Zulaykha al-Shihabi
زليخة الشهابي
Born: Jerusalem, Palestine
Domain: Civil Society & Religion
Recognition: REGIONAL
Biography
Zulaykha al-Shihabi (1903-1992) was a pioneer of the Palestinian women's movement and one of the foremost figures of organized civil society in Mandate-era Palestine. Born in Jerusalem in 1903 to a prominent family with deep Ottoman-era roots, she received an advanced education at the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, unusual for a woman of her time. In 1929 she was a founding member of the Arab Women's Association of Palestine, established in the wake of the first Arab Women's Congress, serving as its first treasurer. That same year she helped co-found the Arab Women's Society in Jerusalem, building the institutional foundations of Palestinian women's organizing around social welfare, education, and national rights. She became a long-serving leader of the Arab Women's Union in Jerusalem, devoting decades to charitable, educational, and political work. Her activism extended into the national struggle: after Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, she was among the first figures deported to Jordan, returning only after international and UN intervention to resume her leadership of the union. In 1965 she chaired the preparatory committee and oversaw the founding conference of the General Union of Palestinian Women, convening representatives from across Palestine and the diaspora, an effort that linked her early Mandate-era organizing to the later national framework of the PLO. Al-Shihabi's lifelong work made her a foundational figure in Palestinian women's civil society, bridging charitable association work, education, and national political mobilization across more than six decades.
Why This Person Matters
Al-Shihabi co-founded the earliest Palestinian women's organizations and led them for decades, making her a foundational pillar of women's civil society.