Development of the Feminist Idea in Egypt and the Middle East From the End of the Eighteenth Century to the Present

“This work contributes to a comprehensive view of women’s studies in general and Muslim women in Arab society in particular….it examines feminist discourse in the Arab world through an analysis of selected texts by male and female Arab philosophers since the early 19th century to understand the changes in Arab feminist discourse throughout this period.”
-Professor Ronen Yitzhak,
Head of Middle Eastern Studies
Western Galilee College, Israel

“This book provides much rich knowledge in details on the subject of women in the Arab world. The book discusses a number of subjects and issues which enrich research of the Middle East in general and women’s research in particular, the book deals with the status of women from the pre-Islamic period until the modern era, the development of the women’s movements in Egypt in the last two centuries, the status of women in the writing of Arab intellectuals.”
-Professor Gal Ben-Ishai,
Department of Arabic,
Bar-Ilan University

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Status of Women in the Arab World from the Pre-Islamic Period until the Start of the Modern Era
A. Social background
B. The status of the woman in the pre-Islamic period
C. The Arab woman in the period of the Moslem state
D. The early Islamic period
Footnotes
Chapter 1: The Women’s Movement in Egypt-Historical Background
A. The al-Nahdah period (1798-1918)
B. In the shadow of the national movement (1919-1932)
C. The Nasserist period (1952-1970)
D. The period of openness (1970-2010)
E. The Arab Spring (from 2010- )
Footnotes

Chapter 2: Reformist Intellectuals in the al-Nahdah Period
A. Rifaa Rafa Al-Tahtawi (1801-1873)
B. Jamal Ad-Din Al-Afghani (1838-1897)
C. Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905)
D. Zaynab Fawwaz (1850-1914)
E. Qasim Amin (1863-1903)
F. Intellectual thinking in the period of al-Nahdah: Critical aspects
Footnotes
Chapter 3: The Influence of Reformist Thoughts on the Current Thinking of the Twentieth Century
A. The issue of the woman in Islamic thinking
B. The description of the general orientation of writings on the woman
Footnotes
Chapter 4: Review of the Literature on the Issue of the Woman (Evaluation and Renewal)
A. Evaluation of Islamic writings on the woman
B. Renewal of Islamic writings on the woman
C. Approach to the issue of the woman in the contemporary Islamic critical perspective
C.1. Cultural systems and suspicious concepts
D. The critique of Islamic literature having for its subject the woman
E. The transformations of the contemporary Islamic discourse
Footnotes
Chapter 5: The Development of Awareness on the Subject of Woman
A. The factors of development of the awareness of issues relating to the woman
B. The issues of the woman: A reality that creates an entirely different reality
C. The issues of the contemporary woman: A reality that creates an entirely different reality
Footnotes
Chapter 6: The Woman in the Contemporary Arabic Novel: The Spheres of Mutual Influence
A. A global glimpse at the image of the woman in the Arabic novel
B. Life is a woman
C. Freedom is a woman
D. The Renaissance is a woman
E. The beginnings of another wortld: “Women in dramatic literature
F. Woman in the writings of Naguib Mahfouz
G. Woman in Mahfouz’ novels in the 1980s
Footnotes
Chapter 7: The Woman; Writing and Society – Achievements and Challenges
A. General View
B. Woman’s writing during the second half of the twentieth century
C. The experience of Nawal al Saadawi
D. Women’s writing, and egocentricity
Footnotes
Chapter 8: Nawal al-Saadawi and the Feminist Revolt
A. Personal biography
B. Saadawi’s autobiography
B.1. First Chapter – Beginnings
B.2. Second Chapter – the memoirs of a girl by the name of Suwaed
B.3. Third Chapter- memoirs of an unusual young girl
B.4. Fourth Chapter: memoirs of a doctor
B.5. Fifth Chapter: memoirs from a women’s prison
B.6. Sixth Chapter: pages of my life
C. The Issues of the Egyptian woman
D. Saadawi and breaking the barriers
E. The image of the woman in the writings of Saadawi
F. Change in Saadawi’s eyes
Footnotes
Conclusion
A. Etidal Osman: Images on the woman’s suffering
Footnotes
Bibliography
Index