Fatima Al-Shaban

Saudi Arabian pioneer for women's education and healthcare access in rural regions

Fatima Al-Shaban (1905-1972) was a visionary educator and healthcare advocate who transformed rural life in Saudi Arabia through her establishment of the first mobile health clinics and girls' schools in the Najd region. Despite societal opposition, she traveled across the Arabian peninsula in a specially-outfitted camel caravan that served as both classroom and clinic. Her wiki page details how she trained local women as midwives and teachers, creating sustainable systems that later became models for national programs. In 1948 she founded the first women's cooperative to fund community projects, which still operates today. Her 1953 book <《Voices of the Desert》> remains a seminal text on Bedouin women's oral histories. Al-Shaban's legacy is preserved in the annual Fatima Prize awarded by King Saud University for contributions to rural development.