Huda Sharawi’s Feminist Thoughts And Social Activities

In the end of 19^th and early of 20^th century,an unprecedented wave of feminism took the world by storm.In Egypt,this movement was led by one formidable woman,she is Huda Sharawi.She was the pioneer of the women’s liberation movement in Egypt.Huda lived in a historical era in which the westernization and colonization of Egypt were intertwined,and it was also an era in which various ideological trends and national independence movements such as Egyptian nationalism were surging.Huda was born in a traditional Egyptian upper-class family,grew up in harm,received female education from the upper class.Following the traditional marriage arrangement,Huda married his cousin Ali Shaarawi at the age of 13.Her marriage wasn’t happy.In the seven years since she was separated from her husband,she has made friends with women from different countries.Huda drew inspiration from her female circle and began to think about the contradictions and injustices in the world around her.Huda’s feminist thought is based on the discourse system of Islam,which changes social and cultural customs by means of reform,resists patriarchal culture,and strives for women’s education rights and voting rights.Her feminist thoughts are devoted to breaking the traditional view of women,resisting gender restrictions in society,questioning women’s status in the country,and trying to solve women’s social and political status.Guided by feminist thought,Huda promoted a series of social changes and political activities in the social and political order.In the first decade of the 20th century,Hudastarted social activities with women as the main part by setting up charitable associations,organizing lectures for women and establishing women’s knowledge associations,and began to play a new role in society,but it was not open and legal.From 1919 to 1922,Huda actively participated in the national independence movement,and the women’s liberation movement headed by Huda became an important part of the Egyptian nationalist movement.In 1923,Huda founded the Egyptian Feminist Federation,which went to the road of relatively independent development.At the same time,Huda’s action of publicly taking off the veil in 1923had an important impact on the participation of upper-class women in social change.From 1923 to the death of Hudain 1947,she led the women’s liberation movement for24 years.To carry out public social activities by starting magazines and representing Egypt in international women’s conferences.At the end of 1930s,under the construction of the discourse system of Arab nationalism and feminism,the circle of her social activities further expanded,and dealing with the Palestinian issue and establishing the Arab Feminist Union became the climax of the development of Huda nationalism.Throughout her life,Huda represented the face of Egyptian women fighting for national independence,women’s progress and women’s liberation.However,due to the limitations of the development of the times and the social class in which she lived.In the anti-British struggle,Huda linked women’s liberation with national liberation,which made the women’s liberation movement lack independence and women were excluded from the political stage.It was the political paint in Egypt’s political development.Huda’s social activities mainly faced the middle and upper classes in Egypt,mainly carried out in cities,and her movement scope did not extend to the countryside,which had certain limitations.However,Huda’s feminist thoughts and social activities became the legacy of the struggle of women’s liberation movement,which had an important impact on women and women’s liberation movements in Egypt and Arab countries.