Wonder Woman of the Week: Huda Shaarawi

If you are not familiar with Egyptian history, you may not be aware of how amazing its women are. From the Pharaohs Hatshepsut and Nefertiti to Queen Cleopatra II, Egypt has a strong history of powerful ladies. Those days did not end under Muslim reign. One of Egypt’s greatest women was Huda Shaarawi. Shaarawi was born in 1879 during British Colonial rule and as a child was forced into a polygamist marriage to her older cousin. Fortunately for Huda, her older cousin saw Huda as a person to learn from rather than a thing to own. The two learned from and encouraged each other to become politically active.

Huda Shaarawi assumed a strong distaste for the Egyptian patriarchy and campaigned for women’s rights from a young age. She helped start education programs for girls that went beyond domestic chores by teaching the same subjects boys were taught. Shaarawi joined an anti-British political party and helped by convincing women to join political protests in the streets of Egypt. When Huda decided the party was ignoring women’s issues, she took her ladies and left to form her own feminist political party. The Egyptian Feminist Union started a feminist magazine that advocated for women’s rights and was the first of its kind in Egypt. After her cousin’s death in 1922, Huda Shaarawi left Egypt to travel Europe to speak at and attend women’s rights conferences across the continent. Huda remained a strong campaigner for women’s rights up until her death in 1947 and continues to be a symbol for Egyptian feminism today.