CAIRO — Ramadan TV dramas in Egypt are currently under fire from women’s organizations and human rights activists, who accuse film producers of neglecting to focus on successful role models and instead persistently distort the image of women and present them in the roles of erotic dancers, prostitutes, psychologically unwell people and so on. According to activists, their only objective in doing so is to make money and attract audiences, which leads to a distorted image of women.

Thus, it was no surprise when the National Council for Women announced June 12 the foundation of a committee dedicated to monitoring and observing depictions of women in TV programs, commercials and series during the month of Ramadan. The committee would also prepare a final assessment at the close of Ramadan that would issue recommendations in the hopes of effecting change in the status quo.

Dina Husayn, a member of the National Council for Women, stressed to Al-Monitor that the committee’s work is not only limited to dramatic productions, but extends to shows and commercials as well. She said, “From the first day of Ramadan, women’s images are being tarnished.”

She expressed her astonishment at the reprise of the role of the psychologically ill woman in numerous series this year. “The actress Yousra appeared in the series, ‘Above the Level of Accusations,’ playing the role of someone who had been psychologically ill since her youth, believing that everyone around her hated her and was seeking to exact vengeance against her. The actress Nelly Karim, who appeared in the series ‘Free Collapse,’ killed her husband and sister after the two of them betrayed her, and was committed to a psychiatric clinic. Actress Laila Elwi appeared in the series ‘Da Vinci and Her,’ where she is treated in a psychiatric clinic and copes with a personal demon that appears to her in the form of Da Vinci. There is also Ghada Abdel Razek in the series ‘Al-Khanka,’ which puts her in the Al-Khanka [psychiatric hospital] after a businessman’s son rapes her.”