The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World

498 Pages·2007·3.42 MB·English

by  Nawal El Saadawi

MORE PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK
‘Nawal El Saadawi has become something of a heroine
for many young Arab women … a cry from the heart.’
– MESA Bulletin
‘Nawal El Saadawi speaks directly on behalf of many
women in the Third World and the daily struggles they face.’
– West Africa
‘The most recognisable name in Egyptian and Middle
Eastern feminism … poignant, penetrating yet simple.’
– Library Journal

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nawal El Saadawi is an internationally renowned writer,
novelist and fighter for women’s rights both within Egypt
and abroad.
Born in 1931, in a village outside Cairo, she wrote
her first novel, Diary of a Child Called Souad, at the age of
thirteen. Unusually, she and her brothers and sisters were
educated together. After graduating from the University of
Cairo Medical School in 1955, specializing in psychiatry, she
practised as a medical doctor for two years.
From 1963 until 1972, Saadawi worked for the Egyptian
government as Director General for Public Health Education.
During this time, she studied at Columbia University in New
York, where she received her Master’s degree in Public Health
in 1966. In 1972, however, she lost her job in the government
as a result of political pressure. The magazine Health, which
she founded and had edited for more than three years, was
closed down.
From 1973 to 1978 Saadawi worked at the High Institute
of Literature and Science. It was at this time that she began
to write, in works of fiction and non-fiction, the books on
the oppression of Arab women for which she has become
famous. Her most renowned novel, Woman at Point Zero, was
published in Beirut in 1973. It was followed in 1976 by God
Dies by the Nile and in 1977 by her study of Arab women, The
Hidden Face of Eve.
In 1981 Nawal El Saadawi publicly criticized the one-party
rule of President Anwar Sadat, and was subsequently arrested
and imprisoned. She was released one month after Sadat’s
assassination. In 1982, she established the Arab Women’s
Solidarity Association, which was outlawed in 1991. For
some years during the Mubarak regime, Saadawi lived in exile,
teaching in universities in the USA and Europe, including
Duke University and Washington State University. Saadawi
returned to Egypt in 1996. In 2004 she presented herself
as a candidate for the presidential elections in Egypt, with a
platform of human rights, democracy and greater freedom for
women. In July 2005, however, she was forced to withdraw her
candidacy in the face of ongoing government persecution.
Nawal El Saadawi has achieved widespread international
recognition for her work. She holds honorary doctorates from,
among others, the universities of York, Illinois at Chicago,
St Andrews and Tromso as well as Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México. Her many prizes and awards include
the Premi Internacional Catalunya in 2003, the Council of
Europe North–South Prize in 2004, the Women of the Year
Award (UK) in 2011, the Sean MacBride Peace Prize (Ireland)
in 2012, and the French National Order of Merit in 2013.
Her books have been translated into over forty languages
worldwide. They are taught in universities across the world.
T H E H I D D E N
F A C E O F E V E
WOMEN IN THE ARAB WORLD
NAWAL EL SAADAWI
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY SHERIF HETATA
FOREWORD BY RONAK HUSNI
Zed Books
LONDON
The Hidden Face of Eve was first published in Arabic in 1977.
It was first published in English in 1980 by Zed Books Ltd.
Second edition published 2007
This edition published 2015
Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR
www.zedbooks.co.uk
Copyright © Nawal El Saadawi, 1980, 2007
English translation copyright © Zed Books Ltd, 1980
Foreword copyright © Ronak Husni, 2007
The right of Nawal El Saadawi to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78360-747-1 pb
ISBN 978-1-78360-748-8 hb
ISBN 978-1-78360-749-5 pdf
ISBN 978-1-78360-750-1 epub
ISBN 978-1-78360-751-8 mobi
Dedicated to Zeinab Shoukry,
the great woman who lived and died
without giving me her name
— my mother

C O N T E N T S
Foreword by Ronak Husni xi
Preface to the English Edition xvii
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I THE MUTILATED HALF 15
1 The Question that No One Would Answer 17
2 Sexual Aggression against the Female Child 26
3 The Grandfather with Bad Manners 33
4 The Injustice of Justice 39
5 The Very Fine Membrane Called ‘Honour’ 51
6 Circumcision of Girls 67
7 Obscurantism and Contradiction 89
8 The Illegitimate Child and the Prostitute 102
9 Abortion and Fertility 127
10 Distorted Notions about Femininity, Beauty 149
and Love
PART II WOMEN IN HISTORY 185
11 The Thirteenth Rib of Adam 187