Women in the Arab World

Passionate, powerful and thought-provoking, in The Hidden Face of Eve, leading feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi provides a shocking account of the oppression of women in the Arab world.

Inspired by her experiences working as a doctor in rural Egypt and her life as an activist for women’s rights, she charts the injustices and violence faced by women in the society she grew up in, from legal inequality to honour killings and sexual violence, including female genital mutilation. Examining the historical roots of this oppression, she tackles the controversial topic of women and Islam, arguing that customs such as veiling and polygamy are contradictory to the fundamental teachings of the Muslim faith or any other.

As necessary now as when it was first published, The Hidden Face of Eve is a classic of Arab feminist writing.