Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician, and psychiatrist. Born on October 27, 1931, in a small village outside Cairo, she was educated alongside her brothers and sisters, an unusual practice at the time. She graduated from the University of Cairo Medical School in 1955, specializing in psychiatry. For two years, she practiced as a medical doctor at the university and in her native Tahla.

From 1963 until 1972, El Saadawi worked as Director General for Public Health Education for the Egyptian government and studied at Columbia University in New York, where she received her Master of Public Health degree in 1966.

She was the founder and president of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association and co-founder of the Arab Association for Human Rights. Her work encompassed numerous books focusing on women in Islam, tackling issues of sexuality, patriarchy, class, and colonialism. In 2004, she won the North–South Prize from the Council of Europe, and in 2005, the Inana International Prize in Belgium. The International Peace Bureau awarded her the 2012 Seán MacBride Peace Prize.