdel Nasser's presidency was the 1956 legislation that gave women the right to vote. In Sadat's administration, women's aspirations for economic rights were partially fulfilled. One thing that changed under Mubarak's rule was the rise in the number of organizations fighting for women's rights.
Intervention teams, such as Tahrir Bodyguards and Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment (also known as OpAnti-SH), began to form in 2012 in response to the rising gender-based violence that followed Hosni Mubarak's overthrow. During demonstrations, these intervention teams offered on-site emergency assistance.
The portrayal of women in media has also completely shifted in the last few years, with empowering roles for women in film and television, as well as powerful journalists and TV presenters rising to their platforms. Social media has also played a big part in the spreading of female empowerment. Now, more than ever, sharing your message is easy, and Egyptian feminists have taken that opportunity to not only educate women about their rights but also their male counterparts.
Feminism has made big waves in Egypt and female empowerment has always been present in Egypt since its ancient civilization. Since then, we’ve only advanced further and women are still powerful figures and take on big roles in our government and society. And it’s only going up from here.