Esther Fahmy Wissa

Ester Fanous

Esther Fahmy Wissa , actually: Ester Akhnoukh Fanous or Esther Fanous ( Coptic : ⲉⲥⲑⲏⲣ ⲉⲛⲱⲭ ⲫⲁⲛⲟⲩⲥ) (* 19th February 1895 in Assiut , † 1990 ) was a leading Egyptian suffragette and women's rights activist .

Life

Esther Fahmy Wissa was born in Assiut on February 19, 1895, the seventh of fourteen children. Your parents, Dr. Akhnous Fanu and balsam Wissa Buqtur Wissa, belonged to two Upper Egyptian gentry families . Akhnous Fanus was considered one of the most influential evangelical Egyptian Christians . Esther received her upbringing from a Sudanese nanny, whose father was acquired as a slave in Assiut in 1850 , and an English governess . She attended the American School of Mission in Assiut, which was founded in 1860 by Wassif Khayatt.

In 1912 Esther became engaged to her cousin Fahmy Bey Wissa, 12 years her senior, who was a Freemason and studied at Oxford . Their Coptic Protestant wedding took place on July 24, 1913 and was celebrated very lavishly. 8,000 invited guests and five bishops , who were sent by the Coptic Patriarch Cyrillus V , were present from all over Egypt . Esther gave birth to three children: Gamil, Adli and Firdous, called Doussa.

Her political career began with the acquaintance of the politician Makram Ebeid and the founder of the Wafd party , Saad Pasha Zaghloul . After the First World War , she marched through the streets of Cairo during the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 . Together with Huda Chaarawi and many other supporters of the Wafd party, she campaigned for political independence and social equality for women. In 1920, after Huda Chaarawi, she was elected second chairman of the Wafd women's wing, which was founded in St. Mark's Cathedral in Ezbekia . In 1922 she campaigned for the British High Commissioner Edmund Allenby for the release of the Copts Makram Ebeid, Sinut Hanna and Saad Zaghloul, who had been exiled to the Seychelles . With their help, the Egyptian Women's Union was founded in 1923 , which campaigned for the abolition of veils and the education of girls and women. In March 1923, she attended the World Conference of Women's Associations in Rome , where she gave a speech.

In addition to her involvement in the Wafd, Esther devoted herself to the Egyptian YWCA from 1920 to 1983 , which was founded by Regina Khayatt, a close friend of the Wissa family. From 1924 to 1962 she was chairman of the Egypt Society charity , which campaigned for poor and sick children. After Egypt gained sovereignty in 1936, Esther withdrew from politics. In 1948 she worked in the service of the Red Crescent at the time of the cholera epidemic .

President Gamal Abdel Nasser honored them on the 50th anniversary of the emancipation movement in 1969 together with Ihsan al-Koussi and Gamila Attia for their commitment.

literature

• Otto FA Meinardus: Esther Fahmy Wissa (1895–1990) . In: Gabriele Höber-Kamel (ed.): Kemet issue 4/2003 . Kemet Verlag, 2003, ISSN  0943-5972 , p. 44-45 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto FA Meinardus: Kemet issue 4/2003 , pp. 44-45.