Saiza Nabarawi,( ar, سيزا النبراوي) also spelt as Siza Nabrawi or Ceza Nabarawi, (born Zainab Mohamed Mourad Nabarawi, ar, زينب محمد مراد النبراوي), (1897–1985) was an Egyptian journalist educated in Paris, and who eventually became the leading journalist for the '' L'Egyptienne'' magazine.

Early life

Saiza Nabarawi or Siza Nabrawi was originally born as Zainab Mohamed Mourad Nabrawi, into a family from

Nabaruh Nabaruh is a city in Egypt, located in the governorate of Dakahlia Dakahlia Governorate ( ar, محافظة الدقهلية ', ) is an Egyptian governorate lying northeast of Cairo. Its area is approximately 3,500 km2. Although the capit ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

's Dakahlia governorate, and is a relative of the prominent Egyptian doctor Ibrahim Nabarawi.الموسوعة الثقافية
إبراهيم النبراوي من أنجب الجراحين (.... ــ 1279هـ ,... ــ 1862م )
She was adopted by Adila Nabarawi, a distant relative, and was taken to Paris to be educated. She attended a convent school in Versailles and eventually studied at the Saint Germain des Pres Institute in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. She was sent back to

but continued her education in a French school, Les Dames de Sion School in Alexandria. When her foster mother committed suicide, Nabarawi was claimed by Muhammad Murad and Fatma Hanim, her biological parents. She rejected them and lived with her maternal grandparents instead.

Huda Shaarawi Huda Sha'arawi or Hoda Sha'rawi ( ar, هدى شعراوي, ; 23 June 1879 – 12 December 1947) was a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader, suffragette, nationalist, and founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union. Early life and marriage Huda Sh ...

, a friend of her foster mother, eventually took an interest in Nabarawi during her early teens and helped her become a strong willed women's activist.

Later life

A major act of defiance in Saiza Nabarawi's or Siza Nabrawi's life occurred when she struggled against veils and headscarves which were imposed on many women. In 1923, on her return from the Conference of the International Women Suffrage Alliance in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, she and Sha'rawi removed their veils and headscarves at a public train station. She also wrote about her exclusion from the third convocation of parliament in March 1925 in her article '

Double Standard A double standard is the application of different sets of principles for situations that are, in principle, the same. It is often used to describe treatment whereby one group is given more latitude than another. A double standard arises when two ...

'. In her piece she notes how she was not allowed admission into a parliament regarding Egypt's independence. She points out how wives of important officials were included in the audience, and not an editor of a successful newspaper. Her witty sarcasm and candor words made Nabarawi and excellent editor and feminist.

Career

Egyptian Feminist Union

Nabarawi and Shaarawi were the founders of the

Egyptian Feminist Union The Egyptian Feminist Union () was the first nationwide feminist movement in Egypt. History and profile The Egyptian Feminist Union was founded at a meeting on 6 March 1923 at the home of activist Huda Sha'arawi, who served as its first presiden ...

which called for the political rights for Egyptian women. It published the '' L'Egyptienne'', the magazine of the EPU, which Nabarawi edited. She also founded the Women's Popular Resistance Committee. Nabarawi dedicated her life to feminist activism and attended international feminist conferences and spoke widely on the issues of gender equality. She called for the need to arrange the

First Eastern Women's Congress First Eastern Women's Congress, also known as First General Congress of Oriental Women and First Oriental Women's Congress was an international women's conference which took place in Damascus in Syria between 3 July and 10 July 1930. The conference ...

, a call answered by

Nour Hamada Nour Hamada (born between 1887 and 1898, died in 1962) was a Lebanese poet and feminist. She is one of the major figures that strived for feminism causes and gender equality in the Arab region. Biography Early life Hamada was born in the rural v ...

, who arranged it in Damaskus in 1930. One of Nabarawi's mentors,

Sa’d Zaghlul Saad Zaghloul ( ar, سعد زغلول / ; also ''Sa'd Zaghloul Pasha ibn Ibrahim'') (July 1859 – 23 August 1927) was an Egyptian revolutionary and statesman. He was the leader of Egypt's nationalist Wafd Party. He led a civil disobedience ...

, regarded the fashioning of the veil in a way that was unorthodox to actual veiling. It was used more like a scarf designed to only cover the face. Her opinions describe the evolution from veil to no veil that Nabarawi took part in.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nabarawi, Saiza 1897 births 1985 deaths Writers from Cairo Egyptian journalists Egyptian feminists Egyptian revolutionaries Egyptian women writers 20th-century journalists Egyptian expatriates in France