Nawal El Saadawi, the outspoken Egyptian feminist, writer and campaigner has died. Born into a traditional family she underwent female genital mutilation when six and at ten refused to marry, eventually qualifying as a doctor. She rose to professional prominence but lost her position because of her criticism of female circumcision, honesty about peasant health and supporting domestic violence victims. She was told she had disrespected moral values and “incited women to rebel against the divine laws of Islam”. She never gave up fighting for what she believed despite losing her job, a ban on her writings, imprisonment, death threats and exile. Her books asserted that patriarchy and poverty – rather than Islam – oppress Arab women; wrote of a world where for a woman, husband and boss are interchangeable, and for a man, female self-determination is incomprehensible. She spent some time in North Carolina after appearing on a fundamentalist death list.
On her return to Egypt she continued to fight against religious fanaticism and started a secular society petitioning to have Islam removed as the state religion. She was reported to have said the Muslim custom of making an annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia was “a vestige of pagan practices”. Her 2006 play God Resigns at the Summit Meeting caused more controversy.
Born 27 October 1931 4 am (from memory) Banha, Egypt, she was custom-built as a rebel, destabiliser, trailblazer and influencer. She had the signature tough-as-nails, unyielding Pluto (in her 10th ) opposition Saturn of that era squaring onto a Cardinal revolutionary Uranus in Aries in her 7th. Her Pluto was also in a do-or-die determined trine to Mars in Scorpio, so she didn’t lack courage. Her Sun, Mercury Venus in Scorpio opposed an 8th house Taurus Moon, the latter a hint of an influential grandmother in her childhood.
She was certainly not custom-built for easy relationships with a controlling Pluto in the 10th, an unconventional, uncompromising Uranus in her 7th and a Full Moon. But she battled on nonetheless and was married three times.
Female circumcision was banned in Egypt in 2008.
She was a truly amazing woman. i had one of her books; The hidden face of Eve. I so admire women who have the courage of their convictions, and take centre stage. Especially in the muslim world, it takes real steel guts to step into the lion’s den. My other current heroines include Sarah Haider, and Maryam Namazie.
Thank you for that profile in courage. A formidable woman and tenacious fighter for women.
Someone needs to clone her so we can fight the fundies in America.
God bless her.
So sad her life had to be so hard, for her to have the courage, to stand by women and fight injustice.
What a strong and admirable woman. God bless her. I have spoke out against misogyny and violence but it takes a special woman to threaten this toxic culture like she did. I can rage against such vile tyranny privately and online but I am way too scared to stand out there on my own and expose the faults she did. She was a special heroine for all of us. RIP <3
Thank you, she was an amazing warrior (Mars in Scorpio) for justice for women. It’s also interesting to look at this ‘mover and shaker’ generation’s achievements (Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Cancer), since we have a generation of children also born under this Uranus/Pluto square during the 2010s who will come of age in the near future.
Thank you for doing her chart – I’ve been thinking about her too – it’s really worth looking up some of her quotations
and watching her on youtube – extraordinary courage and a fierce heart. RIP.
God bless her. You’re right SuHu, we do need more like her.
Thank you Marjorie. I had been thinking about her. The world needs more like her – although the price they have to pay for pointing out the obvious is often far too high.