This book explores the concept of citizenship in Egypt and identifies the forces that have institutionally controlled women since the turn of the twentieth century. How is citizenship defined in Egypt and by whom? Selma Botman seeks to understand how political culture in Egypt has developed, how women have asserted themselves in public life, and how they have been limited and sometimes excluded from the political process. Botman demonstrates that women's social inferiority derives from law and custom, but points out that slow industrialization contributes to inequality in the workplace. She...

Selma Botman examines the virtually unknown history of communism in Egypt during the twentieth-century. In an original and well-documented study, the author has traced the development of the revolutionary left using political court cases, interviews with political activists, and literature from the communist movement itself.