Malika al-Fassi

Malika al-Fassi (, b. 19 June 1919 – d. 12 May 2007) was a Moroccan writer and nationalist. She was the only woman to sign the Proclamation of Independence of Morocco in 1944. She was a student of Abdeslam Serghini.

At a very young age she wrote articles under the pseudonym El Fatate, later after her marriage, under the pseudonym Bahitate El Hadira (researcher of the city), and not El Hadara (civilisation). At that time there was a well-known Egyptian journalist, Malak Hifni Nasif, who used the name Bahithat El Badiyya. Her articles appeared in Majellate El Maghrib of Saleh Missa and Rissalate El Maghrib of Said Hajji, and later in the daily newspaper El Alam, since 1934.

She also wrote plays which have been staged and some small novels, a.o. La Victime.

Biography

Malika Al Fassi was born on 19 June 1919 in Fez into the prominent . Her father, the Cadi El Mehdi El Fassi, wanted her to receive the same education as her two brothers since he believed education was important for increasing nationalist awareness.

Hawl taha-fut al-fatayat ‘ala-l-lisseh ("On Young Women Flocking to the Lycée"), al-Maghrib (1938) Ta‘lim al-fatah ("The Education of Girls") and Sawt al-fatah ("The Voice of Young Women"), al-Maghrib magazine (1938) al-Fatah al-Maghribiya bayn marahil al-ta‘lim ("Moroccan Women Between Phases of Education), Risalat al-Maghrib magazine (1952) Ta‘lim al-mar’a ("Women’s Education"), Risalat al-Maghrib (1952).

Books:

Dhikrayat bi-mathabat sira dhatiya ("Memories as Autobiography"), also published in a series of articles in al-Maghrib newspaper between May and June 1938