Huda Shaarawi

Huda (or Hoda) Sha‘rawi (Arabic: هدى شعراوي‎‎, ALA-LC: Hudá Sha‘rāwī; June 23, 1879 – December 12, 1947) was a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader, nationalist, and founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union.

Of Turkish origin, Sha'arawi was born into a wealthy family in Minya, she was the daughter of Muhammad Sultan, the first president of the Egyptian Representative Council. Sha‘rawi spent her childhood and early adulthood secluded in an upper-class Egyptian harem. At the age of thirteen, she was married to her cousin Ali Pasha Sha‘rawi. According to Margaret Badran, a "subsequent separation from her husband gave her time for an extended formal education, as well as an unexpected taste of independence." She was taught to read the Quran and received tutoring in Arabic and Turkish and Islamic subjects by female teachers in Cairo. Sha‘rawi wrote poetry in both Arabic and French. Sha‘rawi later recounted her early life in her memoir, Mudhakkirātī ("My Memoir") which was translated and abridged into the English version Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist, 1879-1924.

At the time, women in Egypt were confined to the house or harem. As seen in all of her pictures, Huda is wearing a Hijab. Sha'arawi resented such restrictions on women's movements, and started organizing lectures for women on topics of interest to them. This brought many women out of their homes and into public places for the first time. Sha`arawi even convinced them to help her establish a women's welfare society to raise money for the poor women of Egypt. In 1910, Sha'arawi opened a school for girls where she focused on teaching academic subjects rather than practical skills such as midwifery.

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