Parting the Patriarchy: Doria Shafik's Forgotten Fight for Egyptian Women

Credit: Doria Shafik Official Site

    A woman revered; a woman forgotten. 

    There are minimal people outside of Egypt who know of Doria Shafik, an intelligent author who commenced the liberation of females in the country, but ironically not many Egyptians know of her either. Shafik's efforts were silenced, the truth of her advancements erased from Egyptian history by the President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who disliked how Shafik cursed his name. He ordered for the destruction of her books and poems, as well as her imprisonment and ban from public media. Her followers would go on to attempt to preserve her fiery legacy, as well as try to rekindle the feminist movement of Egypt. Shafik left her people with this heavy remark to consider,

"A nation cannot be liberated whether internally or externally while its women are enchained".

Credit: Doria Shafik Official Site

    Born in 1919, Doria Shafik grew up with devoted parents and an early education. She quickly became immersed in the free style thinking and philosophy of western cultures. Under the guidance and influence of Hoda Shara'awi, an Egyptian feminist, Shafik was able to further her studies in France, where she eventually earned her doctorate from the Sobornne, one of the first universities in the country. During her time in France, Shafik drew creative inspiration from individuals such as Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso. She'd later go on to return to Egypt to write poetry and teach in her homeland, where she would later publish her own feminist magazine the Bint al-Nil.

Credit: Dutch National Archives

    Experiencing discrimination firsthand and hearing the cries of her fellow female Egyptians, Shafik decide it was time she aided in the fight for equality. Gathering support from local feminist, Shafik established an organization under the same title as her magazine. Her most notable call-to-action was on February 19th, 1951. Shafik gathered a crowd of women who were tired of seeing their rights diminished and encouraged them to take arms and storm the halls of parliament, where they had the best chance at having their voices heard. This stampede of 1,500 women shook the walls of the all-male government. They were surprised and flustered, but just after four hours they decided to yield and listen to a few of the organizations demands. Doria Shafik had courageously stood by the women of Egypt and had a part in gaining them the right to vote and hold political office. Her efforts would not go unnoticed by Egyptian women. 

Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images

    The fight for equal rights never seems to be over. There is always a problem to be fixed or an issue to be discussed. A few years after her parliament demonstration, Doria Shafik led the Bint al-Nil to undergo a hunger strike to further highlight the injustices brought upon women in the country. Historians believe that Shafik's efforts influenced the shift to equality in Egypt.  Her time in the political area was cut short, when she stepped too far and criticized the dictatorship of Egypts president. He had her imprisoned where she eventually took her own life by jumping out of a six-story window. Her life would be a symbol to those fighting for equal rights, but it would quickly be erased by Nasser from the history books of all Egyptians. Shafik's organization would live on to see out her dream and keep alive her legacy for as long as they could; however, feminist movements have been minimal since her death and Egypt's politics have not grown to favor women.

Credit: Sisterhood.com / Public Domain

    There is an incredible amount to be learned from Doria Shafik's bravery. She fought for the women of her country who were limited in their education and timid in their ways. She wasn't afraid to fight against the patriarchy, pinpointing its weaknesses and using them to her advantage. Shafik didn't just suggest change, she demanded it. The equality of women is not something that can wait, it's something that should already be practiced. Shafik fought until the end of her life, unknowing that many of her poems and books would be destroyed, along with her reputation. It's the hope that she sparked in Egyptian women that will live on and that she would be proud of today. Let her most famous quotation, written below, inspire you to strike out against injustices and inequalities, because in the end, the world cannot become a better place if no one is willing to commence and commit to change:

"To want and to dare! Never hesitate to act when the feeling of injustice revolts us. To give one's measure with all good faith, the rest will follow as a social consequence."

    Visit her website to learn more about her life before she was an activist and to read some of her poems historians were able to find.

Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Durriyyah Shafīq." Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Dec. 

           2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Durriyyah-Shafiq. Accessed 13 February 

           2021.

Kirkpatrick, D. David. “Overlooked No More: Doria Shafik, Who Led Egypt’s Women’s Liberation 

           Movement.” The New York Times, 22 Aug. 2018, 

           https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/obituaries/doria-shafik-overlooked.html.