Egypt was the first country in the Arab world to launch a feminist movement and fight for women's equality. In the East, Egypt is still setting the tone for the secular feminist movement. However, in recent decades, it was the representatives of Egyptian society who first turned to the symbols of Islam, Muslim clothing and began to conduct active political and social activities based on religion. The hijab is also worn by the granddaughter of Khuda Sharawi , a pioneer of Egyptian feminism who publicly removed the headscarf in 1921. The article contains material that helps to understand the difference between secular feminism and pro-Islamic feminism. It shows the role of various feminist organizations in the country's society and history.

Over the past two centuries, Egyptian women, both Muslim and Christian, have made significant contributions to the country's social and political life. Egyptian women promoted the liberation of the country from colonial dependence, advocated secularism and Islamism. They participated in the political life of the country, being supporters of the ruling party or being in opposition to the government.

The Egyptian feminist movement achieved significant success in the second half of the 20th century. In 1956, as a result of many years of political struggle, Egyptian women were granted the right to participate in elections. They have won the right to head State and public institutions, be members of Parliament and hold prominent political posts. The Constitutions of 1956 and 1963 declared equality for all Egyptians and prohibited gender discrimination. Law No. 14 of 1964 guarantees both men and women with university degrees employment in the public sector and grants women special rights in the workplace.

Naturally, modern Egyptian women do not enjoy the same rights and freedoms as men, but their movement for political rights and freedoms, along with the struggle of the entire people for greater political independence, has enriched the public sphere and civil society of the country.

A lot of unrest in public thought in recent decades has been associated with the so-called Family Code, popularly called the "Jihan Code", after the wife of A. Sadat, who, by his decree in 1979, made many of its provisions more liberal. The reaction to the changes made by this decree was so negative that in 1985 the authorities were forced to cancel it "solely in order to restore it in an abbreviated form" [Moghadam, 1993, p.144]. Conservatives were not satisfied with the progressive nature of the code. Many feminists, on the other hand, were dissatisfied that the legal status of women had been raised as a result of an executive order, rather than as a result of open, inclusive democratic debate.

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Recently, the activities of representatives of the women's movement in Egypt have been somewhat controversial. On the one hand, the non-religious feminist movement is still very active in Egypt. On the other hand, active representatives of Egyptian society are increasingly turning to the symbols of Islam, traditional Muslim clothing, and conduct political and social activities based on religion. The contradiction lies in the fact that part of society participates in the secular movement for women's rights, while another part of it seeks to return to the traditional, seemingly subordinate role of women, her dependence on men, as religion supposedly prescribes. Since such a "return to tradition" is actively supported by women themselves, their activities are often seen as contributing to the restoration of inequality between the female and male halves of society, the power of men over women.

The Egyptian women's rights movement is a collection of very different movements, just as the entire Islamic movement in the country is multidimensional and heterogeneous. For example, the Egyptian Azza M. Karam writes about three main trends in the Egyptian feminist movement: Islamist, Muslim and secular. Among the supporters of this movement, she considers all those who fight (in any way) against various forms of suppression and oppression of women [Karam, 1998, p.234].

Different movements of women's rights activists may be in open conflict with each other. In Egypt, there are many women's non-governmental organizations dedicated to women and the family, whose diversity reflects the ideological differences that exist in Egyptian society - from traditional, conservative and religious, to secular, liberal and leftist. In addition to hundreds of women's non-governmental organizations, which, according to Law 32 of 1964 (extended in 1999), are not allowed to participate in political activities, most political parties in the country (about 13 of them) have their own women's committees [Karam, 1998, sh. 5], which indicates differences on the women's issue among themselves in batches. The Government of the country skillfully uses this difference in approaches to achieving the essentially common goal - the emancipation of women and equalization of their rights with men - in its own interests, practicing the principle of "divide and rule"in relation to the opposition.

One of the most striking examples of how the authorities have pitted two rival women's organizations against each other is the case of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association (AWSA), headed by Nawal al-Saadawi, a well-known Egyptian writer and staunch feminist.

On June 15, 1991, the Arab Women's Solidarity Association was dissolved, and its official representatives were not informed of the fact of the dissolution of their organization until July. AWSA representatives claim that they have not received any justification for the legality of such a decision, although N. al-Saadawi suspects that the reason could have been criticism from AWSA members of the authorities regarding the 1991 Gulf War [Saadawi, 1997, p. 7].

