Doria Shafik

WOLA
Sep 29, 2025
2 min read

One of the realities individuals face when fighting for a greater cause is that change may not be immediate. More often than not, it takes time - months, years and even decades. This was the reality of Doria Shafik (1908-1975), one of the principal leaders of the women’s liberation movement in 20th-century Egypt.

Born in the city of Tanta, Shafik grew up in a society where education opportunities for women were slow in coming but still constrained by patriarchal traditions. Despite these limitations, she excelled academically and won a scholarship from the Egyptian Ministry of Education to study philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris.

When Shafik returned to Egypt, she became a dogged activist. She faced fierce opposition from conservative religious leaders, who viewed women’s public participation as a threat to tradition, but dedicated herself to advancing women’s education, political rights, and economic independence.

In 1945, she launched the magazine Bint al-Nil (“Daughter of the Nile”), which became the foundation for the Bint al-Nil Union she established in 1948. The union worked to eradicate female illiteracy by establishing education centers, setting up employment offices, and even creating cafeterias for working women. Through these initiatives, Shafik directly linked women’s liberation to practical improvements in daily life.

The pinnacle of Shafik’s activism came in 1951, when she secretly gathered and led 1,500 women to storm the Egyptian Parliament, demanding suffrage and greater socioeconomic protections for women. Rallying the women with the speech, “Let’s Go and Demand Our Rights,” she made international headlines. Although promises made by the Egyptian Parliament at the time were not immediately fulfilled, the Egyptian women saw the fruit of Shafik’s labour in 1956. They had won the right to vote.

Fast-forward to 1954. Doria Shafik undertook a hunger strike to oppose women’s exclusion from the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting constitutional reforms. She declared: “women, who form more than half the Egyptian nation, must not, at any cost, be governed by a Constitution in the making of which they played no part” (Dismore, 2011). A byproduct of this hunger strike was international interest and invitations to lecture in Asia, Europe, and the United States about Egyptian women’s struggles.

Unfortunately, her outspokenness came at a bitter cost. Shafik’s criticism of President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s authoritarian regime led to her being placed under house arrest in 1957. Her magazines were banned. Her name was erased from the press. She was deliberately omitted from Egypt’s official history. The once-prominent voice of liberation was silenced, leaving her legacy hidden until much later.

Despite these setbacks, Shafik’s influence cannot be erased. Her activism played a crucial role securing women’s suffrage in Egypt, and her tireless efforts inspired countless women across the Middle East and Africa.

~Nwadinma Amucheazi, Chief Editor 25/26 Committee

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