By Azza Heikal It is not only political oppression and colonisation that evoked the Egyptian revolution in July 1952, but also gender oppression. Not that women's struggle started then. Egyptian women had already witnessed a great leap at the beginning of the 20th century, moving from a state of servitude and triviality to leading a female revolution in March 1919. When Hoda Shaarawi unveiled herself, together with those ladies accompanying her in the revolution, a new era of enlightenment and progress began. From that moment women started to take a forceful role in both political and social life, fighting side by side with men to liberate their land from British colonialism. As the 1952 Revolution was against all forms of class or gender oppression, political liberation was twined with women's liberation, as expressed in Latifa El-Zayat's novel The Open Door. The heroine of the novel fought for her personal freedom via political freedom. In other words, women could only be free if their societies were free. Similarly, Ihsan Abdel-Qoddous's novel I Am Free asserted that the freedom of women means responsibility and work in building a new liberated society. Many laws were issued during the 1950s and 1960s that empowered women in education, politics and economy. And the Family Court was established in the 1970s to guarantee women more rights and ensure them security in marriage. With the recent establishment of the National Council for Women, Egyptian woman opened the door to real change and empowerment, both politically and socially. No longer are women viewed as second-class citizens. As a result, women are given more healthcare, financial aid for small enterprises, and a quota of 62 female seats in parliament. They have taken influential posts in all executive, legislative and judicial arms. Women, once left out of history, through revolution are now forging the present and dreaming the future. This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of English literature at Ain Shams University.
