Nawal El Saadawi

Nawal El Saadawi is a leading Egyptian feminist, sociologist, medical doctor and militant writer on
Arab women's problems. She is one of the most widely translated contemporary Egyptian writers, with
her work available in twelve languages.

Nawal El Saadawi was born in 1931 in a small village outside of Cairo. El Saadawi was raised in a
large household with eight brothers and sisters. Her family was relatively traditional, and little
progressive. El Saadawi's father insisted that all of his children be educated.

Despite limitations imposed by both religious and colonial oppression on rural women, El Saadawi
attended the University of Cairo and graduated in 1955 with a degree in psychiatry. After completing
her education, El Saadawi practiced psychiatry and eventually rose to become Egypt's Director of
Public Health.

Since she began to write over 25 years ago, El Saadawi's books (27 in all) have concentrated on
women, particularly Arab women. From the start, they were considered controversial and dangerous
for society, and were banished in Egypt. As a result, El Saadawi was forced to publish her works in
Beirut, Lebanon. In 1972, her first work of non-fiction, Women and Sex, which as the title suggests,
dealt with the highly taboo subject of women and sexuality, and also the sensitive subjects of politics
and religion. This publication evoked the anger of highly placed political and theological authorities,
and the Ministry of Health was pressured into dismissing her. Under similar pressures she lost her post
as Chief Editor of a health journal and as Assistant General Secretary in the Medical Association in
Egypt.

Later in 1980, as a culmination of the long war she had fought for Egyptian women's social and
intellectual freedom, an activity that had closed all avenues of official jobs to her, she was imprisoned
under the Sadat regime, for alleged "crimes against the state." El Saadawi stated "I was arrested
because I believed Sadat. He said there is democracy and we have a multi-party system and you can
criticize. So I started criticizing his policy and I landed in jail."

In spite of her imprisonment, El Saadawi continued to fight against oppression. El Saadawi formed the
Arab Women's Solidarity Association in 1981. The AWSA was the first legal, independent feminist
organization in Egypt. The organization has 500 members locally and more than 2,000 internationally.
The Association holds international conferences and seminars, publishes a magazine and has started
income-generating projects for women in rural areas. AWSA was banned in 1991 after criticizing US
involvement in the Gulf War, which El Saadawi felt should have been solved among the Arabs.

"When I came out of prison there were two routes I could have taken. I could have become one of
those slaves to the ruling institution, thereby acquiring security, prosperity, the state prize, and the title
of "great writer"; I could have seen my picture in the newspapers and on television. Or I could
continue on the difficult path, the one that had led me to prison... Danger has been a part of my life
ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies.
Nothing is more perilous than knowledge in a world that has considered knowledge a sin since Adam
and Eve... There is no power in the world that can strip my writings from me."

After her release from prison, she left the country to be a visiting professor at North American
universities. She was a lecturer at Washington State University in Seattle and she continues to devote
her time to being a writer, journalist and worlwide speaker on women’s issues.

Adapted from http://photoclub-montreuil-slv11.blogspot.com/2013/03/journee-internationale-des-femmes.html