Nawal El-Saadawi
| Nawal El Saadawi | |
|---|---|
Nawal El Saadawi
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| Native name | نوال السعداوي |
| Born |
27 October 1931 Kafr Tahla, Egypt |
| Occupation | Physician, psychiatrist, author, feminist |
| Spouse(s) | Sherif Hatata (m. 1964; div. 2010) |
| Children | 2 |
Nawal El Saadawi (Arabic: نوال السعداوي, born 27 October 1931) is an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist. She has written many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of female genital mutilation in her society. She has been described as "the Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab World".
She is founder and president of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association and co-founder of the Arab Association for Human Rights. She has been awarded honorary degrees on three continents. In 2004, she won the North–South Prize from the Council of Europe. In 2005, she won the Inana International Prize in Belgium, and in 2012, the International Peace Bureau awarded her the 2012 Seán MacBride Peace Prize.
Nawal el Saadawi has held the positions of Author for the Supreme Council for Arts and Social Sciences, Cairo; Director General of the Health Education Department, Ministry of Health, Cairo, Secretary General of the Medical Association, Cairo, Egypt, and medical doctor at the University Hospital and Ministry of Health. She is the founder of the Health Education Association and the Egyptian Women Writers' Association; she was Chief Editor of Health Magazine in Cairo, and Editor of Medical Association Magazine.
Saadawi was born in 1931 in the small village of Kafr Tahla, the second eldest of nine children. Her family was at once traditional and progressive: El Saadawi was "circumcised" (her clitoris cut off) at the age of six, yet her father insisted that all his children be educated. Her father was a government official in the Ministry of Education, who had campaigned against the rule of the British occupation of Egypt and Sudan during the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. As a result, he was exiled to a small town in the Nile Delta and the government punished him by not promoting him for 10 years. He was relatively progressive and taught her self-respect and to speak her mind. He also encouraged her to study the Arabic language. Both her parents died at a young age, leaving Saadawi with the sole burden of providing for a large family.
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