It gives me great pleasure to honor Nawal El Saadawi, who has been such an inspiration and a role model in my life. My awareness of the numerous challenges that Arab women face grew from Nawal’s prolific work. I had left my country of birth—Lebanon—to escape the plight of my Arab sisters and to find out who I was away from the restrictions I had experienced as an adolescent. It was in the United States that I discovered Simone de Beauvoir, who opened my eyes to the plight of women all over the world. She inspired me to commit my research and writing to women’s issues and more specifically to Arab women’s problems. But it was Nawal El Saadawi who forced me to examine my own dilemmas and concerns. She was writing about the problems women in my part of the world were facing. Hers was the outspoken, eloquent voice...