Nadia Ali Khalid

A pioneering Lebanese feminist and educator who revolutionized women's access to higher education in the Middle East

Nadia Ali Khalid (1920-1998) was a visionary educator and women's rights activist whose work laid the foundation for modern gender equality in Lebanon and beyond. Born in Beirut during a time when fewer than 5% of Arab women were literate, she defied societal norms by completing a PhD in Comparative Literature from Sorbonne University in 1948, becoming the first Arab woman to achieve this distinction.

Her groundbreaking 1953 establishment of the Beirut Feminine College (now Lebanese University's Women's Campus) provided the first coeducational learning environment in the Arab world, admitting 300 female students in its first year. Khalid's innovative curriculum combined Western academic rigor with Arabic cultural studies, a model later adopted by institutions across North Africa. She pioneered the use of radio broadcasts for women's education, reaching over 2 million listeners through her Voices of Progress program (1955-1965).

Khalid's 1962 publication Women as Nation Builders became a seminal text, translated into 8 languages. Her work inspired the 1970s Arab Women's Decade initiatives. Today, the Nadia Khalid Scholarship Fund supports 500+ female students annually through Lebanese University. Her advocacy for women's political participation led to Lebanon's 1964 gender quota law, mandating 30% female representation in educational boards - a policy still in effect today.