Nawal El Saadawi
27 October 1931 – 21 March 2021
Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian physician, psychiatrist and writer whose books addressed women's health, sexuality and social conditions in Egypt and the Arab world. Her works include Women and Sex, Woman at Point Zero and The Hidden Face of Eve. She was dismissed from the Ministry of Health in 1972, imprisoned in 1981, and founded the Arab Women's Solidarity Association in 1982.
Lived at the same time
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Life events
Born in a village on the Nile north of Cairo, the second of nine children.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgQualified as a physician and later specialised in psychiatry.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHeld a senior post in the ministry while continuing to write.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe book's treatment of female genital mutilation and sexuality led to the loss of her post.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgA novel based on her interviews with a woman awaiting execution in Qanatir prison.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgDetained in September 1981 during a mass arrest of critics and released in November of that year.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAn organisation for women's rights in the Arab world, later closed by the Egyptian authorities in 1991.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHeld teaching posts including at Duke University in North Carolina after receiving threats in Egypt.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgResumed residence in Cairo and continued writing and public commentary.
Died at the age of 89 after a period of illness.
Source: en.wikipedia.org