Following the provisions of Law 32 of 1964, representatives of the Ministry of Social Security transferred the assets of AWSA to another non - governmental organization that formally performs similar functions-Women of Islam. It was a little-known Cairo non-governmental organization, like many others like it, that provided housing and other social services to women. Women of Islam provided services to provincial students studying at Cairo University. This organization did not fight for women's rights the way AWSA did. However, what little is known about its ideological base suggests that Women of Islam is a conservative organization and on many issues diverges from the secular feminist position of AWSA leaders [Sullivan, Abed-Kotob, 1999, p. 99]. Moreover, its

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The head was Farouk al-Fil, who was also the head of the Social Security Department for the Maadi district. By decree on the dissolution of AWSA, he was appointed official property manager of the association, and as a reward, F. al-Fil received 10% of the assets of AWSA [Middle East Watch..., 1991].

AWSA supporters filed a complaint with the Egyptian Administrative court, which a year later ruled that the Association's activities did not meet the "main interests of the country" and " harm relations between Egypt and a number of foreign countries." According to Human Rights Watch, AWSA was accused of "violating laws, public order, and moral principles" [Court upholds..., 1992].

The AWSA case was not the first time that the Egyptian authorities ordered the dissolution of a women's organization. In 1949, following the murder of X. Al-Banna, a fundamentalist organization, the Association of Muslim Women, led by Zainab al - Ghazali, was dissolved. Representatives of the Association appealed to the court, according to which the organization resumed its activities. Later, on September 15, 1964, the Government of Nasser suspended the activities of the headquarters of the Muslim Women's Association. Thus, the authorities have repeatedly banned the activities of organizations that are equally secular, such as AWSA, and religious, such as the Association of Muslim Women, which expressed their disagreement with the actions of the ruling circles.

The debate between Egyptian nationalists, Islamic fundamentalists, and the opposition over gender inequality has a long history. The controversy over the role of women in society began a century ago, in 1899, when Qasim Amin, a respected Muslim lawyer and judge, published a book that became one of the first works devoted to feminism in Egypt. In his" Liberation of Women "(Tahrir al-Mar'a), K. Amin departed from his previous ideas, talking about the prohibitions and other injustices committed in Egyptian society towards women. Calling for the creation of primary schools for girls, an end to the isolation of women and the wearing of the hijab, and a change in the laws on divorce and polygamy, Amin became Egypt's" first feminist " of the 19th century. After reading the above-mentioned work, Egyptian conservatives felt that they had lost their ally in the person of K. Amin, because only five years earlier he supported gender separation, the isolation of women and the wearing of the hijab. It is possible, however, that K. Amin did not "convert" at all, but simply joined the ranks of other conservatives - in this case, representatives of the colonial powers - and not at all to the feminist movement that was gaining strength in Egypt.

K. Amin's reasoning echoed the arguments of various British authors and representatives of the colonial authorities, who saw the wearing of the hijab, which became a symbol of everything "wrong" in Islam, as a confirmation of the backwardness of this religion. Egyptian women were ordered to stop wearing the veil, girls were supposed to be" liberated " through education, and Muslim women were supposed to be banned from polygamy.

It is noteworthy that, responding to the calls of "progressives" and some conservatives to save women from wearing the veil, one of the leaders of the feminist movement, Malak Hifni Nasif, made it clear that women will decide for themselves when they should open their faces. She insisted that men should not "become tyrants" in the matter of women's liberation, just as they showed themselves to be tyrants by enslaving them [cit. by: Badran, 1995, p. 67].

Since its inception, the feminist movement in Egypt has been closely linked to the national movement. Both in the city and in the countryside, women took an active part

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They participated in the revolution of 1919 and supported the political heirs of this revolution, primarily the Wafd party. In fact, the women's movement began in the 1880s, during a period of active national upsurge that paved the way for the 1919 revolution.

The women's movement and the struggle for national independence, in turn, are closely related to Islamic fundamentalism, or" Islamism", although this term is rarely used when referring to the events of the early twentieth century.

* * *

Malak Hifni Nasif, Huda Sharawi and Zainab al-Ghazali played a decisive role in the history of the development and formation of the Egyptian women's movement.

