Her Story ... Feminist & Activist
XX. The Tide Turns Against Doria Shafik
Milestones:
DS renounced by local women's groups
Expelled from Bin Al Nil Union and magazines shut down
Doria’s world would change quite radically and quite rapidly at this point. Whereas three years previously, she had undertaken a hunger strike with the support of the Bint al-Nil Union and with much press attention, this time she was a solitary figure crusading against the totalitarianism of Nasser. A petition was widely circulated bearing the names of 27 women representing different women’s groups in Egypt called, ‘Egyptian Women Renounce the Position of Doria Shafik’. These women were petitioning against her stance and her position.
Soon after returning home from the clinic following her hunger strike, Nasser placed Doria under house arrest. The repression of the Nasser regime was such that people were intimidated from expressing support for Doria and her beliefs. On February 28 1957 the Bint al-Nil Union expelled Doria, the union’s founder, from the organization, her magazines were shut down, her personal papers and files destroyed and her name was officially banned from the press. Whatever support and sympathy Doria had garnered over the decades had quickly slipped away as people feared the repercussions of any association with her.
