May Ziade: The Life of an Arab Feminist (Celebrating International Women's Day)

Marie Elias Ziade, or May, was a key Lebanese-Palestinian figure in the Arab literary scene in the early 20th century who firmly established herself as a vibrant female voice in what was clearly a man's world at the time.

She is widely known to be the "first female Arab feminist". She was a journalist but also wrote fiction with strong female characters, poetry, political and cultural books and magazine articles, often on the condition of Arab women.

She questioned the social norms and cultural values of the period; in trying to tackle Arab patriarchy, she wrote: "We chant beautiful words in vain ... words of freedom and liberty. If you, men of the East, keep the core of slavery in your homes, represented by your wives and daughters, will the children of slaves be free?"

May played a pioneering role in "introducing feminism into Arab culture," according to writer and critic Hossam Aql, who credits her as being "the first to use the term 'the women's cause' ... She was the first professional writer to take a critical approach to women's stories or novels written by Arab women."


https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2019/03/watch-documentaries-inspiring-middle-eastern-women-190304080453317.html