HUDA SHAARAWI (1879-1947):


An upper-class woman, Huda was born and educated in the harem system, a system designed, in principle, to confer respect upon women and to separate women and children from the men. In practice, the harem system and veiling served to oppress women. According to Badran,

Veiling and high seclusion were the marks of prestige and sought-after symbols of status. Only the few very wealthy families could afford the most elaborate measures for secluding women — the grand architectural arrangements and eunuchs (castrated men who were usually slaves from Sudan) to guard their women and act as go-between with the outer world. In the houses of the poor, women and men were crammed together in the same, limited space. However, when poor women went out— as they did far more often than their richer sisters— they too veiled. Life was different in the countryside, where any visitor could plainly see peasant women moving freely with faces unencumbered by the veil. Veiling and the harem system were social conventions connected with economic standing. They had nothing whatsoever to do with Islam.

Her wealthy father died when she was still a small child. She was married at age 13 to her cousin. She remained separated from him for 7 years, years in which she matured into a woman. Over the next few years, she gave birth, first to a daughter, Bathna, and then to a son, Muhammad.

Speaking French and Turkish, as well as Arabic, and, using her husband's influence, Huda had high contracts throughout Egyptian society and in the foreign community. One evening while at the opera, Marguerite Clement, traveling on a tour sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment, asked Huda if Egyptian women were in the habit of giving and attending lectures. Huda admitted that they were not, but suggested that Clement give a lecture for the women. Chancing to run into Princess Ain al-Hayat, the Princess decided to personally sponsor the lecture. Huda's husband arranged for the lecture to be given in a lecture hall at the university. The lecture was a success. Clement was invited to give a series of lectures, and the lecture hall was reserved for the women on Fridays. Soon, Egyptian women began to speak. And that is how the first public lecture for and by Egyptian women was given. Eventually, the lecture series grew into the Intellectual Association of Egyptian Women. Huda's next excursion into social reform occurred a short time later when the same Princess asked Huda to establish a dispensary for the poor, which, at Huda's suggestion, was eventually expanded to teach classes in infant care, family hygiene, home management, and the like.

Social progress was halted by the advent of World War I. But shortly after the war, Egyptian men demanded independence from English occupation. Huda's husband was treasurer of Wafd, the political party which was leading the effort for Egypt's independence. Leading the first demonstration of women against the British occupation, Huda early established her own reputation as a fighter for her country's freedom. To coordinate women's efforts in the independence movement, Huda formed the Wafdist Women's Central Committee.

Huda's husband died in 1923 and she was left without a strong male-authority figure to control her movements (her father, her brother, and her husband were all dead). With an impeccable reputation and a huge fortune, and being trained in the techniques of organization building, she turned her attention away from the independence movement toward the movement for woman's equality.

An event in her life in 1923, as represented in her autobiography, remains a milestone in the history of Arab Muslim women, standing up for their rights and dignity, challenging the orthodox religious establishment and the prevailing male-dominant culture. She grew up in a well-known family where, parallel to commitment to women's education, strict adherence to dress code prevailed. As Muslim women, they were required not just to wear a long outer-garment, but also face-covering (niqab). As she grew up and availed the opportunity to educate herself about Islam with an open and independent mind, she discovered, as many Muslim men and women did, that face-covering was not mandated by Islam. Knowing the fact was easy, but unveiling herself was not. It would be a revolutionary step, with potentially serious social consequences in a traditional society. In 1923, Shaarawi went to attend an international feminist conference in Rome and her picture shows her with friends without any niqab (face covering) [Harem Years, p. 128]. While she was quite free in Rome in this regard, due to an entrenched orthodoxy and the domestic cultural milieu, it was still quite different in Egypt. A milestone was set upon her return from the conference. When at the Cairo rail station, she and one of her friends deliberately and publicly took off their niqab (facecovering) [p. 8]. (Here it should be made clear that Shaarawi did not discard her hijab, what she did was taking off her face-covering.) The momentous event shook the entire country and its reverberations reached far beyond. Another “episode in the summer of 1923 is telling: she was sailing to Egypt on the same boat that carried Saad Zaghlul, accompanied by his wife. . .. Huda's veil now simply covered her head; her face was free. Observing this, Saad asked Huda to help his wife arrange her veil the same way.” [pp.129-130]

Her autobiography includes several pictures of herself, wearing scarf, without any face-covering (niqab). The photograph of Shaarawi (at age 44), as shown above, “is one of the first photographs of an unveiled Egyptian woman to appear in local newspapers” [p. 121]. Once she removed the niqab, her friends also joined in. The picture of Wafd women's committee meeting in 1925 is quite illustrative. Shaarawi's step to take off niqab already made its mark on Egyptian women. In that Wafd meeting, as the caption mentions, only four women wore face-covering, “the rest are Hijabed” (i.e., dressed with a scarf or headgear).

Huda founded Egyptian Feminist Union and served as President from 1923 until 1947. She was a member of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship, and served as its vice-president in 1935; she was founding President of the Arab Feminist Union (1945-1947) and supported the founding of al-Mara al-Arabiyya, the newsletter of the Arab Feminist Union (1946); founded the magazines l'Egyptienne (1925) and al-Misriyya (1937). Huda was also a speaker throughout the Arab world and throughout Europe.

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