Rawya Ateya was an Egyptian who in 1957 became the first woman elected as a member of parliament in both Egypt and the entire Arab World. Women had only just been given the right to vote a year prior in Egypt, and despite the incredible mounting opposition to a woman running for parliament, managed to not only win her seat, but defeat a personal friend of then President Nasser in her election. Ateya used her experience as a member of the military to help gain support for her bid for parliament, having previously served in the Liberation Army as an officer. While in the military, she was the first woman in Egyptian history to serve in such a post and played an active role in the Suez War by training women to act as nurses. She would later be promoted to captain and win a various Egyptian military awards. While in Parliament Ateya fought to expand women’s rights through out Egypt, such as proposing maternity leave for women and attempting to put an end to polygyny through out the country. While she would lose her seat two years later in her re-election bid, she would return to parliament in 1984. To this day in Egypt, Ateya is still looked upon as a founding figure of the modern feminist movement through-out the Arab World.