Nassif, Malak Hifni (1886–1918)

views updated

Nassif, Malak Hifni (1886–1918)

Egyptian feminist. Name variations: Nasif; (pseudonym) Bahithat al-Badiya, Badiyya, or Bahissat el Badia. Born in Cairo, Egypt, 1886; died 1918; married and moved to the desert.

Influential writer whose 10-point program for improving Egyptian women's position became the standard for demands in the pre-WWI era; using the pen-name Bahissat el Badia ("Searcher in the Desert"), wrote articles about education, seclusion, marriage, and divorce; was one of the 1st women in the country to qualify as a teacher (1900).