Huda Sha'arawi or Hoda Sha'rawi (, ; 23 June 1879 – 12 December 1947) was a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader, suffragette, nationalist, and founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union. Early life and marriage Huda Sha'arawi was born Nour Al-Huda Mohamed Sultan Shaarawi () in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya to the famous Egyptian Shaarawi family. She was the daughter of Muhamed Sultan Pasha Shaarawi, who later became president of Egypt's Chamber of Deputies. Her mother, Iqbal Hanim, was of Circassian descent and was sent from the Caucasus region to live with her uncle in Egypt. Sha'arawi was educated at an early age along with her brothers, studying various subjects such as grammar and calligraphy in multiple languages. She spent her childhood and early adulthood secluded in an upper-class Egyptian community. After her father's death, she was under the guardianship of her eldest cousin, Ali Shaarawi. At the age of thirteen, she was married to her cousin Ali Sha'arawi, who Sultan named as the legal guardian of his children and trustee of his estate. According to Margot Badran, a "subsequent separation from her husband gave her time for an extended formal education, as well as an unexpected taste of independence." She was taught and received tutoring by female teachers in Cairo. Sha'arawi wrote poetry in both Arabic and French. Sha'arawi later recounted her early life in her memoir, Modhakkerātī ("My Memoir") which was translated and abridged into the English version Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist, 1879–1924. Nationalism The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 was a women-led protest advocating for Egyptian independence from Britain and the release of male nationalist leaders. Members of the female Egyptian elite, such as Sha'arawi, led the masses of protestors while lower-class women and women from the countryside provided assistance to and participated in street protests alongside male activists. Sha'arawi worked with her husband during the revolution while he stood as acting vice president for the Wafd; Pasha Sha'arawi kept her informed so she could take his place if he or other members of Wafd were arrested. The Wafdist Women's Central Committee (WWCC), associated with Wafd, was founded on 12 January 1920, following the protests in 1919. Many of the women who participated in the protests became members of the committee, electing Sha'arawi as its first president. In 1938, Sha'arawi and the EFU sponsored the Eastern Women's Conference for the Defense of Palestine in