The new woman

Qasim Amin (1863-1908), an Egyptian lawyer, is best known for his advocacy of women's emancipation in Egypt, through a number of works including The Liberation of Women (published in Arabic in 1899 and first published in English by the American University in Cairo Press in 1992 in a translation by Samiha Sidhom Peterson). The Liberation of Women triggered the debate on the status of women in Egypt from a side issue to a major national concern, but in adopting the cause of women as his focus for reform Amin subjected himself to severe criticism from the khedival palace, as well as from religious leaders, journalists, and writers. In response he wrote The New Woman, published in 1900, in which he defended his position and took some of his ideas further. In The New Woman, Amin relies less on arguments based on the Quran and Sayings of the Prophet, and more openly espouses a Western model of development. This is the first translation into English of The New Woman.