Today for #WomensHistoryMonth I am recognizing Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian psychiatrist, physicia

Today for #WomensHistoryMonth I am recognizing Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian psychiatrist, physician, writer, and activist. At age 83, Dr. El Saadawi shows no intention of slowing down. She has been an active feminist since a very young age, having been circumcised at 6 years old and coerced into marriage at age 10. While working as a doctor in her birthplace of Kafr Tahla, she observed the hardships and inequalities faced by rural women. After attempting to protect one of her patients from domestic violence, Saadawi was summoned back to Cairo. She eventually became the Director of the Ministry of Public Health and divorced her husband of 43 years. In 1972 she published Woman and Sex (المرأة والجنس), confronting and contextualising various aggressions perpetrated against women’s bodies, including female circumcision. The book became a foundational text of second-wave feminism. Due to publishing a feminist magazine, Saadawi was imprisoned during the rule of Sadat in Egypt, which led to her writing her memoirs in prison. Apart from memoirs, her work ranges from plays to short story collections, as well as full-length novels. Dr. El Saadawi went through three marriages and divorced at age 63. In one of her memoirs she explains, it was not that she “wasn’t allowed to marry for love” but the “complexities of the patriarchal character” that lead to her failed marriages. Saadawi is highly critical of what she calls “large patriarchal religions,” and continues to advocate against the problematic views the Arab world upholds against women. She is also an avid supporter against U.S. foreign policy in the region leading to imperialism and dictatorship regimes. She is the founder of The Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and From 1979 to 1980 she was the United Nations Advisor for the Women’s Programme in Africa (ECA) and the Middle East (ECWA). #HerStory #NoFGM #ArabWorldFeminism -- source link

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