The First Woman Minister in Egypt: We A Need A Revolution in Egypt .. A Social Revolution

Millions of Egyptians followed last Wednesday the first televised interview for the first woman minister in Egypt for the first time after her return from exile in 1991. They listened and watched a very weak fragile 90 year old woman who still has got a very sharp mind to the level of knowing what Egypt suffers from while being ill in a hospital bed. It is shameful and unacceptable that a woman icon like her is being forgotten and only remembered when the first lady sent flowers to her in the hospital !! She is suffering from a bone fracture and she can’t have an operation currently because of anesthesia and old age. Her doctor said that she would return to her home soon in a wheelchair under the supervision of a caregiver .

You can watch the interview after the break

Misr El-Nahrda : An interview with the first woman minister in Egypt

Masr El-Nahrda’s Mahmoud Saad asked her what Egypt needed now and the first minister of social affairs told him with all confidence a revolution .. a social revolution with her fragile voice. Abu Zaid trashed the current greedy businessmen and she also criticized indirectly in such smart way the government for leaving people without proper housing projects. She does not like the last parliamentary elections asking Saad sarcastically if he liked it.

When Abu Zaid was asked where she wishes to be right now , she said without a hesitation to a library , to the national library. Abu Zaid is proud of her achievements in the ministry from 1963 to 1970 especially in the Egyptian country side , the productive families exhibits , the Egyptian rural pioneer women projects and the displacement of Nubia during the construction of the Aswan high dam.

Hekmat Abu Zaid was the first woman minister appointed in Egypt and was the second woman minister in the Arab world “unlike what is claimed”.  I think she was the first woman minister in Africa if I am not mistaken. Hekmat Abu Zaid Mohamedein was born in Asuit , Upper Egypt in 1920. There is no doubt that the upbringing of Hekmat played a huge role in her life later. Her father was a stationmaster who defied all the odds and decided to educate his girls while her mother was a devoted housewife who used to fast with the Christians and participated in their feasts despite being a Muslim.

Not only Hekmat was lucky thanks to her father’s job to get education in other governorates because her village had no schools but she was lucky because her dad’s library was full of books shaping the young girl’s mind from early age. In 1935 she moved to Cairo to join a secondary boarding school in an extraordinary step at that time. She was expelled from that school and had to move in to another boarding school in Alexandria after heading an anti-British occupation protest , we are speaking her about a teenage girl. I look to her parents and I feel that they were really revolutionary considering the time and place , we are speaking about Upper Egyptian family. After finishing the secondary school , our girl from Upper Egypt was still defying all odds as she joined the faculty of Arts , Fouad I university “Cairo university” in 1940. Dr.Taha Hussein wanted to join the French section as she perfected French yet the stubborn girl insisted on choosing history to become a history teacher. She was teaching at her old Cairo secondary boarding school and among her students were famous legendary radio host Amal Fahmi , famous writer Naamat Ahmed Fouad and none other than Nawal El Saadawi.

In 1949 she got a diploma from the university of Edinburgh in education then received a master degree from Saint Andrew University in education  in 1950 then a PhD from the University of London in educational psychology in 1955. When she returned back home , she was appointed at Ain Shams University where she founded along with her colleagues the Women faculty there. Her political career I believe began to shape more and more starting with her activities during the Suez canal war. In 1961 she was chosen among university professors and prominent personalities in the country to study and discuss Gamal Abdel Nasser’s book “Al Methaq” , his own red book. In 1962 she came under the spotlight when the discussion began and she opposed some of Nasser’s ideas and chapters about the family and the role of women as far as I understand. It was not a real opposition but rather a difference in opinion.

Later that year she was appointed as the minister of the social affairs on the 29th of September 1962 to become the first woman minister in the history of Egypt. She left the ministry in 1970 and returned back to teaching in universities in Egypt and in the Arab world. Abu Zaid had to leave Egypt and move in to work in Libya since 1975 along with her husband during the Sadat era. Living in Libya turned in to a self exile when she rejected the Camp David treaty. She assured in the interview  that her Egyptian nationality was not stripped nor her properties were confiscated like what was claimed.

Here is a photo gallery for her in 1960s

Whether  you agree or disagree with Dr. Hekmat , you can’t deny she is a great example on a how the Egyptian woman can achieve.

Photo Source : The memory of modern Egypt

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egyptians,Women,Pioneers,Hekmat Abu Zaid,history,Nasser,Sadat,Society,Media,National,Interviews,Video