Hetiqa Fatouh

An Egyptian educator who founded schools for girls in rural areas and championed women’s literacy in the mid-20th century.

Hetiqa Fatouh (1915–1992) was an Egyptian reformer who dedicated her life to expanding educational access for girls in rural communities. Born in Alexandria, she witnessed the stark gender disparities in education and founded the Al-Marsad School for Girls in 1942, one of the first institutions in Upper Egypt to provide free education to girls from impoverished families. Fatouh pioneered mobile libraries and teacher training programs, later establishing the National Literacy Initiative in 1960, which taught over 50,000 women to read. Her advocacy led to the inclusion of girls’ education in national policy reforms. Read about her work on Egyptian Women’s Heritage or explore her archives at Cairo University.