and Ajami wrote editorials for the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahrar (Free Patriots), and al-Islah (Reform), an Arabic newspaper based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was fiercely opposed to the Ottoman Empire, especially after 1915 when authorities in Beirut, executed Ajami's fiancé, Petro Pauli, for criticizing the occupying military regime of Sultan Mohammed Rashad V. From 1918 to 1920 she headed the Christian Women's Club, an organization aimed at promoting Arabism amongst the Christians of Damascus and Beirut. In 1919, she officially restarted publication of al-Arus, but not without controversy. In 1920, religious leaders demanded that Ajami be brought to trial for promoting heresy by publishing a story supporting civil marriage. Suffrage campaigner In 1920, after the Ottoman Empire collapsed, she founded of the Damascus Women's Literary Club and spearheaded the movement to give women the right to vote, going directly to King Faysal I, the first post-Ottoman Syrian ruler. In that same year, she established a weekly salon in her home that was well attended by both men and women who took that opportunity to discuss politics, philosophy and religious affairs. Her salon was groundbreaking at the time, because allowing men and women to engage in discussions together was unheard of in Syria. In her own words, she described the salon's aim as "reviving female intelligentsia." Ajami's successful career was tempered by elements of tragedy in her personal life. For many years, she longed to continue her studies abroad, but her father's death and the outbreak of war prevented her from doing so. Joseph T. Zeidan reminds us that her achievements "must be assessed in the light of formidable obstacles she encountered while struggling to keep her journal alive, not least of which were her father's attempts to persuade her to quit." Later years Ajami was somewhat of an anomaly for her time, and like her more famous peer May Ziadeh, Ajami never married. She died on December 25, 1965. Tributes Fares al-Khoury, the two-time prime minister of Syria, compared Ajami to her famous contemporary May Ziadeh (1886-1941) when he said in verse form,My friends take it from me, I can say that Mary Ajami can match with May Ziadeh For skill and ingenuity. Selected publications Al-Majdaliyya al-Hasna''' (the Beautiful Magdelene) (1913)Mukhtarat min al-Sh'r'' (Selected Poems) (1944) See also Women's literary salons and societies in the Arab world The Arab Human Development Report:Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab World