Hamida Khalil, the woman whose date of murder became Egyptian Women’s Day

CAIRO - 16 March 2021: Hamida Khalil was the first of six Egyptian women who were shot dead on March 16, 1919 by British soldiers while they were protesting colonialism. Today, the date marks the Egyptian Women’s Day. 

 

Here are some information about the first Egyptian woman to die at the hands of British occupation:

 

1- Hamida was born in Gamalia district in Cairo and was known as the “revolutionary girl.”

 

2- She joined protesters who gathered outside Hussein Mosque in Cairo and was one of 300 women who took to streets in the first female demonstration known in Egyptian history.

 

3- Four days after her murder, some 1,500 women organized an anti-colonialism protest.

 

March 16 was chosen as Egyptian women’s day as the beginning of decades of women’s struggle against colonialism and for their political and education rights.