A Tribute to Nawal El Saadawi: Advocate of Women's Rights in Middle East
To all of you, my dear fellow human rights advocates and women's rights enthusiasts, this year marks the loss of a great Gender Equality hero who inspired us all with her courage and avant-garde vision of a better life quality based on social justice, Nawal El Saadawi.
Challenging the status quo
She was born in the small village of Kafr Tahla in Egypt in 1931. She was subjected to the custom of female genital mutilation (amputation of the clitoris and labia minora) at the age of 6 and subsequently successfully resisted early marriage at 10.
Saadawi grew up as a well-read young girl who constantly questioned the status quo and rebelled against the many forms of patriarchy with its unquestioned male favouritism. She graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Cairo in 1955. While practising medicine, she observed first-hand women's physical and psychological traumas that were directly related to subjection to patriarchal, class and imperialist oppression.
She practised medicine in her native village, where she witnessed intolerable injustice towards women living there and was cast from Kafr Tahla as she loudly stood up in their defence. She returned to Cairo, where she became the director of the Ministry of Health.
She wrote her first book, "Women and Sex", in 1971, denouncing the oppressive patriarchal system and injustices against women, including horrendous practices such as female circumcision and genital mutilation and the toxic effect it had on women’s mental and physical health and sexuality.
Her book was considered subversive and was banned for two decades, causing her to lose her prominent position. That marked the launch of her journey as a fervent feminist, women's rights activist and freedom fighter. She spoke up against imperialism and colonialism and criticised her country's political allegiances. She was convicted of a prison sentence during the presidency of Anwar El Sada.
Expressing a plethora of women’s voices
She turned her incarceration into an opportunity to illustrate many women's stories who supported her case against dogmatic religious and political cruelty through memorable characters of "Firdaus" from "Women at Point Zero". She won several awards and honours on a worldwide scale for her impactful literary contributions.
This a celebration of an exceptional free woman who lived authentically and spoke out loud against all oppression. She lived her life as the heart of her people, channelling their pain and hardships, transforming them into words of wisdom, incentives for action and catalysts for change. And to her, we owe many of our claimed rights, reforms and freedom.
Nawal, thank you and may you rest in peace.