Egypt's Other Political Elite

Abstract

This study focuses on the character of the post-1952 female public leadership, the successors to feminist Hoda Sha'rawi. Interviews were conducted with forty-five women, including Madame Sadat, who either belong to the governing elite, or who have become leaders among and for women. These women contribute in different ways to the improvement of women's status, including engaging in efforts to improve women's, as well as men's, socioeconomic conditions, pressing publicly for improvement in women's legal status through law reform, and assuming leadership positions in a male-dominated world, serving as role models for other women. Among the women who achieve national public importance, some do so for their social feminism and others for their political feminism. In some cases, women's social feminism has been politicized by their assumption of leadership roles. Examination is made of these women's backgrounds, personalities, and the environmental factors contributing to their assumption of public service roles. Are there particular factors which lead to the assumption of particular kinds of roles? Can one credit these leaders with having an impact on the status of women?