{{Short description|Egyptian lawyer, politician and ambassador (1928 – 2013)}} {{Infobox person | name = Aisha Rateb |native_name=عائشة راتب | image = Main prt-1.jpg | birth_date = 22 February 1928 | birth_place = Cairo | death_date = {{d-da|4 May 2013|22 February 1928}} | death_place = Giza | other_names = Aisha Rateb Soad | citizenship = Egypt | alma_mater = Cairo University | occupation = Lawyer and politician | known_for = First female ambassador of Egypt }} '''Aisha Rateb''' ({{langx|ar|عائشة راتب}}; 22 February 1928 – 4 May 2013) was an Egyptian lawyer, politician, and Egypt's first female ambassador. She also was a professor of international law at Cairo University.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url = http://dwc.hct.ac.ae/lrc/arab%20women/modern_arab_women_index.htm|title = Arab Women by First Name - All|access-date = 15 September 2015|website = Dubai Women's College|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20060614044317/http://dwc.hct.ac.ae/lrc/arab%20women/modern_arab_women_index.htm|archive-date = 14 June 2006}}</ref>
== Biography == Rateb was born in Cairo to a middle-class, educated family.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url = http://en.wataninet.com/features/in-memorial/aisha-rateb-1928-2013/1846/|title = Aisha Rateb (1928-2013)|last = Reda|first = Angele|date = 24 May 2013|work = Watani|access-date = 15 September 2015}}</ref>
==Education== When she attended college, she first studied literature at Cairo University, but transferred to law after only a week of studies.<ref name=":0" /> Rateb graduated from Cairo University in 1949, went briefly to Paris for further education and then received her PhD in law in 1955.<ref name=":0" />
Rateb applied to become a judge on the Conseil de'Etat (the highest judicial body in Egypt) in 1949, and was rejected because of her gender.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Mortgaging Women's Lives: Feminist Critiques of Structural Adjustment|last = Hatem|first = Mervat F.|publisher = United Nations|year = 1994|isbn = 1856491013|pages = [https://archive.org/details/mortgagingwomens0000unse/page/41 41]|chapter = Privatization and the Demise of State Feminism in Egypt|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/mortgagingwomens0000unse/page/41}}</ref> The prime minister of the time, Hussein Serry Pasha, said that having a woman judge was "against the traditions of society".<ref name=":0" /> She sued the government on the grounds that her constitutional rights were violated.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url = http://egypttoday.com/blog/2013/11/20/aisha-rateb/|title = Aisha Rateb|date = 20 November 2013|access-date = 15 September 2015|website = Egypt Today|url-status=dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141216084912/http://egypttoday.com/blog/2013/11/20/aisha-rateb/|archive-date = 16 December 2014}}</ref> Her lawsuit was the first of its kind in Egypt, and when she lost the case, it was admitted by the head of State Council, Abdel-Razek al-Sanhouri, that she lost only because of political and cultural reasons,<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/620/fr2.htm|title = Women On the Bench|last = Elbendary|first = Amina|date = January 2003|journal = Al-Ahram|access-date = 15 September 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060102165756/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/620/fr2.htm|archive-date = 2 January 2006|issue = 620}}</ref> not based on Egyptian or sharia law.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url = http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/egyptsource/a-win-for-women-in-egypt-s-courts|title = A Win for Women in Egypt's Courts|last1 = Messieh|first1 = Nancy|date = 22 July 2015|work = Atlantic Council|access-date = 15 September 2015|last2 = Gaber|first2 = Suzanne}}</ref> The lawsuit and the written opinion of al-Sanhouri encouraged other women to follow suit, although none became judges until in 2003, when Tahani al-Gebali was appointed as a judge.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://womensenews.org/story/the-courts/030923/egypts-first-female-judge-may-remain-the-only|title = Egypt's First Female Judge May Remain 'The Only'|last = Khalil|first = Ashraf|date = 23 September 2003|work = Women's eNews|access-date = 15 September 2015}}</ref> In 2010, Egypt's prime minister ordered a review of a recent decision against allowing female judges.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125501126|title = Female Judges In Egypt Battle Against Old Ideas|last = Kenyon|first = Peter|date = 3 April 2010|work = NPR|access-date = 15 September 2015}}</ref> In July 2015, 26 women were finally sworn in as judges.<ref name=":4" />
