MBN Celebrates International Women’s Day
Alhurra and Radio Sawa marked International Women’s Day with several features and programs dedicated to the challenges facing women in the Arab world.
Alhurra’s Hunna (Women’s Views) dedicated an entire episode to Women’s Day, focusing on four countries and the different struggles that women face in each of them. Regarding Saudi Arabia, they talked about the lack of education for women and the conservative nature of the country that can impede the rights of women. In Yemen, the Director of Sanaa Center for Studies stated that women are treated as second class citizens who do not have the same equality as men. An Egyptian activist discussed how Egyptian women are subjected to sexual harassment. The head of the Women’s Club at the Lebanese University stated that although it seems Lebanese women are liberated to the outside world, they are still subjected to unfair patriarchal laws.
Alhurra’s newscasts profiled the role of women in Tunisia and another report on the challenges facing women living in the Gaza Strip. The newscasts also highlighted a new law in Algeria that tightens sanctions on violence and the U.S. State Department’s Women of Courage award. Alhurra’s Al Youm focused on women in the business world, with a report that followed three successful businesswomen talking to them about their accomplishments in their respective fields. Another Al Youm report profiled Nancy El-Maghrebi who was named one of the best businesswomen in the Middle East. The program also interviewed a female rapper in Yemen.
Focus, an Alhurra program that takes Newshour reports and tailors them for an Arab audience, highlighted International Women’s Day. The first report profiled was Turkey, where women have enjoyed more independence as the country has grown and modernized, but Turkey’s domestic violence rates have also skyrocketed during the same period. Another report profiled the Philippines where women have become increasingly vulnerable to human traffickers.
Radio Sawa’s Sawa Magazine dedicated an episode to women to commemorate International Women’s Day. The daily program featured an international women’s summit being held in Kuwait; a look at single mothers in Morocco; the rights of women in Egypt and the U.N.’s look at gender equality. The program also profiled pioneering women asking them to talk about their aspirations, including a Egyptian politician, a Palestinian activist, a Jordanian anchor and an Algerian former minister.
MBN’s Afia Darfur interviewed several female activists about the role of women in Darfur.