MALAK HIFNI NASIF (1886-1918)

Malak Hifni Nasif (alias Bahizhat al-Badiyya, meaning "The Seeker in the desert"), whose father, Muhammad Hifni Ismail Nasif, studied with Muhammad Abdu, wrote poetry and prose and was one of the most influential speakers who delivered the "Friday women's readings" at the Egyptian University. Here she met Khuda Sharawi, the founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union (Al-ittihad al-nisa'i al-mysri). Malak Hifni Nasif is considered the first Egyptian woman to openly express the demands of feminists. In 1911, at the Egyptian Congress, which was attended only by men, the demands made by M. H. Nasif to ease the situation of women were read out by a man representing their interests. Among these demands were proposals to allow women to attend mosques; to introduce compulsory education; to make girls ' education in the Koran more thorough, without the usual practice of misinterpreting it; to start training women as nurses; to establish a medical school for women [Abd al-Mut'al al-Jabri, 1979, p. 9]. According to biographer M. H. Nasif, "she was not involved in politics" [ibid., p. 11], she fought for women's rights and the improvement of the political system by conducting public work; she believed that this approach gave her the opportunity to spread her ideas among the general population without coming into conflict with the authorities. In her writings, M. H. Nasif defended the rights of women within the framework of religious doctrines, spoke about the mutual responsibility of men and women to each other, and called on women to fight for their rights without losing dignity and without violating the commandments of the Koran and Sunnah.

M. H. Nasif disapproved of the call to stop wearing the hijab. However, the claim that she "advocated for the education of women without trying to combat gender inequality" (Badran, 1993, p.134) is hardly true, if we recall M. H. Nasif's relentless calls for training and employment of the female population, which in itself should have led to a reduction in this inequality. Addressing the members of her union, M. H. Nasif asked, " If there is no one else who can complete my education other than a man, would I prefer to remain ignorant or reveal my face to that man [in front of the other female students]?" [Abd al-Mut'al al-Jabri, 1979, p. 54]. To her question, M. H. Nasif replied that she would prefer to get knowledge from a man, although she reserves the right to wear a hijab that does not hide only her eyes. In the end, she asks a rhetorical question: are her contemporaries more Muslim than the prominent women of the Prophet Muhammad's family, who wrapped themselves in proper robes and conversed with ulama and poets? [ibid.].

While encouraging women to lead more eventful lives, M. H. Nasif consistently instructed them in her lectures to act in accordance with the principles of Islam. She encouraged women to attend school because their education gave them the opportunity to get a job. On this occasion, M. H. Nassif said: "I do not intend to encourage women to leave the household and children to get a law degree or learn how to drive a locomotive; however, if there is one among us who wants to do this, she has enough personal freedom to do so that others cannot restrain her from doing so" [Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd al-Abd- Mut'al al-Jabri, 1979, p. 35].

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Regarding concerns that women will compete with men in the competition for jobs, M. H. Nasif noted that such competition arose primarily as a result of the actions of men themselves, who invented machines that took away women's jobs. So, women manually kneaded dough and baked bread; men created machines that began to do this work, and turned baking into an occupation for men. Women sewed clothes for themselves and their households, until men invented sewing machines, which were used by male tailors. M. H. Nasif argued that everyone has the right to decide for themselves whether to work or not. No one can force a person, whether he is a man or a woman, to do this or that job. Since men have created machines to replace women's labor, "should we [women] spend our time in idleness, or should we find something to do? It is not surprising that we prefer the latter" (Abd al-Mut'al al-Jabri, 1979, p. 35).

M. H. Nasif resorted to spreading the ideas of feminism within the framework of Islam and the belief system of her time. She did not protest against women wearing the hijab; instead, she demanded that women be stripped of the veil of the then prevailing perception that their lives were confined to the walls of their homes.

HUDA SHARAWI (1879-1947)

H. Sharawi can be recognized as the face of Egyptian feminism with more reason than anyone else, as evidenced by her work, ideas, speeches and writings. H. Sharawi was the head of the Egyptian Feminist Union from its formation in 1923 until her death in 1947. One of her most famous acts is described as follows: "On a spring day in 1923, at the Cairo railway station, many women in long black robes that hid their faces got out of their horse-drawn carts to greet their two friends who had returned from the international Women's conference in Rome. Huda Sharawi and Saiza Nabarawi stepped on the train's running board. Suddenly, Huda, followed by the younger Saiza, opened their faces. The welcoming crowd burst into applause. Some women followed suit. Eyewitnesses left evidence that the eunuchs who accompanied the women frowned at this audacious act, which meant the end of harem practice in Egypt. At that moment, Huda was standing at the crossroads of her life-the conventions of the harem were behind her, and the fate of the leader of the women's movement was ahead of her " (Badran, 1986, p. 104).

