Amīnah al-Saʿīd

Amīnah al-Saʿīd also known as Amīnah Saʻīd (1914–1995; Arabic: أمينة السعيد) was an Egyptian journalist and women's rights activist. She founded Egypt's first women's magazine and was the first woman magazine editor in the Middle East.

Quotes

• If we look at women as a group which represents half the Arab nation, we cannot help but admit that this group is the weakest area of our social body.
  • Amīnah al-Saʿīd argues that the condition of women is a measure of the health and progress of society, emphasizing that social development is impossible while half the population remains disadvantaged.

• Women have been subject, more than men, to the pressures of ignorance, poverty, and general backwardness.
  • Amīnah al-Saʿīd argues that the condition of women is a measure of the health and progress of society, emphasizing that social development is impossible while half the population remains disadvantaged.

• Whenever I visit a foreign country for the first time, I compare the status of women there with the status of our women, and from this I derive a comparison of the place of the modern Egyptian woman in the pageant of world civilization.
  • Amīnah al-Saʿīd reflects on her travels abroad, explaining that she judged social progress by comparing the status of women in different countries.

• Whenever I go to the region of our Arab brothers and sisters, I find afflicted women. They fervently desire to follow our example and would benefit greatly if we took them by the hand in their striving to achieve a better life.
  • She argues that Egyptian women had a responsibility to support women's advancement throughout the Arab world.

• If we truly wish to preserve our leadership in our greater nation, it is not right to confine our efforts to ourselves.
  • She calls for Egypt to extend its efforts for women's advancement beyond its own borders and contribute to the broader development of women across the Arab world.