Gender, the State, and Nationalism in Egypt and Iran

The opening scene of Egypt as a Woman describes the official unveiling of the sculpture Nahdat Misr, or "The Awakening of Egypt," inspired by the 1919 revolution in which diverse groups mobilized to protest the British and call for independence. The enormous figure depicts a peasant woman lifting her faceveil, her arm resting on a sphinx with raised forelegs. The image recalls Egypt's glorious pharaonic past, while symbolizing its "unveiling" or modern awakening. Despite the principal role of a woman in the sculpture, however, women were barred from attending the grand ceremony that unveiled the statue in 1928. Although women were central to the construction of the nation's image, their actual agency and activism were suppressed and marginalized.

This scene illustrates the complex yet undeniable role of gender in nationalism and the state, the main theme of the two books reviewed here. In Women and Politics in Iran, gender and women's sexuality were critical to defining and redefining the priorities of the state from one regime to another. In Egypt as a Woman, gendered images held central roles in nationalist movements and the building of a modern Egypt. While in both cases political actors used gendered symbols to gain legitimacy, the authors argue that women's actual activism nevertheless contributed significantly to their country's social movements. Together, the books portray a multifaceted relationship between gender and the state, serving as an important warning against simplistic notions of women as either victims or heroines.

In Egypt as a Woman, Beth Baron examines the time period spanning the creation of the modern Egyptian state in the nineteenth century up to the political activism of the 1940s, exploring the relationship between the gendered images depicting the country and the political actions of women. Women played a key role within Egyptian nationalist movements, yet their activism was suppressed even as simplistic female images were elevated as national symbols. Baron's methodology includes a sociopolitical examination of literary and visual sources and draws from scholarship on collective memory and nationalist narratives, Egyptian nationalism, and women's movements. Focused on a time when "elites dominated nationalist politics" (3), the book concentrates primarily on the activities of elite women. Images of many of the nationalist cartoons, photographs, and other visuals that Baron examines are sprinkled throughout the book, providing a helpful visual reference to the text.

In Women and Politics in Iran, Hamideh Sedghi uses a gender lens to comprehensively examine Iran's transition through three distinct political and economic phases: The Qajar dynasty, Pahlavi dynasty, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In each phase, the state exploited gender and women's roles for political support, while women's activism simultaneously played a significant role in state-building. Focusing in particular on the impact of economic development and patriarchy, Sedghi is influenced by studies on gender and development, including the gendered division of labor and impacts of modernization and globalization. She also draws from studies on gender in the Middle East, although with limitations, noting that "despite women's centrality analytically and politically, Iranian Studies generally ignored them until recently" (14). Her methodology includes field research and interviews conducted over several years, as well as both English and Farsi secondary sources such as legal documents and quantitative studies that have never before been used for a study on gender in Iran. Her primary focus is urban woman, noting that a separate study on rural woman is needed.

According to Baron, "standard accounts of Egyptian nationalism paid little attention to women activists" (4). In contrast, her analysis finds that examining gender and women's roles is crucial to understanding national identities. Chapter I begins by examining the changing roles of gender, ethnicity, and family in nineteenth-century Egypt. As the country transformed from its Ottoman roots to its...