Egypt's Other Political Elite

• Author: Kathleen Howard-Merriam
• Published date: 01 March 1981
• Date: 01 March 1981
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591298103400114
• Subject Matter: Articles

EGYPT’S

OTHER

POLITICAL

ELITE

KATHLEEN

HOWARD-MERRIAM

Bowling

Green

State

University

N

1919

Hoda

Sha’rawi

led

a

group

of

veiled

women

down

Cario

streets

t

to

protest

the

British

occupation

of

Egypt.

Today

First

Lady

Jehan

Sadat

presides

over

feminist

congresses

actively

promoting

the

im-

provement

of

women’s

status,

and

a

woman

serves

in

the

Cabinet

as

Minister

of

Social

Affairs.

This

study

focuses

on

the character

of

the

post-1952

female

public

leadership,

the

successors

to

feminist

Hoda

Sha’rawi.

Interviews

were

con-

ducted

with

forty-five

women,

including

Madame

Sadat,

who

either

belong

to

the

governing

elite,

or

who

have

become

leaders

among

and

for

women.

These

women

contribute

in

different

ways

to

the

improvement

of

women’s

status,

including

engaging

in

efforts

to

improve

women’s,

as

well

as

men’s,

socioeconomic

conditions,

pressing

publicly

for

improvement

in

women’s

legal

status

through

law

reform,

and

assuming

leadership

positions

in

a

male-dominated

world,

serving

as

role

models

for

other

women.

Among

the

women

who

achieve

national

public

importance,

some

do

so

for

their

social

feminism

and

others

for

their

political

feminism.

In

some

cases,

women’s

social

feminism

has

been

politicized

by

their

assumption

of

leadership

roles.

Examination

is

made

of

these

women’s

backgrounds,

personalities,

and

the

environmental

factors

contributing

to

their

assumption

of

public

service

roles.

Are

there

particular

factors

which

lead

to

the

assumption

of

particular

kinds

of

roles?

Can

one

credit

these

leaders

with

having

an

impact

on

the

status

of

women?

The

Middle

East

is

an

area

caught

up

in

the

struggle

for

modernization

and

in

the

pursuit

of

diverse

paths

toward

its

realization.

A

number

of

studies

exist

on

changes

made

by

regimes

and

socioeconomic

factors

upon

Middle

Eastern

women’s

lives.

Among

the

most

noteworthy

is

the

Beck

and

Keddie

volume,

Women

in

the

Muslim

World,

a

kaleidescopic

view

of

primarily

peasant,

nomad,

and

lower

class

urban

women

who,

the

editors

rightly

as-

sert,

make

up

the

majority

of

women

in

most

of

the

societies.

These

authors

point

out,

however,

that

there

is

the

need

for

&dquo;studies

of

elite

women,

wo-

men’s

movements

and

of

women

in

politics

and

the

public

domain&dquo;

who

are

most

likely

to

set

the

pace

for

change

in

women’s

status.’

In

fact,

few

case

studies

exist

on

the

women

leaders

in

the

national

arena

in

these

Middle

Eastern

societies,

and

no

studies

exist

on

the

post-1952

period

in

Egypt

save

the

more

general

studies

documenting,

for

example,

the

impact

of

education

on

women’s

participation

in

the

labor

force.2

’Lois

Beck

and

Nikki

Keddie,

Women

in

the

Muslim

World

(Cambridge:

Harvard

University

Press,

1978).

For

the

Middle

East

Area,

see

also

Elizabeth

Fernea

and

Rasima

Bezirgan,

eds.,

Middle

Eastern

Muslim

Women

Speak

(Austin:

University

of

Texas

Press,

1977)

which

takes

a

somewhat

different

approach

from

Beck

and

Keddie.

Fernea

and

Bezirgan

present

women

in

different

walks

of

life

who

speak

for

themselves

on

the

impact

of

socioeconomic

changes

upon

their

lives.

While

useful

for

gaining

insight

on

how

these

women

of

diverse

backgrounds

and

inclinations

saw

themselves,

one

should

not

look

in

this

volume

for

a

critical

study

of

the

Egyptian

elite

women’s

role

in

public

life,

although

Aminah

al

Said’s

article

represents

the

writing

of

one

of

these

elite

women.

For

another

recent

case

study

on

a

rapidly

changing

society

see

Carla

Makhlouf,

Changing

Veils

(Austin:

University

of

Texas

Press,

1979),

which

is

on

urban

women’s

experience

in

undergoing

social

change.

2 See

Audrey

Smock

and

Nadia

Haggag

Youssef,

"Egypt:

From

Seclusion

to

Limited

Participa-

tion,"

in

Janet

Zollinger

Giele

and

Audrey

Chapman

Smock,

eds.,

Women:

Roles

and

Status

in

Eight

Countries

(New

York:

Wiley,

1977),

and

Safia

K.

Mohsen,

"The

Egyptian

Woman:

Between

Modernity

and

Tradition,"

in

Carolyn J.

Matthiasson,

ed.,

Many

Sisters

(New

York:

The

Free

Press,

1974).