Arab Feminist Union (AFU), also called All-Arab Feminist Union, General Arab Feminist Union and Arab Women's Union, was an

umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

of feminist associations from Arab countries, founded in 1945.Weber, C. (2001). Unveiling Scheherazade: Feminist Orientalism in the International Alliance of Women, 1911-1950. Feminist Studies, 27(1), 125-157. doi:10.2307/3178453 Its purpose was to achieve social and political gender equality while promoting

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

History

The AFU was formed by 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 president ...

(EFU) under Huda Sharawi. The EFU was the starting point of the organized feminist movement in the Arab World when it was founded in 1923. Becoming a member of the International Women Suffrage Alliance and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, it wished to organise the women's movement of the Arab world internationally, in the same manner as the women's movement in the West. In 1938, the EFU organised the Eastern Women’s Conference for the Defense of Palestine in Cairo, and Huda Sharawi suggested the individual countries establish feminist unions, and that those unions formed an umbrella organization, spanning the Arab world. The AFU were originally mainly an offspring of the Arab Women's Association of Palestine, which had attended the Conference. On 7 December 1944, the EFU convened the Arab Feminist Congress or Arab Women's Congress of 1944 in Cairo, which formally established the AFU. The AFU was based in Egypt and administered by the EFU: Sharawi became the AFU’s first president and its treasurer and secretary were also Egyptians. Trans-Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon was given two representatives each on the board. From the 1960s, several totalitarian regimes in newly independent Arab countries opposed feminist organizing. In 1956, the Egyptian government forced the closure of the EFU. The AFU transferred its headquarters to Beirut, but the organization diminished.

References

International organisations based in Egypt Organizations established in 1945 Women's rights organizations Human rights organisations based in Egypt International women's organizations 1945 establishments in Egypt Feminist organisations in Egypt