Nawal El Saadawi

Nawal El Saadawi
نوال السعداوي
Saadawi in 2008
Born(1931-10-22)22 October 1931
Died21 March 2021(2021-03-21) (aged 89)
Cairo, Egypt
Other namesNawal Zeinab el Sayed
Alma materCairo University
Columbia University
Occupation(s)Physician, psychiatrist, author
Notable workWomen and Sex (1969)
Woman at Point Zero (1975)
Spouses
Ahmed Helmi
(m. 1955; div. 1957)
Rashad Bey
(divorced)
(m. 1964; div. 2010)
Children2

Nawal El Saadawi (Arabic: نوال السعداوى, ALA-LC: Nawāl Essaʻdāwī, 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote numerous books on the subject of women in Islam, focusing on the practice of female genital mutilation in her society.[1] She was described as "the Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab World",[2][3] and as "Egypt's most radical woman".[4]

She was founder and president of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association[5][6] and co-founder of the Arab Association for Human Rights.[7] She was 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,[8] and in 2012, the International Peace Bureau awarded her the 2012 Seán MacBride Peace Prize.[9]

  1. ^ Skopeliti, Clea; agencies (21 March 2021). "Nawal El Saadawi, trailblazing Egyptian writer, dies aged 89". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "Nawal El Saadawi | Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, author and feminist". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  3. ^ "I don't fear death: Egyptian feminist, novelist Nawal El Saadawi". EgyptToday. Reuters. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  4. ^ Bennett, Natalie (6 March 2009). "Meet Egypt's most radical woman". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Nawal El Saadawi". Women Inspiring Change. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. ^ Hitchcock, Peter, Nawal el Saadawi, Sherif Hetata. "Living the Struggle". Transition 61 (1993): 170–179.
  7. ^ Nawal El Saadawi, "Presentation by Nawal El Saadawi: President's Forum, M/MLA Annual Convention, November 4, 1999", The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 33.3–34.1 (Autumn 2000 – Winter 2001): 34–39.
  8. ^ "PEN World Voices Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture by Nawal El Saadawi", YouTube. 8 September 2009.
  9. ^ "International Peace Bureau". www.ipb.org. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.