Nawal El Saadawi

Nawal El Saadawi was a prominent Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician, and psychiatrist. She was born in a small village in Egypt and graduated as a medical doctor from Cairo University in 1955. She worked as a physician, a director of public health, and a medical researcher. She also taught at several universities in Egypt and abroad. She wrote more than 50 books on topics such as women in Islam, female genital mutilation, sexuality, and political oppression. She was a vocal critic of the patriarchal and religious fundamentalist systems that oppressed women and violated human rights. She founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and the Egyptian Women Writers’ Association. She was imprisoned, exiled, and persecuted for her views and writings. She received many awards and honors for her work, such as the North-South Prize, the Seán MacBride Peace Prize, and the Council of Europe’s Simone de Beauvoir Prize. She died in Cairo at the age of 89.