Eugénie Le Brun

Eugénie Le Brun also known as Madame Rushdi (died October 16, 1908) was a French-born early Egyptian feminist intellectual, influential salon host, and close friend of Huda Sha'arawi.

Upon Rushdi completing his education in France, Le Brun returned with him to Cairo in 1892 to fulfill a string of prominent positions within the colonial Egyptian government.

[1] She argued that through careful investigation of the Koran and contrary to popular western belief, Islam could be a liberalizing force and afforded women many important rights.

The perceived abuses of women's marital rights that Le Brun witnessed in judge decisions would later be the main focus of her book, Harem et les Musulmanes.

Having experienced the harem lifestyle upon moving to Cairo, Le Brun believed western officials’ focus on ending the practice were misguided and instead was indicative of the larger social system on excluding upper-class women from the public sphere.

On one occasion, Le Brun remarked the topics ranged from feminism, cinematographe, the naiveté of Americans, the Boxer Rebellion, the interpretation of dreams, to Karl Marx.

After becoming widows or simply abandoned by their husbands, Le Brun found that most poor women did not have a social network to fall back on and must work instead.