Dr. Sahir Al Qalamawi the all generations Professor
Egypt, Culture, 5/4/2000

In a time when women had been still hiding behind the veil, Sahir Al Qalamawi was one of the pioneer young girls who broke through the gates of the university. She was the first Egyptian young girl to obtain the Ph.D. in literature and is considered one of the remarkable figures of the contemporary cultural movement.

Sahir Al Qalamawi is part of the vanguard generation entitled to demonstrate the capability of women to contribute to the educational sphere and realize their cultured, creative and academic entity, in order to participate side by side with men in forming the Egyptian consciousness since the 30s.

Al Qalamawi, who was born on July 20, 1911, took advantage of her father¹s rich library which contained most important works of Taha Hussein, Tahtawi, Ibn Iyas and others which helped refine her literary talent.

She was the first young girl to join the Egyptian (now Cairo) university in 1929 and the sole female student among 14 male one in the Arabic language department in the Faculty of Arts, and, surpassing them All.

Due to her genius, Dr. Taha Hussein, the prominent man of letters, took her under his tutelage, to maintain her later on in 1932 assistant-editor to the Egyptian University Magazine, to which he was Editor-in-Chief, thus, Al Qalamawi, still student, entered the field of Journalism.

The career of Al Qalamawi continued successively as follows:

1933, the first young girl to obtain the License of Arts to work in Journalism in the magazines of "Qawkab Al Shark" "The Orient Star", Al Risalah "The Message", and Alwadi "The Valley".

1934, Broadcaster in the Egyptian Radio Broadcasting Service, inaugurated the same year.

1936, the first young girl maintained lecture in the Faculty of Arts.

1937, Obtained the Master Degree on "Adab Al Khwarig" or the "Literature of the Dissidents".

1937 the first young girl to live to France on a mission to prepare her Ph.D.

1941, the first young girl to obtain the Ph.D from the Egyptian University on "Folk Literature", based on an analytic and critical study of "Alf Leila Waleila" or "Thousand and one Nights".

1958, Chairmanship of the Arabic Language Department (Faculty of Arts) for ten years, having assumed before the post of Assistant Professor and other functions.

1959, Head of the "University Women Graduates Union", setting therefore the basis of cooperation between the Egyptian Union and the World Union of Universities.

1959,Oct., Professor of Folk Literature (Cairo University).

1959, Nov., Chief Debuty of the Encyclopedia.

1960, Dec., President of the International Conference On Woman, held in Addis Ababa.

1961, May, Head of the first conference on Folkloric Arts.

1962, Dec., established a committee to superintend the university Palestinian girls, given Al Qalamawi's great concern of the Palestinian issue.

1967, Feb., Head of the Egyptian General Authority for the Cinema, Theater, and Music.

1968, Head of the "Children's Culture Committee".

1971, Jan., Editor-in-Chief of the Arts Magazine.

Al Qalamawi and Political Action

All through her life Al Qalamawi devoted herself to the social issues, and children problems, In November, 1974, she was maintained consultant for women's affairs in the Arab Socialist Union, then in charge of women¹s secretariat in the National Democratic Party (NDP). She also represented the Egyptian and Arab women in various international conferences. Thus, Al Qalamawi, achieved what can be called integrated functions of the university professor composed of three circles, the university or Academic Education, the Scientific Research and the Social Action. She remained active in these circles until she fell ill in 1992, to die on May 4, 1997, at the age of 86.

Al Qalamawi's Achievements and Publications

Sohir Al Qalamawi is a symbol of the Arab woman who believes in the trio of the house, education and work. She believed that the woman is a partner of man and that both are complementary. She played an essential role in the cultural life, having had an abundant literary creations. She is considered one of the most prominent disciples of Dr. Taha Hussein.

Al Qalamawi was the first to establish a library in the hall of the Azbakya Theater to sell books at 50% of the price, and the first to introduce the study of contemporary Egyptian literature to the collegiate education. Thus, she gave lectures on Naguib Mahfouz, Yahya Hakki, Yousef Idris and others. She was very keen also to introduce the study of the Folk literature to the university. She sponsored the idea of holding the first International Book Fair in Egypt, including a special stand for children which became later the annual Children Book Fair.

By releasing the series called "New Writings", she made it possible for the 60s writer's to present their works. On the other hand, she laid down the foundations of the Academic methods in the analysis of art and literature.

Among her more than eighty publications were:

* The Talks of My Grandmother, 1936

* Thousand and One Nights, 1945

* The Dissidents Literature, 1941

* The Mimicry in the Folk literature, 1960

These publications demonstrate Al Qalamawi's concern of folk literature, rich in aphorism and proverbs.

Other publications included

* The World Between a Book Covers, 1958.

* She translated many literary subjects, such as Shakespeare's "Taming the Shrew", and some Chinese words such as "The Wonders Book and the "Talk of Knowledge" .

* She founded and released important cultural magazines dealing with contemporary thoughts, the theater, the cinema, music and arts, besides a series of Arab and international plays, along with the series of the cultural library selling books for two piastres a copy (LE 1=100 piastres). Al Qalamawi called for the assignment of 0.5% of the state budget to promote the children's creations, participated as well in the scientific encyclopedia.

Her Philosophy

Al Qalamawi does not believe that there is an isolated feminine issue, but it is an issue of the society which includes the women's problems given her belief that women are partners of men and not isolated from them.

She believed in life and its development, and that every constituents of life is playing the relevant role having its own value even if it were not explicit.

In her analysis of "Thousand and One Nights", she considers the victory of Scheherzade over the oppressive power of man (Schereyar) through converting the human beast into a natural human being, a clear symbol of the mental powers of women which qualify them to share men in all the fields of human life.

Awards and Honors

* Award of the Arabic Language Academy, for her Ph.D. thesis on "Thousand and one Nights", 1945.

* State Merit Award in Youths' Literature, she was the first woman to obtain it 1955.

* State Merit Award in Literature, shared with Dr. Shawki Deif, 1963.

* Nasser's Award, dedicated by the former Soviet Union, 1976.

* State Merit Award in Literature, 1977.

* Medal of the Republic, first class, 1978.

* Honorary Doctorate from the American University in Cairo (AUC), 1987.

* Honored by the Cairo International Book Fair, in 1993, having being president of the General Egyptian Book Organization.

* Honored by the Cairo Governorate on the occasion of the Egyptian Women's Day, March, 1995.

Dr. Sahir Al Qalamawi is one of the tops of modern renaissance in Egypt and the entire Arab Nation, and in view of the literary works and social critical studies. A contributor to the search for knowledge, she is a symbol of the openness of the cultured Egyptians and their future aspirations.

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