Two of Egypt’s top women’s rights authorities have filed legal complaints against a television presenter on a private Saudi Arabian channel for content that they say promotes violence against women.
Prominent women’s rights activist Nehad Abol Komsan, who heads the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights, on Wednesday published a photo of the official complaint she filed with the country’s prosecutor general against MBC presenter Yasmine Ezz, whose statements about women’s role in the home put her at odds with Egypt’s feminist groups.
Ezz presents a nightly talk show on MBC Masr, Kalam El Nas (or Talk of the People) during which she interviews celebrities and discusses social issues. The 34-year-old presenter has repeatedly stirred up controversy with unsolicited advice on her talk show urging women to be more obedient to their husbands and continually asserting that women’s rights movements have gone too far and are destroying the family unit.
In one episode, she told viewers: "When did we forget to glorify our husbands? If your husband is named Mohamed, you can't just call him Mohamed, you have to call him Mr Mohamed."
In another episode, she urges wives to use their "winter voices" on their husbands, which by her own description denotes a "surrender to your husband that makes him feel that there is an innocence about you that you haven't lost".
Her comments are repeatedly criticised by those she interviews, most of whom are prominent celebrities.
In the complaint, Ms Abol Komsan, known for a moderate, religious brand of feminism that is much more palatable to Egypt’s conservative populace than more extreme takes on the subject, called on the National Council for Women (NCW), a state-affiliated centre for women’s rights, and the Journalists’ Syndicate to step in and halt broadcasting of Ezz’s show in Egypt.
NCW president Maya Morsy on Tuesday made a sharply critical social media post addressing “a female trend journalist on a non-Egyptian channel” in which she urged her to consider that what she broadcasts is being heard by a new generation of impressionable young men and women whose respect for each other could be seriously affected by it.
But Ezz was named in an official complaint filed by the NCW and submitted to the Egyptian Ministry of Information calling for the halting of her show in Egypt.
“Your children and grandchildren will see your statements and they will not be proud,” Ms Morsy wrote on Facebook. “Content published in the electronic sphere is a permanent mark on your person that will never go away.”
Ms Morsy urged her unnamed presenter to practise better journalistic ethics and called on the network who hosts her show to stop broadcasting “these kinds of jokes that cannot be called journalism”. She said that she believes the presenter says such things only to be shocking and to go viral on social media.
Later on Tuesday, Ezz made a scathing post of her own on her official Facebook page.
There she argued that she had the right to present what she thinks is correct on her talk show and that she knew and was proud that her children would see her show because “I say what I say to preserve the family unit”.
“I grew up in a stable family built on mutual respect and morality and I have always pledged to promote those values as a journalist,” Ezz wrote, “I am proud to be Egyptian. My society taught me these values and I have preserved them.”
Ms Morsy and Ms Abol Komsan’s positions on Ezz were backed by prominent members of Egypt’s arts world, including screenwriter Medhat El Adl, who applauded Ms Morsy in a Facebook post for “standing up to someone trying to send women back to the era of the harem”.
But there were those who defended Ezz too, including director Omar Zahran, who chastised Ms Morsy in a Wednesday Facebook post. He said Ezz is “merely promoting more respect between a man and his wife”.
THE%20HOLDOVERS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Places to go for free coffee
- Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day.
- La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
- Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
- Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)
Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14
Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)
Perera 47; Sohail 2-18
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203S%20Money%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20London%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Zhiznevsky%2C%20Eugene%20Dugaev%20and%20Andrei%20Dikouchine%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%245.6%20million%20raised%20in%20total%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
BRIEF SCORES:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
RESULT
West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' )
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72')
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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