==Political career== Rateb was part of the Arab Socialist Union's Central Committee in 1971, where she helped write the new constitution for Egypt.<ref name=":0" /> Of all of the committee members, she was the only one who objected to the "extraordinary powers that the Constitution granted to the then president Anwar al-Sadat".<ref name=":0" />
Afterwards, she served as Minister of Insurance and Social Affairs from 1974 to 1977, and was the second woman to hold that position.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|url = http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/2512/17/Obituary--Aisha-Rateb------------Women%E2%80%99s-struggle--one-champion-down.aspx|title = Obituary: Aisha Rateb (1928-2013) Women's Struggle: One Champion Down|last = Sami|first = Aziza|date = 9 May 2013|journal = Al-Ahram Weekly|access-date = 15 September 2015|issue = 1147|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124729/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/2512/17/Obituary--Aisha-Rateb------------Women%E2%80%99s-struggle--one-champion-down.aspx|archive-date = 4 March 2016|url-status = dead}}</ref> During her time there she was able to pass reforms for women in the country. Rateb was able to do this even while fundamentalist sheikhs tried to ruin her reputation.<ref>{{Cite book|title = A Woman of Egypt|last = Sadat|first = Jehan|publisher = Simon & Schuster|year = 1987|isbn = 0743237080|location = New York|pages = [https://archive.org/details/womanofegypt00jeha/page/360 360]|url = https://archive.org/details/womanofegypt00jeha/page/360}}</ref> Rateb went on to place restrictions on polygamy and ensure that divorce was only legal if it was witnessed by a judge.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url = http://en.aswatmasriya.com/news/view.aspx?id=f269efe9-f614-4c19-9c43-e017f2044e78|title = Egypt's First Female Ambassador Dies at 85|date = 5 May 2015|work = Aswat Masriya|access-date = 15 September 2015}}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> She also worked to help those in poverty, and passed a law to help employ the disabled.<ref name=":0" /> When the government lifted subsidies on essential goods, a move that would affect the poorest citizens in Egypt, she resigned protest in 1977 during the bread uprising.<ref name=":0" />
In 1979, Rateb was appointed as Egypt's first woman ambassador.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Women in Egyptian Public Life|last = Sullivan|first = Earl L.|publisher = Syracuse University Press|year = 1986|isbn = 0815623542|location = Syracuse, New York|pages = [https://archive.org/details/womeninegyptianp00sull/page/82 82]|url = https://archive.org/details/womeninegyptianp00sull/page/82}}</ref> As an ambassador, she led Egypt on a "balanced position in a world of highly polarised international relations".<ref name=":2" /> She was ambassador to Denmark from 1979 to 1981 and to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1981 to 1984.<ref name=":5" />
Rateb was critical of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak because she felt that his rule created a greater divide between the rich and poor.<ref name=":2" />
==Death== Rateb died in Giza after a sudden cardiac arrest in 2013.<ref name=":3" />
== See also == * First women lawyers around the world
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rateb, Aisha}} Category:20th-century Egyptian diplomats Category:20th-century Egyptian women politicians Category:20th-century Egyptian politicians Category:Cairo University alumni Category:Academic staff of Cairo University Category:Egyptian feminists Category:Egyptian lawyers Category:Egyptian women lawyers Category:Lawyers from Cairo Category:1928 births Category:2013 deaths Category:Politicians from Cairo Category:Diplomats from Cairo Category:Ambassadors of Egypt to West Germany Category:Ambassadors of Egypt to Denmark Category:Women ambassadors of Egypt Category:Egyptian political writers