Google Doodle Celebrates Mufidah Abdul Rahman’s 106th Birthday

MENA Google celebrates one of Egypt’s very first practicing female lawyers Mufidah Abdul Rahman’s 106th birthday.

The Doodle was prepared by Cairo-based illustrator, comics artist and designer Deena Mohamed. It highlights several note-worthy and important aspects to Mufidah’s life: from being the young lawyer who received payment in eggs and fruits to the mother and wife.

During her years of study, it was well-known that Mufidah was the first married woman, then mother, to be enrolled at Cairo University’s Faculty of Law.

Mufidah was born on January 20, 1914 and passed away at the age of 88, leaving behind a strong and influential legacy as one of the first women having graduated from Cairo University’s Faculty of Law as well as an active law-practice career across Egypt and before the Court of Cassation.

Considered a political trailblazer for her time, Mufidah defended over 400 court cases and eventually became a member of Egyptian Parliament.

Mufidah’s ambitious paralleled those of prominent female Egyptian figures at the time, such as Rawya Atiya, Ester Fanous, and Aisha Abd-El Rahman.

She co-founded the National Feminist Party, a women’s organization fighting for universal suffrage in Egypt, and was involved with Bint al-Nil (“Daughter of the Nile”), a feminist union seeking to overcome sociocultural repressions that the women of this era faced.

During the 1940’s, Doria Shafiq was among the leaders of the women’s liberation movement that took place in Egypt. A women’s rights activist, Shafik is the reason women were granted the right to vote by the constitution: she stormed into the all-male assembly of the country’s Parliament demanding the right to vote, divorce, pay equity and marriage reforms of women.

The act, seen as outrageous, lead to Shafik’s summoning to court where she then selected Mufidah to represent her in 1951. However, as the cause concerned all female Egyptian nationals and presented itself as an opportunity to bring about real change in women’s lives, the historical case eventually brought about victory, with women earning their right to vote five years later.

Previously, Google Doodle, a special and momentary alteration of the logo on Google’s home pages intended to celebrate noteworthy figures, achievements and events, has celebrated numerous Egyptian figures such as Omar Sharif, Faten Hamama, Dalida and Fouad El-Mohandes.