Hanaa Abdel Rahman

Pioneered engineering in Egypt as a woman, leading infrastructure projects that transformed the country's development.

Hanaa Abdel Rahman (1912–1998) was a groundbreaking Egyptian civil engineer and one of the first women in the Arab world to break into the male-dominated field of engineering. Born in Cairo, she graduated from Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering in 1935, a rare feat for women at the time. Her career spanned over four decades, during which she designed and supervised major infrastructure projects, including bridges, railways, and water systems that modernized Egypt’s transportation and public utilities.

Abdel Rahman’s most notable achievement was her role in the construction of the Qattara Depression project, an ambitious initiative to divert water from the Mediterranean Sea to create a vast lake and hydroelectric power plant. Though the project was later abandoned, her technical expertise and leadership inspired future generations of engineers in Egypt and the Middle East. She also championed gender equality in academia, advocating for women’s admission to engineering programs.

Abdel Rahman’s legacy is celebrated in Egypt’s engineering community, with her name featured in the Engineering Heritage Encyclopedia and a documentary titled "Pioneers of Progress" (2015). Her work exemplifies how perseverance and technical innovation can overcome societal barriers and drive national development.