Organizes first Arab Feminist Congress in Cairo

In 1944, amid World War II and rising Arab nationalism, Huda Sha’arawi organized the first Arab Feminist Congress in Cairo.[12][16] Delegates from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and other Arab territories gathered to coordinate a regional agenda for women’s rights.

This congress was unprecedented: it was the first formal, transnational gathering of Arab women’s organizations devoted explicitly to feminist issues.[12] Participants debated education, legal reforms, social welfare, and political representation, while also linking women’s emancipation to anti‑colonial and pan‑Arab causes. Resolutions called for equal educational opportunities, reform of family law, and the recognition of women as full citizens in emerging Arab states.

By convening the congress in Cairo, Sha’arawi leveraged Egypt’s status as a regional intellectual center and positioned the Egyptian Feminist Union as a hub for Arab feminism. The meeting strengthened personal and institutional ties among activists who would continue to cooperate in later decades, despite diverging political contexts.

Held in the twilight of her life, the 1944 congress crowned Sha’arawi’s long effort to move from national to regional organizing. It demonstrated that feminist concerns in the Arab world were not isolated local grievances but part of a shared struggle. The congress also foreshadowed the creation of enduring cross‑border networks, including regional women’s unions and later participation in UN‑linked bodies.