ABSTRACT
Feminism emerged in Egypt while the modern state was in process of formation. It arose at a moment of growing urbanisation, with the expansion of capitalism bringing incorporation into the European-dominated world market system, and later British colonial occupation. Feminism appeared in Egypt, as in Western countries, amongst upper- and middle-class urban women. However, unlike in the West but as commonly in the Third World, feminism in Egypt became bound up with nationalism and found legitimisation in religion. 1