Even before this act of personal liberation demonstration, H. Sharavi was engaged in public work among women from different walks of life, speaking out against the occupation of the country by the British and heading the Central Women's Committee of the Wafd party. Even in her quest for social and political transformation, she never went beyond the social framework of that time. In 1919, four years before she publicly revealed her face, H. Sharawi - in protest against British colonial rule-organized a demonstration in Cairo known as the"Veiled March".

After Egypt gained formal independence from Britain in 1922, Sharawi continued her struggle for women's rights. So, in 1924, she organized picketing of the first convocation of the country's parliament. She left the Central Women's Committee of the Wafd party in protest at the committee's conciliatory position with the actions of the party, which did little to actually rid the country of British domination. She continued to lead the national movement for women's rights and managed to involve representatives of other Arab countries in this struggle. In 1945, two years before her death (H. Sharawi died at the age of 68), she was awarded the highest award of the country - "Nishan al-kamal" (Badran, 1986, p.136-137).

ZAINAB AL-GHAZALI (1917-2005)

Zainab al-Ghazali al-Jubaili is one of the most interesting figures in the struggle for the expansion of spiritual and secular freedoms of Egyptian women. Z. al-Ghazali's career in the women's movement began in 1935 when she was only 17 years old and worked for the Egyptian Feminist Union. The following year, she left Khuda Sharawi and founded her own organization, called the Muslim Women's Association. Z. al-Ghazali believed that the feminist views of H. Sharawi were wrong, what to say about the liberation of women to Islam-

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It was a "serious misconception"in Russian society. "Islam has given women everything: freedom, economic, political, social, social and personal rights", even if the modern social structure of Muslim states has deprived them of these rights [Sullivan and Abed-Kotob, 1999, p. 104]. The Z. al-Ghazali Association "assisted women in learning Islam and conducted social work, supporting orphanages, helping families in need, and helping both men and women find work" [ibid.].

Since 1937, when Z. al-Ghazali gave a lecture to the Muslim Sisters ' Association, a division of the Muslim Brotherhood, she and the Muslim Brotherhood have developed close relations. After the readings, H. al-Banna, who founded the "Association of Muslim Sisters", suggested Z. Al-Ghazali united his organizations [Salim, 1990, p. 52]. 3. Al-Ghazali consulted the Board of her Association, and as a result, H. al-Banna's proposal was rejected: The Muslim Women's Association preferred to maintain its independence [Sullivan and Abed-Kotob, 1999, p. 105]. After X's death. Al-Banna in 1949, Abd al-Qadir Ode, on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood, transmitted Z. Al-Ghazali's next message: "It will be a pleasure to welcome Zainab al-Ghazali al-Jubaili as one of us." It immediately accepted the offer, joining the Muslim Brotherhood in person, but retaining its status as an independent organization [ibid.].

З. al-Ghazali considered it possible to reject the proposal of the leader of the Islamic movement, and therefore, " from the very beginning, she saw in her Association an organization similar and equivalent to the Muslim Brotherhood, but deliberately maintained its independence from the Brotherhood. It must have been clear to her that if she had accepted the proposal to merge, her Association would have lost its independence and equality, acquiring the status of at best an additional organization, at worst a subordinate organization" [ibid.]. Rejecting H. al-Banna's proposal to merge her organization with the Muslim Brotherhood, Z. al-Ghazali promised full cooperation to this largest fundamentalist Islamic organization and its leader from her Association.

During the campaign against Islamic fundamentalists in the late 1940s, the authorities announced the dissolution of the Muslim Women's Association. Z. al-Ghazali managed to defend her case in court, but the persecution by the regime did not stop and soon the headquarters of the Association was closed. In response to these actions, the Muslim Women's Association sent a written complaint to government agencies and the President himself. The letter began: "The Muslim Women's Association was founded in 1936 to carry the word of God and serve the purpose of the Muslim Ummah. The mission of [our association] is to make a religious appeal and attract women and men, young and old ... in order to organize the state according to the laws given by God. And we, the members of the Muslim Women's Association, reject this decision. The President of the Republic has no power over us ... neither does the Ministry of Social Security.... The authorities can deprive us of our property, but they cannot deprive us of our beliefs" [Sullivan, Abed-Kotob, 1999, p. 106].

After the closure of the Association's headquarters, its members began to gather at home. Such meetings were also held in the home of Z. al-Ghazali. The authorities issued a warning against such gatherings, so that as a result, they were held less frequently, and the propaganda activities of the Association members were reduced to the level of personal communication.

