Nawal El Saadawi

Nawal El Saadawi – Life, Work, and Enduring Voice

Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) was an Egyptian writer, physician, feminist and activist. Explore her bold life story, groundbreaking works like Woman at Point Zero, her advocacy for women’s rights in the Islamic world, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Nawal El Saadawi was one of the most outspoken and influential feminist voices of the Arab world. As a physician, psychiatrist, novelist, and public intellectual, she challenged patriarchal norms, religious restrictions, and oppressive sexual politics. Her writing—fiction, memoirs, essays—spoke directly to taboo subjects such as female genital mutilation (FGM), sexual violence, and the systemic suppression of women under both patriarchal tradition and modern authoritarian regimes.

Her courage made her both celebrated and persecuted. She remains, to many, a symbol of resistance and unflinching honesty about issues often silenced.

Early Life & Education

Nawal El Saadawi was born on October 27, 1931 (though some sources list October 22) in the village of Kafr Tahla (or Kafr Thala) in the Nile Delta, Egypt. Her family was relatively educated and encouraged her schooling—unlike many girls in her generation.

She studied medicine at Cairo University, graduating in 1955, and later studied public health at Columbia University in the U.S. Her medical training gave her a rare vantage: she could combine clinical insight with social criticism—an edge she would use throughout her career.

Career & Activism

Medical & Early Observations

After becoming a doctor, El Saadawi worked in rural Egypt, encountering first-hand the health and social burdens borne by women—particularly issues of gender, class, and reproductive health. Her observations convinced her that cultural, legal, and religious systems often masked deeper power structures oppressing women.

Writing & Feminist Critique

El Saadawi began publishing early: Memoirs of a Woman Doctor (1958) is among her first works, blending personal experience and social commentary. One of her most influential works is Women and Sex (1972), in which she explicitly tackled taboo topics including FGM, sexuality, and control over women’s bodies—leading to her dismissal from her post in the Ministry of Health. Another landmark is the novel Woman at Point Zero (1975), based on the real life of a woman named Firdaus. Through Firdaus’s voice, El Saadawi explores the intersection of gender, violence, and systemic injustice. She also penned The Hidden Face of Eve, God Dies by the Nile, The Fall of the Imam, Memoirs from the Women’s Prison, and many more.

Repression, Imprisonment & Return

Because of her activism and writings, El Saadawi faced persecution. In 1981, she was imprisoned for her condemnation of state and religious abuses (especially concerning FGM). Her time in prison produced Memoirs from the Women’s Prison, which she wrote using an eyebrow pencil and toilet paper under harsh conditions. She lived in exile during periods of heightened threat and taught in U.S. institutions. Eventually she returned to Egypt and continued her activism.

Legacy & Recognition

El Saadawi founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association (AWSA) and co-founded the Arab Association for Human Rights. She received many honors: honorary doctorates, the North-South Prize (2004), the Seán MacBride Peace Prize (2012), and more. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages and she remains a touchstone for feminist and postcolonial criticism.

Personality, Philosophy & Tensions

El Saadawi was courageous, fierce, and uncompromising in her critique of power. She believed that women’s rights are human rights, that structural oppression (class, religion, patriarchy) must be confronted, and that writing and imagination are forms of resistance.

She navigated tensions: between religious identity and secular critique; between being an insider in her society and speaking as a dissident; between writing for local audiences and international reception. She sometimes faced accusations of “writing for foreign audiences” but defended her work as rooted in local truths.

Her marriage to Sherif Hatata (a medical doctor and political prisoner) lasted many years and was also a political partnership.

Famous Quotes

Here are several powerful quotations attributed to Nawal El Saadawi:

• “To be creative means to connect. It’s to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between fiction and nonfiction.”

• “When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident.”

• “Men impose deception on women … force them down to the lowest level … bind them in marriage and then chastise them … or insults, or blows.” (from Woman at Point Zero)

• “All women are prostitutes of one kind or another.” (from Woman at Point Zero)

• “She is free to do what she wants, and free not to do it.”

• “They said, ‘You are a savage and dangerous woman.’ I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous.”

• “Moral codes and standards in our societies very rarely apply to all people equally. This is the most damning proof of how immoral such codes … really are.”

• “To have arrived at the truth means that one no longer fears death. For death and truth are similar in that they both require a great courage if one wishes to face them.”

These quotes reflect her belief in truth, dissent, and the moral urgency to speak against injustice.

Lessons & Reflection

• Speak truth to power: El Saadawi’s life teaches that even in hostile environments, courage and conviction matter.

• Interdisciplinary insight: She combined medical, psychological, literary, and political tools to critique society.

• Writing as resistance: She viewed literature not as mere art but as a weapon against silence and oppression.

• Intersectionality before the word: She insisted that women’s issues cannot be separated from class, religion, colonial legacies.

• Freedom over comfort: Her path shows that real liberation sometimes demands risking status, security, and silence.