In Algeria, women played a key role in the war for independence from France. Government officials acknowledged women's central role in the construction of an independent nation. Additionally, Iran quested for equal rights and collective action to improve their status during the constitutional revolution of 1906. Continuous pressure from women groups led to government reforms concerning women's education, employment, suffrage, and family laws under the Pahlavi Dynasty.
In Egypt, rural women were squeezed out of textile production as factories were established. Women were restricted to less-skilled jobs and their wages were much lower than men's. In 1872, a Women's Teacher's Training School was founded in Constantinople and by 1900 a training school was founded in Cairo. A drive for female education generated a demand for female teachers, so girls could be educated by in an all-female environment. Throughout the Northern Africa region, teaching was the first profession that not only was open to women, but actively recruited them in order to meet the needs sex-segregated educational system. Girls were still being educated at home to be cultured.
In 1900 in Tunis, both Tunisian nationalists and liberal French protectorate authorities initiated a novel experiment in female education. In Egypt, Huda Sha'arawi, a young daughter of a prominent family and eventful founder of the first Egyptian feminist movement, participated in the first women's salon organized by Eugenie Le Brun. Huda was a feminist who influenced women all over Egypt. In 1908 she founded the first philanthropic society run by Egyptian women. The philanthropic society offered services to poor women and children. In 1910, Sha'arawi opened a school for girls focused on academics, rather then maternal skills. In the 1880's Egyptian women writers also began to contribute to journals in which feminist issues were raised in the context of both religion and nationalism. Health care and education to poor women was founded in Egypt in 1909. Rural women played a more active role outside the home than urban women. Men usually worked on agriculture and maintenance of irrigation networks, but women made important contributions
References:
Engel, K., Says, H., & Says, D. (2016, August 29). Huda Shaarawi, Egyptian feminist & activist. Retrieved April 19, 2017, from
Nashat, G., & Tucker, J. E. (1999). Women in the Middle East and North Africa: restoring women to history. Bloomington, In: Indiana University Press.
Nashat, G., & Tucker, J. E. (n.d.). Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.
Engel, K., Says, H., & Says, D. (2016, August 29). Huda Shaarawi, Egyptian feminist & activist. Retrieved April 19, 2017, from
Nashat, G., & Tucker, J. E. (1999). Women in the Middle East and North Africa: restoring women to history. Bloomington, In: Indiana University Press.
Nashat, G., & Tucker, J. E. (n.d.). Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.