We often hear of names like Naguib Mahfouz, Tawfiq Hakim and Taha Hussein, yet the names of female Egyptian writers never quite reach the same iconic status as the male ones. For centuries, Egyptian women were using the pen as a weapon of change; addressing critical issues using their own female voice and own experiences, and hoping that the public would listen to them. In a time where the Arab world is experiencing great political and social changes, the act of writing for women is in itself a liberating and powerful act because it puts her back in the public sphere. It completes and paints an accurate image of society, as it integrates the critical social problems that are often excluded from the picture. This is not to say the Egyptian or Arab women writers were never celebrated for their works. In fact, there have been many Muslim women scholars, such as Al Sayyida Nafisa, who played a important role in educating Muslim scholars in Egypt and was known among scientists as the ‘precious realm of science’. In ‘Women and Gender in Islam’ by Leila Ahmed, Ahmed argues that the…
