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Aisha Rateb

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Aisha Rateb
Born22 February 1928
Cairo
Died4 May 2013 (2013-05-05) (aged 85)
Giza
Other namesAisha Rateb Soad
CitizenshipEgypt
Alma materCairo University
Occupation(s)Lawyer and politician
Known forFirst female ambassador of Egypt

Aisha Rateb (Arabic: عائشة راتب; 22 February 1928 – 4 May 2013) was an Egyptian lawyer, politician, and Egypt's first female ambassador. She also was a professor of international law at Cairo University.[1]

Biography

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Rateb was born in Cairo to a middle-class, educated family.[2]

Education

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When she attended college, she first studied literature at Cairo University, but transferred to law after only a week of studies.[2] Rateb graduated from Cairo University in 1949, went briefly to Paris for further education and then received her PhD in law in 1955.[2]

Rateb applied to become a judge on the Conseil de'Etat (the highest judicial body in Egypt) in 1949, and was rejected because of her gender.[3] The prime minister of the time, Hussein Serry Pasha, said that having a woman judge was "against the traditions of society".[2] She sued the government on the grounds that her constitutional rights were violated.[4] Her lawsuit was the first of its kind in Egypt, and when she lost the case, it was admitted by the head of State Council, Abdel-Razek al-Sanhouri, that she lost only because of political and cultural reasons,[5] not based on Egyptian or sharia law.[6] The lawsuit and the written opinion of al-Sanhouri encouraged other women to follow suit, although none became judges until in 2003, when Tahani al-Gebali was appointed as a judge.[7] In 2010, Egypt's prime minister ordered a review of a recent decision against allowing female judges.[8] In July 2015, 26 women were finally sworn in as judges.[6]

Political career

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Rateb was part of the Arab Socialist Union's Central Committee in 1971, where she helped write the new constitution for Egypt.[2] Of all of the committee members, she was the only one who objected to the "extraordinary powers that the Constitution granted to the then president Anwar al-Sadat".[2]

Afterwards, she served as Minister of Insurance and Social Affairs from 1974 to 1977, and was the second woman to hold that position.[9] During her time there she was able to pass reforms for women in the country. Rateb was able to do this even while fundamentalist sheikhs tried to ruin her reputation.[10] Rateb went on to place restrictions on polygamy and ensure that divorce was only legal if it was witnessed by a judge.[11] She also worked to help those in poverty, and passed a law to help employ the disabled.[2] When the government lifted subsidies on essential goods, a move that would affect the poorest citizens in Egypt, she resigned protest in 1977 during the bread uprising.[2]

In 1979, Rateb was appointed as Egypt's first woman ambassador.[12] As an ambassador, she led Egypt on a "balanced position in a world of highly polarised international relations".[9] She was ambassador to Denmark from 1979 to 1981 and to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1981 to 1984.[1]

Rateb was critical of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak because she felt that his rule created a greater divide between the rich and poor.[9]

Death

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Rateb died in Giza after a sudden cardiac arrest in 2013.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Arab Women by First Name - All". Dubai Women's College. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Reda, Angele (24 May 2013). "Aisha Rateb (1928-2013)". Watani. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  3. ^ Hatem, Mervat F. (1994). "Privatization and the Demise of State Feminism in Egypt". Mortgaging Women's Lives: Feminist Critiques of Structural Adjustment. United Nations. pp. 41. ISBN 1856491013.
  4. ^ "Aisha Rateb". Egypt Today. 20 November 2013. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  5. ^ Elbendary, Amina (January 2003). "Women On the Bench". Al-Ahram (620). Archived from the original on 2 January 2006. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  6. ^ a b Messieh, Nancy; Gaber, Suzanne (22 July 2015). "A Win for Women in Egypt's Courts". Atlantic Council. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  7. ^ Khalil, Ashraf (23 September 2003). "Egypt's First Female Judge May Remain 'The Only'". Women's eNews. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  8. ^ Kenyon, Peter (3 April 2010). "Female Judges In Egypt Battle Against Old Ideas". NPR. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  9. ^ a b c Sami, Aziza (9 May 2013). "Obituary: Aisha Rateb (1928-2013) Women's Struggle: One Champion Down". Al-Ahram Weekly (1147). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  10. ^ Sadat, Jehan (1987). A Woman of Egypt. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 360. ISBN 0743237080.
  11. ^ a b "Egypt's First Female Ambassador Dies at 85". Aswat Masriya. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Sullivan, Earl L. (1986). Women in Egyptian Public Life. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. pp. 82. ISBN 0815623542.
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