by ELEANOR SLY
Egypt’s renowned feminist, psychiatrist and writer, Nawal El Saadawi has died of age-related health problems in Cairo at the age of 89, officials have reported.
Ms El Saadawi’s writings have caused controversy for many years, in an otherwise very conservative society.
She was born in 1931 in a village on the Nile delta, just north of the country’s capital, Cairo. She was one of nine children born to her government official father and mother from a wealthy background.
Having studied medicine at Cairo University, as well as Columbia University, New York, Ms El Saadawi worked as a doctor before specialising in psychiatry. She also went on to lecture at universities and write both books and in newspapers.
She later went on to become director of public health in Egypt but was dismissed from her job at the Health Ministry having published her book, Women and Sex.
The controversial book was published in 1972 and addressed issues such as the sexual oppression of women. The book also fought to raise awareness and rally against female genital mutilation (FGM), which Ms El Saadawi was subjected to at the age of six.
She campaigned against FGM throughout her life, saying that it was used in the oppression of women. The practice was eventually banned in Egypt in 2008 but Ms El Saadawi continued to call out its prevalence in the country, even when outlawed.
She also founded her own magazine named Health, which was closed down in 1973.
During a wide political crackdown by then-President Anwar Sadat, in 1981, she was jailed for two months. While imprisoned, Ms El Saadawi used the time to write yet another book named Memoirs from the Women’s Prison, using a roll of toilet paper and an eyebrow pencil to record her experiences.
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