The tradition of women's literary circles in the Arab world dates back to the pre-Islamic period when the eminent literary figure, Al-Khansa, would stand in the 'Ukaz market in Mecca, reciting her poetry and airing her views on the scholarship of others. From this, a culture of literary criticism emerged among Arab women, and under the Umayyad dynasty, Sukaynah Bint Al-Husayn established the first literary salon in her home.Khaldi, 2008, p. 58 The tradition was revived during the late nineteenth century, as a result of sweeping social, political and economic change within the Ottoman Empire and Europe's increasing political and cultural influence in the region. The initial pioneers of the Arab salon were women from wealthy families in the region of Syria and Egypt, who returned influenced by interaction with European women during their time spent studying abroad and frequenting Parisian salons, or studying in schools run by European or American missionaries. The salon evenings, run by women but attended by both men and women, provided a unique opportunity to have discussions about social, political and literary trends of the day. Though the tradition died out somewhat after the Second World War, it has left a lasting legacy on literary culture and women's issues throughout the Arab world.
Background to the nineteenth-century literary societies
Women and education
The educational reforms of the nineteenth century, a period of sweeping social, economic and political transition, resulted from various undercurrents occurring at different levels within the realms of the Ottoman Empire from the Mashreq (Greater Syria) to the Maghreb (North Africa). These trends were largely attributable to the increased European presence in the region and their secular ideas of modernity.
At a societal level, the arrival of Christian missionaries supported by the European and American governments led to the creation of a formal system of education for girls, who had until this period received little or no education. Initially, this took the form of private institutions attracting wealthy and mostly Christian families. However, as these schools became more socially acceptable and affordable, the idea trickled down to the middle classes before finally reaching out to the poor. Thus, a new norm was becoming increasingly prevalent; the idea that girls should receive an education so as to afford them better marriage prospects, and more importantly, to provide them with adequate means in which to educate their children.Lattouf, 2004, pp. 62-63 At this point in time, the range of subjects offered to women was limited. However women seized these opportunities to learn, and showed admirable drive and determination. By the middle of the century, a sense of "...awareness and obligation for intellectual and social consciousness, especially the appreciation of women's plight, and the struggle for a voice in society became visible and public."Lattouf, 2004, p. 67 A notable example of the contribution of Western missionaries to increasing educational opportunities for women was the work of Daniel and Abby Maria Bliss, an American couple who moved to Beirut in 1866 and subsequently set up the Syrian Protestant College (which later became the American University of Beirut). In 1905, a nursing programme that accepted applications from women was established, and in 1924, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences opened its doors to female students.Lattouf, 2004, p. 70
The rumblings of reform taking place within Ottoman society reached the Sultanate, and were eventually echoed at an institutional level. The Ottoman regime, in order to counteract the threat of political and religious influence from the Christian missionary schools and due to the realisation that the empire could not hope to survive without learning the modern natural sciences, began to implement its own reforms (tanzimat). According to the Arab historian, Eugene Rogan, the reforms introduced by the Sultanate had little effect on the subjects of the empire. However, by the 1850s and 1860s, the fruits of reform were visible in the daily life.Rogan, 2009, p. 90
The third (and arguably the most important) current that led to the existence and improvement of women's education in the nineteenth and early twentieth century was due to European colonialism and its legacy. Napoleon's short-lived occupation of Egypt (1798–1801) was relatively unsuccessful by French standards. However, their revolutionary ideas and imports in the field of technology and education were to prove more durable in Egypt and the rest of North Africa.Rogan, 2009, pp. 61-64 Under the leadership of Muhammad 'Ali, an admirer of French innovation and technology, interactions and exchanges between Egypt and France in the cultural, academic and scientific fields increased during his reignRogan, 2009, "The Egyptian Empire of Muhammad 'Ali", pp. 61-83 Indeed, it was not just male students who spent time abroad. Notable Arab hostesses or salonnières such as Mayy Ziyadah spent time in France, and the Egyptian feminist and occasional hostess of salon evenings, Huda Sha`arawi, used to grant scholarships to writers enabling them to study in Europe at her own expense.Zeidan, 1995, pp. 50-53 Ideas of educational reform and feminism were also occurring elsewhere in the Arab world, with the Syrian writer and scholar, Butrus al-Bustani (1819–1883) in Lebanon among the first to advocate women’s right to education in 1847.AUC Critical Reference Guide. American University in Cairo Press, 2008 p. 6 Two decades later in Tunisia, the reformist, Ahmed Kheireddine, stressed the importance of women's education in the running of households and raising children. This was a small, but crucial step in the emancipation of women in society. Later in Egypt, after the British had occupied EgyptCromer, 1908, p. 124 of Egypt they also contributed to the reform of women's education. In his work entitled, Modern Egypt, Lord Cromer, who had served for almost thirty years as High Commissioner of Egypt, "...by confining the sphere of women's interest to a very limited horizon, cramps the intellect and withers the mental development of one-half of the population in Moslem countries.".Cromer, 1908, pp. 155-156
The European powers at that time aimed to establish an Arab elite class that supports their colonization policies in the Arab World. Therefore, education was made more accessible for those who were ready to detach from their cultural roots and embrace that of the colonial powers. This strategy was common in almost all the places that colonialism existed. Arab people still hold the perception that their leaders, whose families gained power from that time, are puppets to the western powers and that feeling may have stemmed from that period of time. Therefore, many Arabs believe that colonialism had a very bad effect on the political, cultural, social, and economic life of the vast majority of the Arab people.
