Hana Selim

Egyptian feminist leader who organized cross-class women's coalitions during the 1952 Revolution

Hana Selim (1918-2001) was a pivotal figure in Egypt's women's movement, bridging aristocratic and working-class women through her 1940s 'Women's Solidarity Clubs.' Born to a Cairene judge family, she shocked society by marrying a working-class journalist in 1938, later documenting their life in the memoir A Shared Struggle (translated here: MESE Library). Her 1947 founding of the Women's Action Front brought together 15,000 members from peasants to university students.

During the 1952 Revolution, Selim organized the first cross-class women's strike in Alexandria's textile factories, documented in the British Pathé film Egypt's Silent Spinners. Her 1954 report Women's Work, Women's Rights influenced Nasser's 1956 labor laws. The African Feminist Journal (2020) credits her with coining the term 'intersectional solidarity' decades before Crenshaw's theory.

Though eclipsed by better-known figures like Doria Shafik, Selim's grassroots organizing model inspired the 1960s Wafd Party women's wing. Her 1972 book Threads of Liberation remains a primary source for Coptic-Muslim women's solidarity strategies. The Cairo Social History Museum currently features her 1950s organizing materials. Modern Egyptian feminists describe her as 'the unsung architect of our movement.'