Huda Sha'arawi

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

Early life and marriage

Born into a wealthy family in Minya, she was the daughter of Muhammad Sultan, the first president of the Egyptian Representative Council. Sha`arawi 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`arawi. 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 Qur'an and received tutoring in Arabic, and Turkish, and Islamic subjects by female Muslim teachers in Cairo. Sha`arawi wrote poetry in both Arabic and French. Shaarawi later recounted her early life in her memoir Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist, 1879-1924.