Eight years ago, three Egyptian women embarked at Alexandria on a ship bound for Italy. They were heading for Rome, to attend the International Alliance of Women Congress. Al-Ahram Weekly examines contemporary responses of the Italian and Egyptian press to this historic event In no need of protection Nationalist militants and determined feminists: Margot Badran and Lucia Sorbera* examine the grafting of agendas In May 1923 three Egyptian women embarked at Alexandria on a ship bound for Italy. The eldest was 44 years old, the next in age was 37 and the youngest was 26. They set out, faces fully covered, as was customary at the time. What was not customary was that they set out alone, "alone" meaning without men accompanying them. No mehrem. There was no Ministry of Interior then to prevent the women from leaving the country without the formal permission of their husbands or fathers. In any case they had none: the eldest was a widow, the other two unmarried, and the fathers of all three had long since died. The women were in no need of protection. They had defended their country in the 1919 Revolution and its aftermath as nationalist militants and determined feminists. On 16 March, on the fourth anniversary of the first women's demonstration a group of women had formed the Egyptian Feminist Union (the EFU). And now an EFU delegation was off to Rome to participate in the ninth congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IAW) convening from 11-19 May. The women included Hoda Shaarawi, EFU president and head of the delegation, Nabawiya Moussa, pioneer in girls' education, and Ceza Nabarawi who would become editor-in-chief of the EFU's monthly journal, L'Egyptienne (est. 1925). The Rome meeting was a signal event in the history of the Egyptian feminist movement. As a new member of the International Alliance of Women the EFU joined forces in Rome with the international sisterhood to promote their own Egyptian nationalist-cum-feminist goals, specifically to lay claim to suffrage, and to help shape the transnational feminist movement. From the start the EFU showed itself adept at furthering Egyptian gender and national interests in the international feminist arena. The Egyptian feminists set the terms of their own debate and drew from deep within their own history and culture, and from their experiences as women, in formulating their feminism, contrary to those who paint it as a colonial imposition. Over the years, from both within and outside the IAW, Egyptian feminists would persistently point to specific ways colonialism obstructed feminist goals. The Egyptians joined delegates coming from 43 countries. The Rome congress was the second since the end of the First World War and the largest ever IAW gathering. For the first time the IAW included members from eastern countries: Egypt, India, Japan, and an Ashkenazi Jewish women's organisation from Palestine (the Palestinian Arab Women's Union joined the IAW in 1935). The International Woman Suffrage Alliance had been founded at the beginning of the century when American and European feminists joined forces to accelerate their suffrage campaign. At the Rome congress the organisation changed its name to the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship after women from the US and several European countries won the vote following the First World War. The new name reflected the enlarged mandate the IAW set itself of continuing to support suffrage in countries where women still did not have the vote while also promoting the practice of equal citizenship. The EFU would argue strenuously over the years in this international feminist forum that in countries lacking full national sovereignty because of forms of colonial rule the IAW goal of full citizenship rights could never be achieved. This would be an uphill battle in an alliance that would not confront the elements of colonialism lodged within itself and tearing away at the weave of global sisterhood. At Rome, in her first-ever speech to an IAW Congress, Hoda Shaarawi established the indigenous legitimacy of Egyptian women's rights. She was not claiming rights as legitimised in Western discourse or a universalist discourse. She evoked two well-springs or "golden ages": the Pharaonic era and early Islam. In Ancient Egypt women had enjoyed equal rights with men but when the country fell under foreign domination women lost those rights. When Islam came it granted women their rights but in time these had been eroded. Shaarawi made it clear (to the assembled forum while also sending a signal back home) that women were reclaiming their heritage (turath) and a restoration of lost rights. What did the Egyptian women find when they went to Italy? How did the Italians find the Egyptian women? A look at the Italian press coverage reveals a potpourri of cultural perceptions and political projects. The Egyptian delegation was the object of considerable interest. Shaarawi herself was swamped by interviews. Il Girornale d'Italia (on 23 May) declared that the Egyptian delegation held a "pre-eminent position" in the congress. It introduced the head of the delegation as "the beautiful and cultivated Mrs Hoda Shaarawi Pasha" who was "one of the grandest Egyptian ladies and widow of the vice- president of the National Committee [the Wafd]" and mother of the wife of a cabinet minister. The Italian paper, it may be noted, drew attention to the Egyptian feminist's beauty when most urban women, including Shaarawi, still covered their faces. Il Giornale d'Italia ran a photograph of Shaarawi (as did other papers) at a time when Egyptian women's pictures had never been made public in this way at home. The beautiful woman was also brave. The paper explained that Shaarawi had headed the Women's Delegation (the Wafdist Women's Central Committee), making the rounds of the foreign legations in Cairo "in the face of English soldiers" during the nationalist struggle (1919-22) demanding Egyptian independence. While noting Shaarawi's family distinction and national devotion, the press belied a greater fascination with "the woman" than "the feminist". In fact the word feminist was oddly absent. The exotic was not. Il Giornale told readers that Shaarawi came from "bedouin origin", the "race known for its pride and nobility", and at the same time she was equipped "with a European education". A heady brew of oriental exotica and Western modernity. It was left to la bella signora by the journalist (un bel signore) to talk about her programme, which we are told she does "molto courtesemente" (most graciously). Shaarawi held her own: "The sympathetic welcome we have received has been mixed with a display of curiosity. When we arrived here we were assaulted by a great number of journalists who thought they would find in Egyptian women the romantic, ignorant heroines of the European novelists. But they could not find what they were looking for because Lhoti, Farrere and the others depicted us according to their fantasies. They could not know who we are because of the barrier of the veil and therefore they portrayed us through a poet's imagination bearing little relation to reality. The veil has long made them ignorant of everything about us. Because they could not see us they supposed we were different from ordinary mortals." Cunningly shifting the veil to the eyes of the Europeans Shaarawi dismisses the great hoopla of difference. "In fact nothing," she notes blandly, "is more similar to an Oriental woman than a Western woman." Yet if she debunked the myth of "fundamental difference" she recognised the realities of political, economic, and social differences among countries. Shaarawi and other EFU-ers from Rome onwards would keep a clear eye on the national in international feminist culture and politics. The Italian press framed reportage on the congress in a discourse that celebrated and credited the new fascist regime. Mussolini had come to power the previous year and the press praised the organisational capacities of the Italian state and its benevolence in receiving the vast numbers of women attending the congress from around the world. The theme of Latin hospitality played prominently in the reports. Shaarawi, in her address to the congress, thanked the Italian government for its "friendly welcome" and "generosity" observing that "this generosity is not unique to the Italian nation. The overwhelming welcome shown us is part of a tradition of hospitality in our countries of the Orient and shows we have reason to consider Italy, known for its ancient civilisation and its present graciousness, a sister of our beautiful Egypt." The new fascist dictator, and the Italian press falling under his sway, were presented with a quandary. While they reveled in the spectacle of hundreds of women descending on the Eternal City they were not overly sanguine about women's suffrage. When Mussolini gave his welcoming address to the assembled suffragists he promised to allow "administrative suffrage" to "certain categories of women". While half- heartedly tipping his hat to women suffrage, Mussolini also let slip that "women suffrage has caused a lot of problems in the countries where it was allowed." The press distinguished between prominent suffragist personalities at the conference, whom they accorded respect (if in ways we would now see as condescending), and the rank and file suffragists who were subjected to ridicule. One journalist likened the suffragist to "the priestess pontificating from the altar". Distinctions were also made between Anglo-Saxon women (who had recently won the vote) as desiring political rights purely for themselves and Latin women (who had not won the vote) as seeking political rights for the benefit of their children and country. It was not suggested that these might be compatible goals. While the Italian feminist voice was missing in the mainstream press it sounded in women's journals and publications. Paola Alferazzi, writing in Il Almanacco della donna italiana, credited women -- the National Federation for Women's Suffrage (Il Federazione Nazionale Pro-Suffragio Femminile) had taken charge of local arrangements -- rather than the state for "the perfect organisation of the congress". She drew attention to Italian women's political awareness, saying it "shows that the Italian woman is much more prepared to participate in the public life of her country than it is commonly believed". Alferazzi, departing from mainstream journalists, focussed on the issues the congress debated, presenting them as concerning "women and the society as a whole". This echoed the sentiments of the Egyptian feminists who stressed the connection between the rights of women and national advancement. Like the Egyptians, Italian suffragists were seeking transnational alliances in support of their cause. Detractors charged that feminism in Italy was alien to Italian traditions. Egyptian women were told by their detractors that feminism was contrary to Egyptian culture. This all smacks of the generic repertoire of charges that patriarchalists anywhere draw upon smear feminists across the lines of culture. This showed that it was not so much an East/West battle as one between patriarchal cultures and feminist cultures. Eighty years ago the Egyptian Feminist Union made its case: it established the integrity of its own feminist project. It made clear its national feminist well-springs and claims while internationalising its struggle. The colonial dimension of patriarchal domination had to be fought not only from within Egypt but from within the heart of global feminism. Even as colonialism pulled them asunder the injustices that women suffered within their various countries linked them in profound ways. Egyptian feminists did not elect to stay in a corner but to go forth and face the battle on many fronts. The EFU delegates set sail for Egypt full of resolve and euphoria. They brought with them a copy of their resolution to the IAW calling for equal education for girls at all levels to submit to the Minister of Education Ali Maher. (Upon receiving it he informed the EFU that the first secondary school for girls would be opened soon.) When the EFU women disembarked at Alexandria, Nabawiya Moussa remained to attend to the affairs of her school. Hoda Shaarawi and Ceza Nabarawi boarded the train for Cairo. At Bab Al-Hadid Railway Station, before descending the train, they pulled the veils from their faces. Many among the huge numbers of women gathered to welcome them home did the same. A cheering throng of Egyptian women announced the passing of the end of the old order and the beginning of a highly visible feminist movement. Shaarawi and Nabarawi gave photographs taken of them in Rome to the Egyptian press. Al-Lata'if Al-Moussawwarah and Le Journal du Caire published the pictures. Le Journal du Caire also published Shaarawi's speech to the IAW. Feminism and women were out in the open. The press in Egypt heralded the new era. * Margot Badran is the author of Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. Lucia Sorbera is a graduate student at Ca' Foscari University in Venice researching Egyptian and Italian feminism between the two world wars.
