ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the historical trajectory of the emergence of Middle Eastern women's movements. It represents a preliminary attempt to integrate some of those individual histories within that broader collective. Gendered notions of politics result in myriad assumptions about women's involvement, one of which is that women's informal, less-organized, and often less-recognized participation in political or revolutionary movements is by definition not political. The continued focus on religion and the essentializing category of "Muslim women" rendered religion the sole determinant of women's experiences, limiting intellectual exploration of other aspects of women's existence. In many instances, women perceived nationalism as an opportunity. Feminism, or demands for female emancipation, were considered potentially divisive topics in struggles where concepts of the nation being fought for tended to be articulated in communal terms, in order to unify people and elide sources of potential difference.
