Rawya Shawa

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Rawya Rashad Said al-Shawa (December 1944 – July 3, 2017) was a Palestinian journalist and politician. She was one of the first group of women elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996 and served until 2017. Born in Gaza City, she came from a family involved in local politics; her father Rashad Shawa was the mayor of Gaza from 1972 to 1982, and her husband Aoun Saadi al-Shawa later became mayor as well. Rawya earned a literature degree from the American University in Cairo in 1964 and worked as a journalist for al-Nahar al-Maqdasiya and al-Quds. In 1996 she ran as an independent candidate in Gaza and was one of five women elected, becoming among the first female Palestinian MPs. She was re-elected in 2006 on the Independent Palestine list. Rawya Shawa died on July 3, 2017, in al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.