Soon Z. al-Ghazali was arrested and spent seven years in prison (1965-1972). In her memoirs, she writes about numerous tortures to break her allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was putting up a powerful internal opposition to the government of H. A. Nasser.

According to some researchers, in the 1940s and 1950s, prior to her arrest, Z. al-Ghazali was one of the key figures in building an independent nation. She acted as an intermediary between Islamic fundamentalists and Mustafa al-Nahas, the leader of the Wafd party, which at that time was controlled by the Government of the country [Hoffman, 1985, pp. 197-198].

In one of his many interviews, Z. Al-Ghazali described in detail her life and struggle for women's rights under the banner of Islam. She argued that women "are one of the main forces in the cause of Islam. It is they who will have to raise men who will join the army of Islam. So women should get a good education and upbringing, know the Koran and Sunnah, understand world politics, understand the reasons why their state is lagging behind other countries, and know why technological progress has bypassed Egypt. Muslim women

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it is necessary to be knowledgeable about all these issues, because then they will have to raise their sons in the belief that it is necessary and necessary to use the achievements of modern science and at the same time understand religion, politics, geography, events taking place in the country and the world. Their sons must rebuild the state of Islam. Religion does not prohibit women from taking an active part in public life. It does not prohibit working, engaging in politics, expressing one's opinion, or doing anything, as long as it does not interfere with the fulfillment of a woman's primary duty - motherhood, raising children in the spirit of Islam. So, the sacred and first duty of a woman is to be a mother and wife. It is its purpose that it must fulfill above all else. If these responsibilities leave a woman free time, she can participate in society. This is not forbidden by Islam" [Hoffman, 1985, pp. 236-237].

It should be noted that Z. Al-Ghazali was selective in following her own instructions. For example, in her public speeches, she emphasized that the main "purpose of a woman is to be a wife and mother", but in her own life she preferred the role of a social activist spreading the ideas of Islam. When her first husband Z. al-Ghazali did not support her active participation in religious activities, they divorced. "Before getting married, she stipulated that her business was more important than anything else and that they would divorce if there was any fundamental disagreement between them." She made the same condition to her second husband, Muhammad Salim Salim: "There are things in my life that you should know about as my future husband... I must tell you about them, so that you won't have to ask me about them later. These are things about which I will not accept any compromise. I am the head of the Muslim Women's Association... I believe in the cause of the Muslim Brotherhood... If [ever] your personal well-being and your work come into conflict with my work in the name of Islam, our paths will diverge... It is my right to demand that you do not stand in the way of my holy battle in the name of God. And if my duty calls me to become a sacred warrior of the Lord, don't ask me what I'm doing. ...If the responsibilities of matrimony clash with [my] service to God, our marriage will be dissolved, but my service will remain " (Ahmed, 1992, p. 200).

Thus, it is obvious that Z. Al-Ghazali placed her social and religious activities above the family responsibilities she talked about so much.

Her second husband, Z. al-Ghazali, supported her aspirations, although he was nothing more than an "assistant"in her active work. He facilitated regular gatherings of other activists in their home, and left it to his wife to play a leading role in training the new generations of activists that X spoke of. al-Banna. Muhammad Salim did not interfere in this activity, recognizing his wife's right to participate in the construction of an Islamic state. Nulufer Gol wrote about her and other supporters of Islamic fundamentalism:" The image of the traditionally passive, obedient and submissive wife that prevailed earlier was replaced by the image of an active, demanding, even militant Muslim woman who was no longer a recluse in her own home " (Gole, 1996, p.84).

Islamic fundamentalists in the face of the Muslim Brotherhood and Z. al-Ghazali herself did not call and do not call for turning all women into housewives. "She emphasizes that women should actively put their duty to God and the State of Islam above the rights of individuals. This distribution of priorities allowed her to gain the necessary rights in Sharia law. She resorted to patriarchal terms because she had to do so in order to be heard, like any woman who advocates radical reforms. In her speeches and articles, she could argue that women should limit their interests to the home and family, but her whole life and, importantly, her memories of her life show that she did not put family life at the forefront" [Cooke, 1994, p.1-20].

Z. al-Ghazali's activities cannot be called explicitly feminist, as she did not directly call for the establishment of equality between men and women. In her memoirs, she advocated the creation of an Islamic state with Sharia rule that applies equally to both men and women. Her appeals to get rid of "Jahiliyyah" were addressed not only to men, but also to women.

