Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian feminist, writer, social activist and psychiatrist who became known as both “the most visible woman intellectual in the Arab world” (Malti-Douglas 1995: 11) and as one of Egypt’s most controversial political figures. Dr El Saadawi originally trained as a psychiatrist, but her medical work led her to develop highly critical views of women’s sexual, social and legal treatment in Egyptian and Islamic society. Consequentially, El Saadawi began to publish fictional and critical work exploring these politically loaded and socially taboo topics, for which she was dismissed from her position as Director of Public Health and was later imprisoned by the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. She was forced into exile following the appearance of her name on death…
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Citation: Ball, Anna. "Nawal El Saadawi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 September 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12628, accessed 22 November 2024.]
