(Cairo, July 26, 2020) On the occasion of the “Mary Asaad and Aziza Hussein” award that was launched by the National Committee on Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation, the late two women names were the guests of this week’s episode of “Hekayat Nehad” TV show, presented by Nehad Aboul Komsan, senior lawyer and chairwoman of ECWR.
At the beginning of the episode, Nehad noted that there are many influential female figures who sought to claim many rights for women, and among these figures were Mary Asaad, who fought to abolish female genital mutilation (FGM) – female circumcision – as it represents a crime against girls and women due to its serious physical and psychological health consequences. She explains an important stage of the struggle in 2002 when Mary Asaad went to the Ambassador Moushira Khattab -the Secretary-General of the National Council for Childhood Motherhood at that time – citing the speech of that there should be a program adopted by the government to work to reduce this phenomenon, and indeed the government adopted the national program to combat female genital mutilation. Since then, that was the beginning of all anti-FGM actions, and FGM was criminalized by law.
The second female figure, who also had an important role, is Mrs. Aziza Hussein, who is the first Arab woman to be nominated for the UN Women’s Committee, and the first woman to participate in setting the family planning agenda globally. She was also the first to talk about the reproductive health of women in Egypt, and her long struggle to change misconceptions on protecting women.
Aboul Komsan indicated that the National Committee against Female Genital Mutilation, led by the National Council for Women and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, launched this year a prize bearing the names Mary Asaad and Aziza Hussein, which is dedicated to people or associations with influence. The award was received by influential personalities such as Dr. Jamal Sorour, professor of women and obstetrics, and from civil society, the Society for Childhood and Development in Assiut.
A video call was conducted during the episode with Dr. Jamal, who won the Mary Asaad and Aziza Hussein award, and emphasized that FGM poses many dangers for young girls, most notably which is death. He added that the World Health Organization has proved that there are health and psychological risks for FGM victims, and that there is no religious basis for conducting this crime against women and girls. Efforts to work on this issue are beginning to show a decrease in the rates for young women, which has decreased to almost 50%.
A video call was also conducted with Professor Nesmat Al-Qousi, Director of the Society for Childhood and Development in Assiut, who also received the award, and confirmed that there is a decline in FGM practice, but it is still slow as there are some governorates that have not been addressed on in this issue, such as Luxor, which has a percentage of circumcision up to 100%. She demanded intensification of efforts to work in those areas.
In the part of “Our Lives after COVID-19”, Nehad affirmed that life after COVID-19 is different for university students, as the Supreme Council of Universities acknowledged that studying in theoretical colleges is only two days a week and in practical colleges three days, and the rest of the days will be online study. Nehad advised that this does not mean that the children are on vacation, but are still during a time of study, and an environment fit for study should be provided to assist them. Advice was also given to male and female students to not underestimate online studying and to take it seriously so that they are prepared for the job market after graduation.
“Hekayat Nehad” (Nehad’s Stories) is a television program concerned with women’s rights through simplifying all knowledge and information produced by civil society related to the empowerment of women in all political, economic, social and legal fields, as well as reducing violence. It includes a simple approach by incorporating engagement, exchange of knowledge and experience, interacting with the audience through questions. The program is shown on TV channel ‘Al Kahera Wal Nas’ every Saturday at 05:30 pm and is repeated five times on TV channel ‘Al Kahera Wal Nas’ (1) every Monday and Thursday at 12:00 pm and on TV channel ‘Al Kahera Wal Nas’ (2) every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday at 09:00 pm.
