DORIA shafik

egyptian 1908-75

Shafik, a passionate feminist, founded the Bint al-nil union in order to promote equal rights for women in Egypt. In 1951, she notably led a march on the Egyptian parliament with 1,500 women to demand female suffrage, and three years later she went on a hunger strike in protest at a newly created, all-male constitutional committee. Her actions are often cited as the main catalyst for Egyptian women gaining the vote in 1956.

“A nation cannot be liberated whether internally or externally while its women are enchained” Doria Shafik

Shafik was a leading advocate for female suffrage in Egypt