Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and doctor. She wrote primarily about women's issues in Islam, with a focus on sexuality, patriarchy, class, and colonialism. Her best-known works are Woman and Sex (1972) and Woman at Point Zero (1975). She won the North–South Prize in 2004 and the Seán MacBride Peace Prize in 2012.
Nawal El Saadawi was born in the Egyptian village of Kafr Tahla on 22 October 1931. She was the second eldest of nine children. Her father was a progressive government official in the Ministry of Education. She described him as having taught her self-respect and encouraged the education of both girls and boys. Saadawi resisted an attempt by her family to force her into marriage when she was ten, with the support of her mother. She later wrote, “Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote.”
She graduated from Cairo University as a medical doctor in 1955, marrying Ahmed Helmi that same year. Following their divorce, she continued her medical work, observing the effects of patriarchal and cultural oppression on women’s health. Saadawi married twice more: first to Rashad Bey, and then to Sherif Hatata, whom she met while working at the Ministry of Health.
In 1966, Saadawi earned a Master's degree in Public Health from Columbia University. In 1972, she published the book Woman and Sex, which confronted female genital mutilation and other abuses. This resulted in her dismissal from the Ministry of Health. She then conducted research on women and neurosis at Ain Shams University. From 1979 to 1980, Saadawi served as a United Nations advisor on women’s programmes in Africa and the Middle East.
Her political activism led to her imprisonment in 1981 under President Anwar Sadat. While in prison, she founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and continued writing despite restrictions. She later described her arrest: “I was arrested because I criticised Sadat’s policies. I started criticising his policies, and ended up in jail.” After her release, she published Memoirs from the Women’s Prison (1983).
After fleeing threats from Islamists in 1993, Saadawi taught at several American universities, including Duke and Yale, before returning to Egypt in 1996. She continued to be active in social and political causes, even considering running for president in 2005. During the 2011 protests in Tahrir Square, she called for removing religious instruction from schools.
Saadawi wrote numerous novels, short stories and essays. Her works have been translated into more than 30 languages, including The Hidden Face of Eve, God Dies by the Nile, and The Fall of the Imam. Throughout her life, she criticised religious fundamentalism and cultural oppression, calling the veil “a tool of women's oppression”.
Nawal El Saadawi died on 21 March 2021 in Cairo.
Nawal El Saadawi was born in the Egyptian village of Kafr Tahla on 22 October 1931. She was the second eldest of nine children. Her father was a progressive government official in the Ministry of Education. She described him as having taught her self-respect and encouraged the education of both girls and boys. Saadawi resisted an attempt by her family to force her into marriage when she was ten, with the support of her mother. She later wrote, “Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote.”
She graduated from Cairo University as a medical doctor in 1955, marrying Ahmed Helmi that same year. Following their divorce, she continued her medical work, observing the effects of patriarchal and cultural oppression on women’s health. Saadawi married twice more: first to Rashad Bey, and then to Sherif Hatata, whom she met while working at the Ministry of Health.
In 1966, Saadawi earned a Master's degree in Public Health from Columbia University. In 1972, she published the book Woman and Sex, which confronted female genital mutilation and other abuses. This resulted in her dismissal from the Ministry of Health. She then conducted research on women and neurosis at Ain Shams University. From 1979 to 1980, Saadawi served as a United Nations advisor on women’s programmes in Africa and the Middle East.
Her political activism led to her imprisonment in 1981 under President Anwar Sadat. While in prison, she founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and continued writing despite restrictions. She later described her arrest: “I was arrested because I criticised Sadat’s policies. I started criticising his policies, and ended up in jail.” After her release, she published Memoirs from the Women’s Prison (1983).
After fleeing threats from Islamists in 1993, Saadawi taught at several American universities, including Duke and Yale, before returning to Egypt in 1996. She continued to be active in social and political causes, even considering running for president in 2005. During the 2011 protests in Tahrir Square, she called for removing religious instruction from schools.
Saadawi wrote numerous novels, short stories and essays. Her works have been translated into more than 30 languages, including The Hidden Face of Eve, God Dies by the Nile, and The Fall of the Imam. Throughout her life, she criticised religious fundamentalism and cultural oppression, calling the veil “a tool of women's oppression”.
Nawal El Saadawi died on 21 March 2021 in Cairo.
years of life: 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021
Books
fb2epub
Drag & drop your files
(not more than 5 at once)