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Doria Shafik (Arabic: درية شفيق‎;) was an Egyptian feminist, poet and editor, and one of the principal leaders of the women’s liberation movement in Egypt in the mid-1940s. As a direct result of her efforts, Egyptian women were granted the right to vote by the Egyptian constitution.

Early life

Doria Shafik was born to Ahmad Chafik and Ratiba Nassif in Tanta, Egypt.  She studied in a French mission primary school in Tanta and a Tanta secondary school for girls until 16 years. Then she studied the last 2 years of secondary education called bacaloria in Cairo.

At the age of 18 she became the one of first Egyptian girls to earn the degree of bacaloria for secondary school. She was awarded a scholarship by the Egyptian Ministry of Education to study at Sorbonne University in Paris. She also studied for a PhD in philosophy at the Sorbonne. She wrote two theses, one refuting the merely utilitarian ends generally associated with Ancient Egyptian art, and the second, arguing about recognising women’s equal rights. She was awarded her PhD with high qualifications (Mention très honorable).

In 1935 as a girl in Egypt, she entered a beauty pageant, which sparked controversy.

Following her house arrest Doria Shafik led a solitary life, even when her movement was no longer restricted. She spent her last years reading, and writing. She came to her death after falling from her balcony in 1975