About: Medieval Arabic female poets

In the surviving historical record, medieval Arabic female poets are few compared with the number of known male Arabic-language poets: there has been 'an almost total eclipse of women's poetic expression in the literary record as maintained in Arabic culture from the pre-Islamic era through the nineteenth century'. However, there is evidence that, compared with medieval Europe, women's poetry in the medieval Islamic world was 'unparalleled' in 'visibility and impact'. Accordingly, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, scholars have emphasised that women's contribution to Arabic literature requires greater scholarly attention.