Doria Shafik ( ar, درية شفيق; 14 December 1908 – 20 September 1975) was an
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
, poet and editor, and one of the principal leaders of the
women's liberation movement
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
in
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 ...
in the mid-1940s. As a direct result of her efforts, Egyptian women were granted the right to vote by the Egyptian constitution.
Early life
Doria Shafik was born on 14 December 1908 to Ahmad Chafik and Ratiba Nassif in
Tanta
Tanta ( ar, طنطا ' , ) is a city in Egypt with the country's fifth largest populated area and 658,798 inhabitants as of 2018. Tanta is located between Cairo and Alexandria: north of Cairo and southeast of Alexandria. The capital of Gharbia ...
, Egypt.
[ She studied in a French mission primary school in Tanta and a Tanta secondary school for girls until 16 years. Then she studied the last 2 years of secondary education called bacaloria in Cairo. At the age of 18 she became the one of first Egyptian girls to earn the degree of bacaloria of secondary school. She was awarded a scholarship by the ]Egyptian Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education is a ministry responsible for education in Egypt.
Ministers
* Hilmi Murad 1968–1969
* El Helali el Sherbini from September 2015
* Tarek Shawki from February 2017
* Reda Hegazy From August 2022
See also
* Cabinet ...
to study at Sorbonne University
Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...
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 also studied for a PhD in philosophy at the Sorbonne. She wrote two thesis, one refuting the merely utilitarian ends generally associated with Ancient Egyptian art, and the second, arguing about recognised women's equal rights. She was awarded her PhD with high qualifications (Mention très honorable). In 1935 and as a girl in Egypt, she entered a beauty pageant, which sparked controversy.
While in Paris, Shafik married Nureldin Raga'i, a law student who was also on scholarship and working on his PhD.
Career and activism
Upon her return from France to Egypt in 1940, Shafik hoped to contribute to the education of her country's youth, but the dean of the Faculty of Literature of Cairo University
Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
denied her a teaching position on the pretext that she was "too liberal."[
In 1945, Princess Chevicar, the first wife of Egypt's then former King ]Fuad I
Fuad I ( ar, فؤاد الأول ''Fu’ād al-Awwal''; tr, I. Fuad or ; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sulta ...
, offered Shafik the position of editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of ''La Femme Nouvelle
''La Femme Nouvelle'' (French: ''The New Woman'') was a French language literary and cultural magazine published from 1944 to 1952 in Cairo, Egypt. The magazine has been known for its editor-in-chief and later publisher, Doria Shafik, who was an ...
'', a French cultural and literary magazine addressing the country's elite. Shafik accepted the position, and with Chevicar's death in 1947, took complete responsibility for the magazine, including its financing. Under her direction ''La Femme Nouvelle'' gained regional status. Also in 1945, Shafik decided to publish an Arabic magazine, '' Bint Al Nil'' (meaning ''Daughter of Nile'' in English), intended to educate Egyptian women and to help them to have the most effective role possible within their family and their society. The first issue came out in November 1945 and was almost immediately sold out.
In 1948 Shafik created the Bint Al Nil Union to help solve women's primary social problems and to ensure their inclusion in their country's policies. The union also worked to eradicate illiteracy by setting up centres for that purpose throughout the country, set up an employment office and a cafeteria for working women.
Storming Parliament
In February 1951, she managed to secretly bring together 1500 women from Egypt's two leading feminist groupings (Bint Al Nil and 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 ...
). She organized a march of people that interrupted parliament for four hours after they gathered there with a series of demands mainly related to women's socioeconomic rights. Mufidah Abdul Rahman was chosen to defend Shafik in court in regards to this.[ When the case went to trial, many Bint al-Nil supporters attended the courtroom, and the judge adjourned the hearing indefinitely.
However, in spite of receiving promises from the President of the Senate, women's rights experienced no improvements.][
]
Female military unit
In 1951, Shafik "started a uniformed paramilitary unit of the Daughter of Nile". In January 1952, she led a brigade of its members to surround and shut down a branch of Barclays Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
, though she was arrested by the police when the demonstration turned "rowdy".[
]
Bint Al Nil Party
After the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Doria Shafik requested government recognition of Bint Al Nil as a political party, with Doria Shafik herself as its president, which the government accepted to grant.
First hunger strike
On 12 March 1954, Doria Shafik undertook an eight-day hunger strike at the press syndicate, in protest at the creation of a constitutional committee with no women on it. She ended her strike upon receiving a written statement that President Naguib was committed to a constitution that respected the rights of women.
Trip around the world
As a result of the interest sparked by her hunger strike, Doria Shafik was invited to lecture in Asia, Europe and the United States about Egyptian women. She travelled to Italy, England, France, the United States, Japan, India, Ceylon and Pakistan.
Right to vote
As a result of Doria Shafik's efforts, women were granted the right to vote under the constitution of 1956, with the proviso, however, that they must be literate, which was not a prerequisite for male voting.
Second hunger strike
In 1957 Shafik undertook a second hunger strike in the Indian embassy, in protest over President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
's dictatorial regime. As a result, she was put under house arrest by Nasser, her name was banned from the press and her magazines from circulation.[
]
Literary work
In addition to her magazines, Shafik wrote a novel, ''L'Esclave de Sultane'' (Slave of King) about slavery of a woman to a man, several volumes of poetry published by Pierre Fanlac, and her own memoirs
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...
that were translated into many languages. Poetry from her final days was translated by Nadeen Shaker and published in '' The Cairo Review'':
Seclusion and death
Following her house arrest Doria Shafik led a solitary life, even when her movement was no longer restricted. She spent her last years reading, and writing . She came to her death after falling from her balcony in 1975.[ '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' regretted not printing her obituary and finally printed one in 2018.[
]
Personal life
Shafik married Nureldin Ragai in Paris in 1937. He would go on to become a prominent lawyer in Egypt and to support all of her efforts. They were together for 31 years until 1968, when they divorced, and had two daughters Jehane and Aziza. Doria Shafik was living a solitary life and was visited by her daughters and her grandchildren.
Tribute
On 14 December 2016, Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
dedicated a Doodle
A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines or shapes, generally without ever lift ...
to the writer for the 108th anniversary of her birth. The Doodle reached all the countries of the Arab World
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
. In 2018, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published a belated obituary for her.[
]
Notes
References
Further reading
* Asunción Oliva Portoles, ''Recuperación de una voz olvidada'', Madrid: Huerga y Fierro editores, 2010.
* Cynthia Nelson, ''Doria Shafik, Egyptian Feminist: A woman Apart'', Gainesville: University Press of Florida (EE.UU.), 1996.
External links
Doria Shafik
official memorial website
"Doria Shafik (1908-1975"
sister-hood magazine, —9 August 2016
Selections from the Bint al-Nil journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafik, Doria
20th-century Egyptian women politicians
20th-century Egyptian politicians
20th-century Egyptian writers
1908 births
1975 deaths
1975 suicides
Egyptian feminists
Egyptian magazine founders
Egyptian newspaper editors
Egyptian nationalists
Egyptian revolutionaries
Egyptian suffragists
Egyptian women journalists
People from Tanta
Proponents of Islamic feminism
University of Paris alumni
Suicides by jumping in Egypt