Nejat al-Attar

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Syria's first woman minister.

Nejat al-Attar was the longest-serving woman minister in the Arab world, and Syria's first woman minister. She was appointed minister of culture in 1976 and served in all the governments named by the Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad, until her retirement from government after the reshuffle of March 2000. Attar comes from a respected Damascene family. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 1970. Her appointment in 1976 as a minister came during the Syrian regime's struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood, of which her brother, Isam al-Attar, had been the leader since 1957. Attar remained in her post even after the assassination attempt on her brother in 1981, which led to the death of his wife. She is known for her strong character, and served in the 1980s and 1990s as the mouthpiece of Asad. After retiring from government, Attar assumed the post of chairman of the board of trustees of Syria's first private and virtual university.

Bibliography

Roberts, David. The Baʿth and the Creation of Modern Syria. London: Croom Helm, 1986.

Seale, Patrick. Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

— KHALIL GEBARA