ABSTRACT
One of the most interesting actors in the struggle for greater freedom in both spheres of the sacred and the profane is Zaynab al-Ghazali al-Jubayli. Al-Ghazali began her feminist career working for IIuda Sha'rawi at the Egyptian Feminist Union in 1935, at the age of 17. Al-Ghazali asserted her independence before and after her marriage, and she placed her religious work above the marital obligations of which she often speaks. Zaynab al-Ghazali developed a strong relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, beginning in 1937 when she delivered a lecture to the Muslim Sisters Association at the Brotherhood headquarters. Although Zaynab al-Ghazali preaches that family responsibilities are important in a woman's life, her life's work does not suggest that a woman cannot simultaneously be a public figure and have a family. Islamist women's rights advocates abound in Egypt, including Safinaz Qasim, Ni'mat Fu'ad and Kariman Hamza though Zaynab al-Ghazali remains the best known and leading force in the women's Islamist movement.
