Huda Sharawi

Exceptional women appear at certain moments in history and are moved by special forces. Men view these women as supernatural beings and their deeds as miracles. Indeed, women are bright stars whose light penetrates dark clouds. They rise in times of trouble, when the wills of men are tired. In moments of danger, when women emerge by their side, men utter no protest. Yet, women's great acts and sacrifices do not change men's views of women. Through their arrogance, men refuse to see the capabilities of women. Faced with contradiction, they prefer to raise women above the ordinary human plane instead of making them on a level equal to their own. Men have singled out women of outstanding merit and put them on a pedestal to avoid recognizing the capabilities of all women. Women have felt this in their souls, their dignity and self esteem have been deeply touched. Women reflected on how they might elevate their status and worth in the eyes of men. Women rose up to demand their liberation, claiming their social, economic, and political rights, their leap forward was greeted with ridicule, and blame, but that did not weaken their will.

Huda was born on June 23, 1879 in Egypt. She was the daughter of a wealthy Egyptian man and a captured Circassian woman. At the time of Huda’a birth, Egypt belonged to the Ottoman empire, which had forcibly captured the Circassians, a people originally from the Caucasus, after a war with the Russian empire. Huda herself is the best source of her mother's origin as a captured Circassian. Huda grew up in a harem in her polygamous father’s house. At this point, it is important to clarify that Harem life is not what Westerners often associate with it. The idea of women lounging in a room full of pillows while being isolated from the outside world were often based on falsified impressions European travelers got from brothel visits in Middle Eastern countries. These impressions were often falsified by their Middle Eastern guides. At a later moment in her life, Huda, who knew both French and English in addition to her native Arabic, wrote that she was aware of the impressions Westerners had of her harem and made it clear that she found it kind of funny.

Life inside the Harem was indeed an almost exclusively domestic one. But in that domestic realm, women had more power than is commonly assumed. As a child in a wealthy family, Huda received a very good education. Nonetheless, girls were not treated equally and Huda realized that her brother was cared for and loved much more than her. He received better gifts, better education, and was just overall seen as a more valuable member of the family. Despite this preferential treatment, Huda and her brother had a very good relationship. When she was 5 and he was 7, their father died, but the members of the household decided to keep the death secret in fear of upsetting the little boy. In the end, it was Huda who told her brother, thus unveiling the truth and creating an inseparable bond.

The freedom of Huda’s childhood ended when she turned eleven. Puberty caused a lot of confusion within her, as some of the things that she had been doing all her life (like playing with boys her age) had suddenly become off limits. She was expected to behave differently, more “womanly” and following this new set of rules proved to be very frustrating. At age 12, she was told by her family that she was to be married to a wealthy relative. Reluctantly, she accepts the proposal under the condition that her husband remains monogamous. At age 14, she was married. Shortly after the wedding, Huda realized that her husband had not kept his promise of monogamy. He had not taken a second wife but had seen other women. Unsure if she was divorced or not, Huda returns home and faces her family. There is a lot of back-and-forth about whether she can stay or should return home. Finally, it is her brother has her back, allows her to stay in her mothers house and enters talks with her husband. It takes 7 years until Huda returns to her husbands house. She uses these seven years to receive extra education that she would have been denied as a wife. She learns French and starts to get to know about women’s rights through books and salons. When she re- enters marriage, she is armed with knowledge. She gave birth to a daughter in 1903 and a son in 1905.

Knowing of the importance of education, and its inaccessibility for lower-class women, Huda opened her first school for Egyptian girls in 1910.

Just before World War 1, Huda also travelled throughout Europe with her children. She collected many impressions of different countries and different women’s situations. And, as she was fluent in English and French, she could exchange and discuss with people from other countries.

After World War 1, Egypt was occupied by the British. At that point, Egyptians were tired of being occupied by foreign forces and wanted their independence. In the success of the revolution in 1919, women played a crucial part. Led by Huda, masses of women went to the streets of Cairo to show their disdain for the British. The women found themselves face to face with armed British soldiers. The situation was extremely tense, one wrong move and everything could have escalated. A women whispered in Huda’s ear that she was so adored by all the present women that, if anything were to happen, the women would certainly try to defend or avenge her. Huda understood that if she made one wrong move that led the British to hurt her and in turn the women to attack the British soldiers, there would be a bloodbath. Instead, she remained calm. The women stood in the blazing sun for hours until they could safely go home.

Despite women’s immense contribution to Egypt’s independence, the Wafd party that formed the first government did not grant women the same rights as men. In fact, women did not even receive voting rights by the party. The quote you see in the beginning of this article is taken from a letter Huda wrote to the head of the party, expressing her upset.

Huda’s dedication went far beyond education or voting rights. In 1922, she and her friend unveiled themselves in the Cairo train station, this caused a scandal and shock, but also started a new trend, inspiring many women to leave their veils at home.

One of Huda’s biggest achievements, is the setting of a minimum marriage age for girls. While Egypt never banned polygamy and only allows it under the “condition” of the wife/wives’ agreement, the marriage laws Huda fought for were very progressive. I like to think that she understood that, without the seven years of additional education she received, she could not have achieved everything she did.

When Westerners talk about feminism, we often adopt an extremely Euro-centric and frankly, racist and Islamophobic perspective towards the feminist movement. Europeans are not the creators of equal rights, women have identified and fought for justice anywhere and everywhere in the world. Women who dedicate their lives to others, who make sacrifices that are larger than many can imagine, just to advance their sisters and daughters, are as old as time, and we should not be allowed to claim the titles of heroes. Someone like Huda Sharawi should be an inspiration for Western women, not the other way around.