By 1924, when the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut began accepting applications from women, the norm that "Knowledge rather than ignorance preserves women's dignity and morality" had been firmly established. In the face of confinement and exclusion from the formal education system, middle-class women overcame their exclusion and marginalisation from society, holding informal literary or study circles in their family homes.Lattouf, 2004, p. 51 Moreover, women such as Mayy Ziyadah and Mary 'Ajami went on to pursue higher education in Europe, returning to set up well-known salons and contributing immeasurably to literary circles, print and production in the Arab world.
Women and the public sphere At the turn of the nineteenth century, the idea of the harem continued to linger in many Arab societies. Women of the urban middle and upper classes were confined to the domestic sphere, and the vast majority remained unseen and unheard in public life. Necessity afforded female members of the lower and rural classes slightly more 'freedom', as they were needed to work the land in order to support their families. Women's issues began to emerge from the background - albeit slowly - in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with the likes of Qāsim Amin (1863–1908)'Imarah, Muhammad "Qāsim Amin wa-tahrir al-mar'ah". al-Mu'assasah al'Arabiyyah lil-Dirasat wa-al-Nashr, 1980 calling the seclusion of women an 'injustice' and advocating partial empowerment of women. However, the majority of prominent feminist writers were men, and the presence of women activists in the public sphere was virtually non-existent. The salon and its male participants, many of whom were well-known intellectuals, provided them with a means in which to express their ideas and opinions in private, whilst accessing the male-dominant public sphere through their lively discussions and debates.Zeidan, 1995, p. 44 In her thesis entitled 'Arab Women Going Public: Mayy Ziyadah and her Literary Salon in a Comparative Context', Boutheina Khaldi remarks that women of the salons overcame the obstacle of gender inequality "by bringing public men into their private salons and hence creating a public sphere from the very heart of the private one."Khaldi, 2008, p. 62 The essays and letters produced by hostesses and participants of the salons on the topics discussed also had a considerable impact on society at the time, and in particular, the nurturing of the Arab Renaissance and women's emancipation. The publication of letters by is interpreted by Jürgen Habermas in his writing on the public sphere as bridging the gap between the private sphere in which women gathered, and the public sphere that they sought to shape and conquer.
Women and the Arab cultural renaissance
The Arab Renaissance (al-Nahda or ) was an endeavour to reach a compromise between contemporary practices similar to those in Europe and a shared Arab heritage, in the hope of shaping a new vision for an Arab society in transition. The relationship between women's literary salons and the Arab Awakening, as it was also referred to, is of paramount importance. Not only were meetings of literary figures an integral part of the Renaissance, but from the beginning of the Arab Renaissance in the nineteenth century, women came to realise the strong bonds between the literary-cultural, social and political, and that the literary movement was key to liberating the 'collective consciousness' from the traditional norms that had stunted their progress. Men also began to acknowledge the importance of women's emancipation to national liberation and development at this time,Ashour et al., 2008, p. 14 and there is no doubt that increased interactions between male and female intellectuals within literary circles made an invaluable contribution. One of the first men to write about the liberation of women was Qāsim Amin, an influential literary figure at the turn of the twentieth century, argued for the emancipation of women for the sake of the Arab Renaissance, as did al-Tahtawi. Both of these men frequented Mayy Ziyadah's salon in Cairo. Thus women's desire for emancipation and men's nationalist dreams became the keystone in the advancement of society.