Born: 23 June 1879, Egypt
Died: 12 December 1947
Country most active: Egypt
Also known as: هدى شعراوي, Hudá Sha‘rāwī, Hoda Charaoui, Nur al Huda Sultan
Egyptian suffragist, nationalist, feminist and philanthropist Huda Sha’arawi was born in 1879 in Minya to the prominent Shaarawi family. Although secluded in her wealthy community, she was educated from a young age alongside her brothers, studying grammar, calligraphy in multiple languages, and other subjects. After her father’s death when she was 5, her eldest cousin, Ali Sha’arawi, legal guardian of the children and trustee of his estate. She was then forced to marry him at age 13 – he was already in his late 40s and married with three daughters older than her. Thanks to her mother, their marriage contract stated that he would be required to give up his first wife and live with Huda monogamously – fortunately for Huda, he violated the contract, impregnating his first wife around 15 months into the marriage. She lived apart from him for seven years, and was able to continue her education with female teachers in Cairo, but reconciled with him in 1900 due to pressure from her family. They had two children, a daughter, Bathna, born 1903 and a son, Muhammad, born 1905.
Having experienced the restrictions of women’s lives being confined to their homes or harems, she began organising lectures, bringing women into public places (many of them for the first time). By influencing women from wealthy families, she was able to gain support for a women’s welfare society, which raised money to support poor women and children. In 1909, she founded Mabarrat Muhammad ‘Ali, the first philanthropic society run by Egyptian women. By providing educational opportunities, her goal was to benefit the women as well as challenging conservative views of women, though she did hold a privileged view of poor women as passive recipients whose opinions were not to be factored into the society’s programs. In 1910, she opened a school for girls focused on academic subjects, rather than practical skills.
Sha’arawi also helped organise the Intellectual Association of Egyptian Women in 1914. That same year, she began travelling internationally, expanding her knowledge and views. After her husband’s death in 1922, Sha’arawi chose to stop wearing her hijab, inspiring some others to do so as well. Within a decade, many Egyptian women had stopped wearing veils and mantles. In 1923, she founded the Egyptian Feminist Union, serving as its first president and leading the organisation until her death. The Union advocated for women’s personal freedoms in areas such as marriage, divorce and the custody of children. Her fortnightly magazine, L’Égyptienne, launched in 1925, helped promote these causes. She would also represent Egypt at various international women’s events over the years.
A nationalist, Sha’arawi was one of the leaders of the the first women’s street protest during the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, advocating for Egyptian independence from Britain. She worked with her husband for the movement; he was acting vice president for the Wafd political party, and kept her informed in case she needed to take his place, in the event he was arrested for his politics. She was the first president of the Wafdist Women’s Central Committee, founded on 12 January 1920. However, she resigned after the Wafdist government ignored feminist and nationalist demands in 1924.
In addition to writing poetry in Arabic and French, Sha’arawi published Modhakkerātī (“My Memoir”) about her life up to 1924. She received the Order of Virtues in 1945.