Patriarchal Structures in Nawal El Saadawi’s God Dies by the Nile

This study investigates the representation of patriarchal structures in Nawal El Saadawi’s God Dies by the Nile, focusing on how political authority, religious manipulation, gendered violence, and socio-economic inequality collectively sustain the oppression of women. Set in the rural Egyptian community of Kafr El-Teen, the novel depicts patriarchy as an institutionalised system reinforced by political power, cultural expectations, economic deprivation, and the manipulation of religious beliefs, rather than as mere individual male domination. Employing womanism as its primary theoretical framework, the study analyses the experiences of Zakeya and other female characters to reveal the interconnectedness of gender and class oppression. The analysis demonstrates that El Saadawi illustrates how powerful male figures exploit social institutions to legitimise their authority, silence women, and suppress challenges to established structures of domination. Simultaneously, the novel portrays women as individuals capable of awareness, resistance, solidarity, and confrontation, rather than as passive victims. The findings indicate that God Dies by the Nile presents women’s liberation as inseparable from broader social transformation. The study concludes that El Saadawi’s critique of patriarchy extends beyond gender relations to interrogate political corruption, economic exploitation, institutional injustice, and the ideological structures that perpetuate inequality. Through this representation, the novel advocates for a society based on justice, equality, human dignity, and the recognition of women as autonomous participants in social life.