The article analyzes issues related to changes in the situation of Egyptian women over the course of about two decades from the beginning of the July Revolution to the end of its stage associated with the Nasser regime. Egypt, embodying the avant-garde of the Arab world, became the first Arab State to abandon the traditional belittled interpretation of the role of women in society and constitutionally confirmed their equal rights with men. Women have actively shown themselves in the struggle for the country’s independence from Britain and demonstrated their willingness to be full-fledged participants in national events on an equal basis with men. The emotional explosion of their social discontent culminated in the creation of the Union of Egyptian Feminists on their own initiative and the efforts of a small group of advanced Egyptian women who conducted educational work in the women’s environment and outside it, spreading the ideas of gender equality, speaking out against insulting their human dignity and humiliation in everyday life. A separate topic was the overcoming of illiteracy and women’s education, which was subsequently focused on by the regime that emerged in the wake of the July Revolution, which simultaneously initiated measures in the economy, creating the public sector and limiting private capital. Amid the aggravation of social contradictions, the ideas of feminism did not receive support from the state, and the Women’s Union was transferred to the government, becoming one of the conductors of the policy of the ruling party.
Egypt; Union of Egyptian Feminists; women’s issue; traditions; reforms; gender gap; protests; deficits.