Egyptian Women Leaders

The wife of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Suzanne Mubarak was 17 when she got married. She got back to school a decade later and obtained degrees in sociology and political science. She established the Cairo Child Museum and worked for the UN.

Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian feminist activist, writer, and physician. Described as Egypt's most radical woman, Saadawi wrote many books pertaining to the subject of women in the Muslim world. She is also credited with founding the Arab Women's Solidarity Association. Nawal El Saadawi won several prestigious awards, including the Seán MacBride Peace Prize and the Inana International Prize.

Once the First Lady of Egypt (as the wife of president Anwar Sadat), Jehan Sadat had a multicultural upbringing, being the daughter of an Egyptian father and a British mother. She later became a champion for women’s rights and transformed the civil rights laws, bringing in what were called Jehan's Laws.

Doria Shafik was an Egyptian poet, editor, and feminist. One of the most important and influential leaders of the famous women's liberation movement in Egypt, Doria Shafik is best remembered for her work in the mid-1940s that led to a change in the Egyptian constitution, granting Egyptian women the right to vote.

British politician Evelyn Emmet, Baroness Emmet of Amberley was a member of the Conservative Party. She became the Chairman of the National Union of the party and the first Chairman of the Children's Committee of West Sussex County Council. She served as a Member of Parliament for East Grinstead for a decade before she was made a life peer.