Biography

Nawal El Saadawi was born in 1931 near Cairo, Egypt.

She studied to be a doctor, specializing in psychiatric care and earning degrees in both Egypt and the United States. Her work as a doctor treating women has inspired much of her writing. She describes herself as a feminist author and novelist.

In addition to her work as a doctor and a writer, she is well known for her political activism, an activism that has resulted in her, during various periods of her life, being imprisoned and being exiled from Egypt.

From 1963 to 1972, she served as Egypt's Director General for Public Health Education. However, in 1972, she lost this position because of the government's disagreement with her political views.

After losing her position in the government, she found other work, and she began devoting more of her time to writing, discussing primarily the oppression of women as it appears throughout the Arab world in various ways like, for instance, with the practice of female circumcision

In 1981, she was arrested and imprisoned after criticizing the government of then President Anwar Sadat, claiming that Sadat's policies were ruining the economy of Egypt. A month after Sadat's assassination, she was released from prison.

In 1982 she established the Arab Women's Solidarity Association, but the government later outlawed the organization.

In 1988, Saadawi and her husband came to the United States after it was discovered that her name was on death lists put out by terrorist groups. While in the U.S., she taught at Duke University and Washington State University.

She and her husband returned to Egypt in 1996.

In 2005, she became a presidential candidate in Egypt, but she was forced to withdraw her candidacy at year later.

The Writings of Nawal El Saadawi

Various fictional works by Saadawi

Memoirs of a Woman Doctor (1958)-This is Saadawi's first novel. It is the story of an Egyptian girl who fights against the limitations placed upon many Arab women in their attempt to climb socio-economic ladder and eventually makes it to medical school. Once in school, she deals with the frustration of being the only female student there. This novel is part autobiographical.

God Dies by the Nile (1976)-In this novel, Saadawi presents the story of a farm woman named Zakeya who, in revenge, kills elders in her village because of their constant abuse of village girls and women.

Woman at Point Zero-This novel is based on Saadawi's interview with a woman in Qanatir Prison. The interview was conducted for Saadawi's
research into neurosis in Egyptian women. The novel was first published in Arabic in 1973. It was later published in English in 1983.

The novel Woman at Point Zero may be described as an allegory, that is, a narrative in which the objects, persons, and actions have a meaning outside of the narrative itself. Thus, Woman at Point Zero should be read, on one hand, as narrative about a young woman named Firdaus who ultimately finds work as a prostitute after concluding from her various life experiences that prostitution is the only professional that allows her, as an Arab woman, to truly find a measure of freedom. However, Woman at Point Zero should be read also as a commentary on the ways in which women in many parts of the Middle East are treated unjustly by various societal institutions including the police and the government.

Al Riwaya (2004)--this is Saadawi's latest novel

An Important non-fictional work by Saadawi

The Hidden Face of Eve (1977)-In this work, Saadawi discusses the ways in which women in the Arab world are treated; this work has been
described as part polemic and autobiographical.

Quotes by Nawal Sadaawi:

Her views on the Differences between Eastern and Western Women: "Women are oppressed economically. There is feminization of poverty everywhere. Women are becoming more and more poor, more and more unemployed. The gap between the rich and the poor is increasing and that's why women suffer more. Women are suffering from the capitalist economic system. They are suffering, they are becoming more poor. But of course poverty here is less harsh than in Egypt. You don't see it. Sometimes it's visible, you see people in the street, but you don't see beggars like in Egypt. Here oppression, economically, psychologically, it's more subtle. It's hidden. Women everywhere are all victims of the class patriarchal system. The sexual problems are much less here. In my country if a girl loses her virginity, it's a scandal. If she's pregnant outside marriage, outside wedlock, it's a scandal. Her name may be put on the death list, as happened with me, if she attacks, or is critical of religion or mainstream beliefs. But here, no. No. Here you can lose your virginity, you can give your name to your child if you don't have a husband. In Egypt, never. It's the name of the father. The name of the mother does not exist in Egypt. You can not choose the name of the mother. It's very harsh on women. Here we can say that the personal life of women is more relaxed. They have more freedom in their personal life. But in their political and economic life, they are suffering, you know. You have to also study each class. Because maybe the women in the working class here are suffering much, much more than women in the middle class in Egypt. So you have to compare classes."

Sadaawi's views on Religion: "I am critical of all religions. So you see, I criticize Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism. When you criticize your own culture, there are those in your culture who are against you, who say, "Oh, don't show our dirty linen outside," you know? But I don't believe in this theory, the dirty linen, et cetera. I speak one language, whether inside the country or outside. I don't change my language, because I believe in what I'm saying. I'm critical of Islam, Christianity, Judaism. I speak about all of them with the same belief and the same courage. So that's number one. So I'm not really threatened by people who say, "Oh don't criticize your religion outside your country." No, I have to criticize everything. I must be honest with myself. So I have one language, which I say. And we shouldn't be afraid of being blamed of being westernized. Some people say, "Oh, you are westernized, that's why you criticize Islam." But I criticize Christianity too. I criticize Judaism. And Buddhism, and Hinduism and everything."

Egypt

Located in North East Africa

Capital: Cairo

The official language is Arabic

Hosni Mubarak has been the president since 1981, becoming president after the assassination of then-president Anwar Al Sadat.

When Arabs conquered Egypt in AD 639-42, Islam and Arabic was introduced into the area; Muslims represent 80-90 percent of the population; Christians represent 10-20 percent.

Vocabulary

Galabeya (page 10)-a long, loose cotton gown reaching to the ankles, worn in Arabic countries

Imam (page 10)-a leader of prayer in a Moslem mosque and a title for various Moslem leaders and rulers

Qanatir Prison (page 1)-a women's prison north of Cairo, Egypt

Allah (page 11)-the Islamic name for God; in Arabic, "al-Ilah" means "the God"

Alif, Ba, Gim, Dal (page 14)-the beginning of the Arabic alphabetical system

El Azhar (Al Azhar) (page 14)-a major university in Cairo, Egypt. The basic program of study is Islamic law, theology, and the Arabic language; twentieth-century efforts at modernization have resulted in social sciences being added to the curriculum; women have been admitted to the University since 1962.