CAIRO: Egypt's former Minister of Insurance and Social Affairs, Aisha Ratib, died at age 85 on Saturday. Ratib, the first female ambassador to Egypt, died following a sudden cardiac arrest at her home in Giza, reported the Middle East News Agency. Ratib graduated law in 1949 and became the first woman professor of international law at Cairo University. She was the first woman to apply for the position of judge in Egypt. She sued the government when it rejected her application on grounds of being a woman, which was deemed unacceptable by society. In 1971, she acquired the post of minister of social affairs, being the second female to hold such a post. As a reformist, Ratib called for the imposition of restrictions on polygamy and the requirement that divorce be obtained from a judge. She resigned from her post in the cabinet in in the wake of January 1977 "bread uprising protests", rejecting a government decision to remove subsidies on essential goods. BN
