Index



Chronology Of Major Events
1873-1994


1873 The first government primary school for girls was opened.
1892 The magazine "Al-Fatah" (Girl), the first women's magazine published in Egypt, was started in Alexandria by Hind Nawfal, a Syrian Christian.
1888 Egyptian women participated in Orabi Revolution, culminated in the infiltration of the British in Egypt. 1899 Qasim Amin published "Tahrir Al-Mar’a" (Women's Emancipation).
1901 Qasim Amin published "Al-Mar’a Al-Jadida" (The New Woman).
1908 Fatima Rashid started the first women's magazine to be published in Egypt by an Egyptian Muslim, "Majallat Tarqiyat Al-Mara".
1911 Malak Hifni Nasif presented ten demands to the Egyptian Legislative Assembly. All were rejected.
1914 The Educational Union of Women was founded in Cairo.
1919 Hoda Sha’rawi led demonstrations of veiled women in support of the Egyptian nationalist cause. These were the first demonstrations of their kind in Egypt.
1919 Egyptian Women appeared for the first time among the thronged demonstrations on March 19th, 1919.
1920 Founding of Bank Misr (the Bank of Egypt) by Talat Harb.
1921 The first government secondary school for girls was opened.
1923 Hoda Sha'rawi attended the meeting of the International Alliance for Women in Rome. She, and the rest of the Egyptian delegation, returned to Egypt unveiled. Many other women began to follow their example. The Egyptian Feminist Union was established in Cairo by Hoda Sha'rawi in March.
1924 The new constitution was approved. It included the principle that elementary education was to be free and obligatory for both sexes. The 1924 constitution did not give women the right to vote.
1924 Discussion of the designing of a defined program on Egyptian women on the occasion of the new parliamentary on November 1924
1925 The first Egyptian girls to be sent abroad by the government for advanced degrees, Soad Farid and Fardus Helbawi, left for England. "L'Egyptienne" (The Egyptian Woman) magazine, edited by Ceza Nabarawi, was published in French by the Egyptian Feminist Union. It continued publishing until 1940, when the war made its continuation impossible.
1925 "Rose al-Youssef ", which came to be the leading weekly political magazine in Egypt, was founded in Cairo by Fatma al-Yussef, a former actress.
1928 The first female students entered Cairo University.
1935 The Egyptian Feminist Union for the first time advocated equal political rights for women.
1937 "Al-Masreyya" (The Egyptian Woman), a fortnightly periodical, was published in Arabic by the Egyptian Feminist Union. The first editor was Mrs. Fatma Neimat Rashed.
1938 The Eastern Feminist Conference was held in Cairo. The chief issue was the question of Palestine.
1939 The Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs was established. World War II began.
1944 The Arab Feminist Union was founded in Cairo. Hoda Sha’rawi was elected president.
1945 The United Nations Organization was founded, with Egypt as a founding member. World War II ended. The League of Arab States was founded with Egypt as a founding member.
1947 On December 12, 1947, Hoda Sha'rawi died at the age of 68.
1948 A woman's political party, "Bint al-Nil" (Daughter of the Nile), was established in Cairo by Mrs. Doria Shafik. Egyptian troops entered Palestine, attempting to prevent the establishment of Israel.
1949 Legalized prostitution was abolished, culminating a 35- year campaign by Egyptian feminists. Hasan al-Banna, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brethren, was assassinated.
1950 Parliamentary elections were held.
1951 In January, mobs burned many sections of Cairo. Members of "Bint al-Nil" briefly occupied parliament demanding representation for women.

Wafdist Minister of Education Dr. Taha Hussein made education free through the secondary level.
1952 The Free Officers' Revolution succeeded. The constitution was abolished and political activity in general was circumscribed.
1953 All political parties were made illegal on January 16, 1953.
1959 The new Constitution was promulgated giving women the right to vote for the first time in the history of Egypt. The Suez Canal was nationalized. Shortly after this the Suez War broke out, with France, Britain, and Israel invading Egypt. Due in major part to American and Soviet diplomatic intervention, the foreign forces withdrew, and Egypt assumed ownership and control of the canal.

French and British interests in Egypt were nationalized after the Suez War.
1957 Parliamentary elections were held. The first women were elected to parliament.
1961 Most of the private sector of the Egyptian economy was nationalized. A decision was made by the government to make higher education free.
1962 The National Charter was promulgated. Dr. Hekmat Abu Zeid was the first woman appointed to the Cabinet, as she became the Minister for Social Affairs, serving until 1965.
1964 Parliamentary elections were held.
1968 The March 30th Program was promulgated as an effort to encourage the private sector and reform the public sector.
1969 Parliamentary elections were held.
1970 Anwar el-Sadat replaced Gamal Abdel-Nasser as President of Egypt following Nasser's death.
1971 Dr. Aisha Rateb became the second woman appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Social Affairs.

A new constitution was promulgated, following the May 1971 "Corrective Revolution," by which President Sadat purged Ali Sabri and others for allegedly planning to kill him. The new Constitution is perceived by many as more conservative as it emphasized women's role in the family.

A fifteen-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was signed between Egypt and the Soviet Union.

Elections for The People’s Assembly were held.
1973 The October War was fought with Israel.
1977 In a cabinet shuffle in February, Aisha Rateb was replaced as minister of social affairs by Dr. Amal Othman, who thus became the third woman to serve in that post.
1979 The law was changed to provide for 30 reserved seats for women in The People’s Assembly. The law of local government was amended to provide that 10% to 20% of the seats on all local councils must be reserved for women.

The Personal Status Laws were amended, reforming rules pertaining to divorce, alimony, and child custody.

Dr. Aisha Rateb became the first Egyptian woman to be appointed ambassador.
1980 The Shura Consultative Council was formed with 7 women among its 910 original members.
1981 President Sadat ordered over 1500 people arrested for political as well as domestic security reasons. Several women were included in the group.

In October, Hosni Mubarak became President of Egypt.
1984 Parliamentary elections were held, with the (government) National Democratic Party winning 87% of the seats in the People’s Assembly.
1985 In May, the Higher Constitutional Court declared the 1979 amendments to the Personal Status Law unconstitutional on procedural grounds. In July, The People’s Assembly passed new amendments to the Personal Status Laws which were almost identical to the 1979 amendments.
1988 Foundation of the National Council on Childhood and Motherhood.
1994 The conference on "Egyptian women and challenges of the 21st century" was held on 6-8 June 1994 .
1994 The National Committee on Women founded in 1978 was restructured by virtue of the ministerial decision no. 2193 of the year 1994 under the chairmanship of First Lady Mrs. Mubarak.
1994 The first National Conference for the Egyptian Woman 6-8 June 1994
1996 The Second National Conference for the Egyptian Woman 21-22 April 1996.
1998 The Third National Women Conference.
1999 The Conference commemorating the "100th Anniversary of the Arab Women's' Emancipation- Oct., 23 1999.
2000 Foundation of The National Council For Women to be directly affiliated to the President of the Republic and being an alternative of the National Committee on women.

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