View source for Amīnah al-Saʿīd

{{Short description|Egyptian journalist and women's rights activist}}
'''Amīnah al-Saʿīd''' also known as '''Amīnah Saʻīd''' (1914–1995; {{langx|ar|أمينة السعيد}}) was an Egyptian journalist and [[women's rights]] activist. She founded Egypt's first [[women's magazine]] and was the first woman magazine editor in the Middle East.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|last1=Darwish|first1=Adel|title=Obituary: Amina al-Said|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-amina-alsaid-1599537.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019174138/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-amina-alsaid-1599537.html |archive-date=2014-10-19 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|work=The Independent|date=5 September 1995}}</ref>
==Biography==
Saʿīd was born on 20 January 1914 in [[Asyut]], Egypt. She joined the youth wing of the [[Egyptian Feminist Union]] at the age of 14. She was among the first women to attend [[Fuad I University]] in 1931.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kinnear|first1=Karen L.|title=Women in Developing Countries: A Reference Handbook|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1-59884-426-9|pages=141–142|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIjxVimxO_wC&dq=Aminah%20al-Said&pg=PA141|chapter=Aminah Al-Said}}</ref> She earned a degree in English literature in 1935.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|title=Amina el-Saeed; Egyptian Feminist, 81|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/15/obituaries/amina-el-saeed-egyptian-feminist-81.html|accessdate=26 October 2014|work=The New York Times|date=15 August 1995}}</ref> Saʿīd was opposed to [[Hijab|veiling]] and played tennis in public without a veil.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Talhami|first1=Ghada|title=Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa|date=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Md.|isbn=978-0-8108-6858-8|pages=286–287|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ddqaCdZdZ0C&dq=Aminah%20al-Said&pg=PA286|chapter=Said, Aminah Al-}}</ref> She joined the news magazine ''[[Al-Musawar]]'' as a columnist.
Saʿīd founded ''[[Hawaa]]'' in 1954.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hatem|first1=Mervat F.|title=Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East|date=2005|publisher=Syracuse Univ. Press|location=Syracuse, NY|isbn=978-0-8156-2864-4|page=46|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAnkIJfXrD4C&dq=aminah%20al%20said&pg=PA46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Janet K. Boles|author2=Diane Long Hoeveler|title=Historical Dictionary of Feminism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOVlvvrMJhUC&pg=PA282|accessdate=26 October 2014|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-4946-4|pages=282}}</ref> She was among the earliest full-time female journalists in the country.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mohamed Younis|title=Daughters of the Nile: The Evolution of Feminism in Egypt|journal=Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice|date=2007|volume=13|issue=2|url=http://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1228&context=crsj|accessdate=26 October 2014}}</ref> From 1958 to 1969 she was secretary general of the Pan-Arab League Women's Union. She became editor of ''Al-Musawar'' in 1973. From 1976 to 1985 she chaired the magazine's publishing group.
Saʿīd died of cancer at age 81 on 13 August 1995 in Cairo.<ref name="obit"/><ref name=nyt/>
==See also==
*[[Feminism in Egypt]]
==References==
{{Reflist|33em}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sa'id, Aminah al}}
[[Category:20th-century Egyptian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Egyptian writers]]
[[Category:20th-century journalists]]
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:Cairo University alumni]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Egypt]]
[[Category:Egyptian editors]]
[[Category:Egyptian women journalists]]
[[Category:Egyptian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Egyptian magazine founders]]
[[Category:Journalists from Cairo]]
[[Category:Women magazine editors]]