Pauline Hassoun, (1895 - 1969) was an Iraqi

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, who was the first woman to found and publish a magazine in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Biography

Hassoun was born in Ottman Empire (in an area that is now Jordan) in 1895 to a father from Mesopotamia and a Syrian mother. Her family moved between the areas of the Ottoman Empire that are now Syria, Palestine and Jordan, and also spent some time in Egypt before she settled in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. There, she was a founding member of the Women's Awakening Club. Her cousin was Salim Hassoun, who was the owner of the newspaper '' Al-Alam Al-Arabi.'' Interested in journalism, Hassoun founded ''

Layla "Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded by Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' (1970). Its contrasting movements were compose ...

'' in 1923 as a magazine that would publish "everything new and useful related to science, art, literature, society and housekeeping". The first issue was published on 15 October 1923. The magazine ran for two years, with a final issue published on 15 August 1925. Hassoun closed it due financial reasons and since anti-feminist campaigns against her forced her to leave Baghdad. She left in December 1925. The magazine is considered "Iraq's first feminist journal". She also worked as the head teacher of a girl's school in Baghdad. Little is known of her later life and she died in 1969.

Legacy

Hassoun is considered Iraq's first woman journalist and a feminist pioneer in the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassoun, Paulina 1895 births 1969 deaths Iraqi journalists Iraqi women journalists Women editors Jordanian journalists Jordanian women journalists People from Baghdad Women magazine editors Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in Egypt