Many representatives of various movements of Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt were advocates of women's rights, among them - Safinaz Qasim, Nimat Fuad, Kariman Hamza. However

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However, for most of the 1990s, Zainab al-Ghazali remained the most prominent feminist among Islamic fundamentalists.

* * *

The success achieved by both Islamic fundamentalists and secular feminists is significant, but it is not yet possible to call women equal partners of men in public life in Egypt. It is worth noting that attempts by women to "invade the territory of men" are most often accompanied by an emphasized external manifestation of piety.

As women began to receive college education, take jobs, or otherwise participate in society, they increasingly preferred to wear traditional Muslim clothing and cover their heads. So women won their rights, although many of them quite consciously adhered to Muslim customs, as if to show that Islam does not abolish women's rights, and moderate Islamic fundamentalists agree with the latter statement. In fact, they emphasize that women's rights are embedded in the very system of Islamic beliefs.

Speaking about the role of women in society, H. al-Banna stated: "Women are one of the two forces that affect people's lives. She is the teacher who creates entire generations. It has the greatest impact on the lives of both young and adult men. According to the laws of Islam, a woman shares the rights and duties of a man; she has personal, civil and political rights" [Salim, 1990, p.52].

Similarly, the Egyptian writer Fahmy Huwaidi, an adherent of fundamentalist ideology, emphasizes that before God, both men and women are created from the same spirit; both are responsible to each other; both are required to do good and avoid evil; both are required to pray; both women and men must pay zakat; and both are required to pay zakat. they obey God. So, says F. According to Huwaidi, in Islam there is "equality of men and women in rights and responsibility before God and people" [Huwaidi, 1997, p. 32]. When discussing women's rights, most proponents of Islamic fundamentalism emphasize that a woman is responsible to her family, but they also note that a woman must also actively participate in what happens outside her home. Thus, F. Huwaidi notes that this responsibility "does not necessarily mean that she cannot do any other work or that she must remain locked up in four walls. The fact that her maternal duties are primary does not mean that everything ends there for a woman. On the contrary, there is nothing in the rules of Islam and Sharia law that prevents a woman from doing anything else besides farming, whether it is additional work or hobbies or other mundane activities. [There have been examples in the history of Islam where women have taken part in both battles and political events."

In his monograph "Politics and Islam", M. al-Khudaibi devotes a small section to the position of women in a "truly Islamic" society. Quoting the Qur'an, M. al-Khudaibi says that " a woman is a pure creature who has been rewarded by God to the same extent as a man." He writes that " a woman is a wise and intelligent being, except when she is under the influence of confusion and confusion, to which men can also be subjected. In the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah, a woman is addressed in the same way as a man. In the Sharia system, she has the same responsibility as a man. Her responsibility in this regard is comprehensive, even if the man closest to her does not agree with this. A woman's civil and legal duty is equal to what she bears.

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man. A woman has all the financial rights available to a man. All her trade transactions and other actions related to finances are absolutely legal and valid and do not require the consent or permission of her father, brother, husband or any other man" [Al-Hudaibi, 2000, p.31].

Explaining the degree of power of a man over a woman, M. al-Khudaibi says that a woman occupies a subordinate position only within the family, while in all other cases she is completely equal to a man: "We also explained the boundaries of male guardianship over a woman and said that this is limited only to issues of joint marital life. And that this superiority is due to the responsibility [for the family] that a man bears. In all other cases, a woman is definitely not a more degraded human being than a man" [ibid.].

Regarding the participation of a Muslim woman in the life of the country, M. Khudaibi says that a woman in Islam has the right to participate in parliamentary and legislative elections, including elections to trade unions. A woman also has the right to stand as a candidate and be elected in parliamentary or any other election. A woman in Islam can hold any public and state position, with the exception of " al-imam al-uzma "(the highest spiritual position) and everything that falls under this category [Al-Khudaibi, 2000, p. 32].

Thus, the proponents of Islamic fundamentalism do not question the claim that women should participate in society. However, they encourage women to perform their domestic duties along with social work, or rather to perform them in the first place. There is no doubt that fast-growing Islamic organizations have influenced women's self-awareness and their views on their place in society.

* * *

The widespread perception in the West of relations between men and women in Islamic society as a manifestation of the absolute power of some and the humiliation and submission of others is often completely wrong. In order to understand the relationship between the sexes that is accepted in Egypt, it is necessary to consider the prevailing points of view on the position of women in modern Egyptian society.

