Navigating the First Mission of Motherhood: the Exclusion of Coptic Orthodox Women from Institutions of Communal Leadership, 1920-1960s

This paper explores women’s exclusion from Coptic institutions of governance between 1927-1961. Despite a growing consensus that Coptic institutions should represent and be chosen by the people, Coptic women were excluded from participation as voters and members. I argue that women’s exclusion from Coptic institutional governance was rooted in the deployment of paternalistic readings of scriptures and tradition alongside a popular current in Egyptian feminism that stressed the need to educate women so they could raise nationalist sons. These dynamics created a communal discourse that framed women’s position in society in terms of their place in the family, justifying institutional exclusion on the grounds that wives should be subservient to their husbands and should dedicate themselves to maternal responsibilities. In turn, Coptic women mobilized these expectations to demand inclusion given Coptic institutions’ role in family life, as well as to carve out alternative spaces of influence as educators and journalists.