17 Facts About Munira Thabit

Munira Thabit was an Egyptian journalist and writer, known as one of the first journalists to demand equality for men and women.

Munira Thabit was the first woman to enroll in the French Law School of Cairo and the first to earn a license en droit enabling her to practice law before the Egyptian Mixed Court.

Munira Thabit was born in 1902, or possibly 1906 in Alexandria to an educated Turco-Egyptian mother and a father who was an employee of the Interior Ministry.

Munira Thabit attended the Italian school in Cairo, learning the rudiments of English and Italian, and then attended the government primary school.

In 1925, Thabit enrolled as the first woman in the French Law School of Cairo and subsequently earned her license en droit in Paris, in 1933, becoming the first woman lawyer of Egypt.

Munira Thabit was allowed only to argue cases before the Egyptian Mixed Court, and faced with the barriers to women's participation, she turned to journalism.

Between 1923 and 1933, Munira Thabit struggled to participate in the Egyptian Feminist Union.

Munira Thabit believed that women deserved equality in all areas of society, including education, marriage and work, as well as their choice to wear or not wear the veil.

Munira Thabit founded the French language magazine, l'Espoir in 1925 and a year later with the help of journalist Abd al-Qadir Hamza founded al-Amal, the first Wafdist women's periodical.

Munira Thabit then began writing articles for Al-Ahram at the invitation of Antun Jumayyil, which she continued until his death in 1948.

When Munira Thabit completed her law degree in 1933, the EFU finally invited her and other recent graduates to a party to honor their achievements and for the first time, she was allowed to insert some of the issues that were important to her into their women's rights agenda.

Munira Thabit had to acknowledge the elite's construct of women's role in society to have any influence in their programs or policies.

Munira Thabit wrote an article on the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 criticizing the agreement.

Munira Thabit was cautioned that she must not include any revolutionary agenda or press for political rights, but instead must support pacifism and accept the order colonialism provided.

Munira Thabit was not a pacifist, instead, she scoffed at the creation of the United Nations.

Munira Thabit instead wanted women in Egypt to draw on their heritage and remember that in the past, before Westernization, women had ruled in the country.

Munira Thabit served as a civil defense volunteer during the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the following year made an unsuccessful bid for the Parliament of Egypt.