One of the positions is that women actually occupy a privileged position in the world of Islam, more privileged than in a secular society. This traditionalist view is held by a large number of Muslims, often causing confusion to those who criticize the subordinate position of Muslim women.

Many supporters of Islamic fundamentalism see the attempts to free the woman as part of a" Western conspiracy " to undermine the foundations of Islam. Some criticize Muslims who advocate reform and progress, considering them victims of deception on the part of"crusaders". They do not miss the opportunity to point out that the United States, which is a model for reformists and Arab feminists, is a morally degraded society, which, among other problems, has a high level of crime, drug addiction, pornography, violence against children, women and the family in general, and an increasing number of illegitimate children (from field materials collected by the author. - O. K.).

In contrast to the positive view of traditionalists about the role of women in Muslim society, there is also a negative view, whose supporters believe that traditionalists use the Koran as a means of subjugating women.

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Criticizing the position of women in the Islamic world, they accuse the hypocrisy of Islamic fundamentalists, who, while praising women, at the same time openly humiliate her and reduce her to the lowest level of society, ostensibly in the name of Islam, but in reality out of their own selfishness, misogyny and similar low motives.

One of the proponents of this view of the status of women in Islam, Nawal al-Saadawi, wrote that " the multifaceted nature of Islam is reduced to the simple imposition of punishments, which most often fall on the shoulders of the poor, and the requirement for women to hide their faces under the veil. The economic reasons for the displacement of women from the wage market and from public life are also hidden behind religious and moral precepts. As a result, the problems faced by Arab women are becoming prohibitively difficult. It is up to women to discover this truth, to prove that the specific norms of Sharia law that conservative Islamists adhere to are often based on a misinterpretation of Islam, commanding submission to fate. Women in Arab countries should study Islam independently, based on the principles of reason and logic, interpret its provisions, instead of perceiving them through the minds of other people" [Sullivan, Abed-Kotob, 1999, p. 112].

In addition to these directly opposite views on the role and position of women in Muslim society, there is a third point of view that reveals the potential hidden in religion for women's development. Proponents of this view do not refute the view that Islam has brought positive changes to the lives of women in the Arab world. However, they argue that the situation of women in the early Muslim period, during the life and immediately after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, was better than that in which they found themselves later as a result of the strengthening of the patriarchal system. Proponents of such views distinguish between the religious precepts of Islam, which, if properly interpreted, can enhance the status of women, and what is actually happening in Egypt, where men occupy a dominant position, looking for the roots of women's subordinate position not in Islam itself, but in its incorrect interpretation.

The most noticeable manifestation of Islamic traditions in the relationship between the sexes is the wearing, primarily by women, of traditional Muslim clothing. A woman's Islamic dress consists of a hijab-a headscarf that covers her head but does not cover her face-and a long, loose dress with long sleeves. Some women also wear a niqab covering their face and gloves. Traditionalists emphasize the importance of women wearing traditional Muslim clothing, as they see it as a manifestation of piety, on the one hand, and rejection of alien Western patterns, on the other. In contrast, critics of this approach see this recent reversal of the Muslim tradition of wearing clothing as a real setback, negating the gains of a century-long struggle for women's rights.

"Progressives", in contrast to both, are more pragmatic about wearing the hijab, without attaching any revolutionary meaning to it, as representatives of both opposition camps do. They consider it appropriate to wear a veil if the woman herself chooses this particular style of clothing.

The return to the traditional element of women's clothing is inextricably linked to the growth of religious activity that began in the 1970s. Egypt's defeat in the 1967 war with Israel, as a result of which the country lost the Sinai Peninsula, provoked a general revision of politics and attitudes to faith, caused a massive rejection of socialism by Egyptians in the version of G. A. Nasser and a turn to Arab nationalism and traditions, primarily Islam.

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A new movement has emerged among young Egyptian women, mostly college students, calling for women to wear the niqab. The desire of female students to wear the hijab was a reaction to the efforts of Islamic organizations - "gamaats", which operated at the universities of Egypt. Gamaats dealt with many problems of campus life, such as overcrowded classrooms, lack of housing, and transportation problems. Islamic organizations have managed to divide students into groups based on gender, thus eliminating the embarrassing situation of many girls, when they were forced to either sit side by side with representatives of the opposite sex, or stand idle during class hours in a similar mixed crowd. Similar problems were caused by daily trips to the university in crowded public transport. Gamaaty eliminated this difficulty by arranging for female students who "wanted to protect their dignity from the insults they were subjected to on public transport" to be delivered to their place of study by minibuses. The campaign was an instant success. However, since the demand exceeded the supply, it was first declared desirable, and then mandatory, for women who wanted to use this service, to dress "in Muslim attire" - niqab, hijab and gloves [Kepel, 1985, p. 143].

