The Women and Memory Forum (WMF) organized a book launch event to celebrate the release of its latest publication The East and I: The Memoirs of Hawaa Idris[1] in which Hawaa Idris narrates her life story, the history of the feminism movement, and the history of the national liberation movement in the Arab World.

The book launch was accompanied by a photo exhibition of Hawaa Idris to highlight selected chapters of her life story, and her civil and social work in Egypt. The exhibition included her personal photographs, photos of the personal correspondence mentioned in her memoirs, and photos of the documents preserved at the American University in Cairo, along with photographs from Hawaa Idris’s Private Collection[2] at the Women and Memory Forum.

Hawaa Idris (1909-1988) is a pioneer of civil and social work in Egypt, and a prominent member of the Egyptian Women’s Union, founded by Huda Shaarawi in 1923. She started her journey in the feminist civil work at the Egyptian Women’s Union, before establishing and presiding over the Sisters of the Women’s Union. Among its members were Hawaa’s sister Houreya, as well as Amina al-Saeed, Karima al-Saeed, Suhayr al-Qalamawi, Mounira Assem, Shahira Mehrez, and many other young women volunteers in charity work.

Hawaa Idris took part in several international and regional conferences as a representative of  the Egyptian Women’s Union, and played a vital role in reinforcing the cooperation between Arab and Asian countries. She took renowned stances, both at home and abroad, against colonial occupation, and in defense of the colonized people’s right to combat occupation and demand liberation.

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1- I and the East

2- Private Collections