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Jehan Sedat
If you are looking for some inspiration to uplift you and awaken the sleeping potential within you, then you need to get your tickets to see Jehan Sedat speaking live. A former first lady of Egypt, social activist, poet, author and lawmaker, Sedat's life story is the story of a woman who did everything in her power to make a positive change. She played a key role in the molding of modern-day Egypt and continues to work for a number of charities and organizations around the world.
Jehan Sedat was born into a moderately wealthy family with an Egyptian father and an English mother. Though she was raised a Muslim, she attended a Catholic school as a child, an experience which may have done much to shape her perspective on life and religion. At a young age, she became enamored with the stories of the young revolutionary Anwar Sedat, who was fighting for the freedom of Egypt from British Occupation. Jehan's cousin in particular would tell her stories about Sedat's heroism and loyalty.
As fate would have it, Jehan soon met Sedat in real life when she was 15. She was on vacation at the time and Sedat had just finished a term in jail. They were an unlikely couple, since Sedat was divorced, middle-aged and jobless at the time but the two eventually got married. This was done despite the objections of her family who did not like the idea of the young Jehan marrying Sedat.
But the marriage proved to be a strong one. During Anwar Sedat's tenure as President of Egypt, Jehan was his staunch supporter who used her influence as the first lady of the country to bring about a number of positive changes. Perhaps one of the most important things she accomplished was her ability to positively alter the conception that the world had about Arab women in the seventies. She also played a pivotal role in the shaping of the country's civil laws, especially those that concerned women's rights. These laws went on to be known as ‘Jehan's Laws' and granted women the right to alimony and custody of the children after a divorce.
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