Thus, for many female students, adhering to Muslim traditions in clothing that was easily justified by local norms, practicality, and even fashion considerations was the small price they had to pay to enjoy the special privileges offered by Islamic organizations. In the late 1990s, Egyptian women attributed their desire to wear traditional Muslim clothing to a variety of reasons:

- religious: the niqab and hijab are an act of submission to the will of God;

- psychological: traditional clothing is a way to demonstrate a return to their roots and rejection of Western models;

- political: Muslim clothing has to some extent become a symbol of disillusionment with the existing political order; by dressing in this way, women identify with Islamic fundamentalists, forces that seek the Islamization of society as the only means of salvation;

- prestigious: such clothing is a sign of affluence, proof that its owner does not have to work;

- fashion: traditional clothing-a way to reduce the cost of clothing;

- cultural: a statement about the modesty and severity of the owner of such clothing, who does not want to become the object of sexual harassment;

- familial: a way to preserve peace in a family where men, be they husbands or fathers, insist on wearing traditional clothing [Haddad, 1985, p. 272].

At the present time, at the beginning of the XXI century, it is almost impossible to meet a woman dressed in European style on the streets of Cairo. About 90% of the female population wears the hijab, and many women go out in the niqab. Women working in the offices of various companies often wear a loose business suit, which is complemented by a mandatory headscarf. And only a few people wear European jeans and T-shirts, and tattoos on their wrists and the absence of a headscarf indicate that they are Christian women (from the materials of the author's field observations. - O. K.).

It is obvious that in addition to adhering to religious precepts, women who wear the hijab, adhere to the Muslim style of dress, in many cases paying tribute to modern fashion, 1 are guided by considerations of convenience or politics.-

1 Almost all women's clothing stores in Cairo sell traditional clothing of various cuts.

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with Russian motives. New Muslim women's clothing differs from traditional outfits in that it has become fashionable. Women often wear an "Islamic" dress in combination with bright makeup and gold jewelry, which is contrary to religious regulations. While the purpose of traditional clothing is to hide the contours of the body, it is noteworthy that often modern Muslim dresses are sewn according to the figure, little resembling the simple loose fit of ancient vestments. Instead of a headscarf fixed under the chin, most young girls cover their heads with a thin scarf, intricately wrapping it around their heads and securing it with many hairpins (from the author's field observations-O. K.). Numerous jewelry and costume jewelry with Islamic symbols speak not so much about the desire of their owners to observe religious commandments, but about the presence of their feelings style and desire to follow fashion.

Summing up the activities of Egyptian women aimed at expanding women's rights both within and outside Islam, it should be noted that further emancipation of women is unthinkable without the socio-economic development of the entire society. Here it is appropriate to quote the words of Yvon Yazbek Haddad, a well-known expert on the problems of modern Islam: "Regardless of the commitment to a particular ideology, whether it is nationalism, socialism or Islamic fundamentalism, regardless of whether the idea expressed belongs to a man or a woman, the liberation of women is seen by everyone in the context of the liberation of the entire society, which is an indispensable condition for a virtuous order" [Haddad, 1985, p. 279].

The result of intellectual discussions and active actions of women was their more visible presence in the political arena of the country, whereas in former times politics was exclusively the prerogative of men. Women's activists may have achieved more in the areas of social, cultural and economic development. With regard to Egypt, we can say that although women are getting more and more rights, this process is quite slow. For example, it was only in early 2000 that Egyptian women were granted the right to file for divorce, and in April 2001 the well-known feminist Nawal al-Saadawi was called to trial for apostasy [BBC-Russian Service..., 25.04.2001]. At the same time, we must not forget that in some Arab countries women do not even have the basic right to vote, so the success of the feminist movement in Egypt, whether secular or fundamentalist, seems very significant against the background of the general situation in the Arab world.

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BBC-Russian service. The writer is accused of apostasy. 25.04.2001.

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Gole N. The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling. Michigan Press, 1996.

Haddad Y. Y. Islam, Women and Revolution in Twentieth-Century Arab Thought. In Women, Relegion and Social Change I Ed. by Y. Y. Haddad and E. B. Findly. Albany: SUNY Press, 1985.

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