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Literature
The East in the works of women writers of the 19th century
    
Women’s participation in public affairs was an indicator of social change in the Arab and Ottoman worlds. By the end of the 19th century only in Egypt were there three magazines edited by and for women in circulation.
A brief look at the works of women fiction writers clearly demonstrates that not only were they concerned with self-expression but also issues concerning the place of women in society in the local context of each country. They also concerned themselves with the broader issues of social stratification, cultural dialogue and the relationship between “East” and “West”, and the liberation of women. These literary pioneers saw themselves and their literary characters as active agents in a period of reform and change and also played a decisive role in the revival of classical Arabic prose and poetry. These authors include novelists and poets such as Zaynab Fawwaz, Labiba Hashem, Afifa Karam and Warda al-Yaziji of Lebanon, Aisha Taymur of Egypt, Maryana Marrash, Mary ‘Ajami and Nazik Bayham of Syria, and many others. In 1892 the first women’s magazine, Al-Fatah appeared in Alexandria, published by the Syrian journalist Hind Nawfal.
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Literature  Overviewal-Nahdha and Tanzimat, the 19th-century winds of changeJournalism in the Arab and Ottoman landsPoetry in the Arab and Ottoman world, from neoclassicism to romanticismFolk tales and story-telling in Arab and Ottoman landsFrom rationalism to European romanticism, the first half of the 19th centuryThe East in the works of women writers of the 19th centuryReligious festivals, theatre and drama in Arab and Ottoman landsOrientalism in the West and in the East |
Huda Sha‘rawi, Public domain
Huda Sha‘rawi (1879–1947) was an upper-class Egyptian who was able to communicate in Arabic, French, and Turkish. A political and social activist, Sha‘rawi is best known for her memoir Mudhakkirati (Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist (1879‒1924), 1986). In 1908‒10 she organised Egypt’s first philanthropic society and a new type of school for girls. In 1919, she co-organised the largest anti-colonial demonstration for women. See Database entry for this item
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