Al-Azhar includes women in public discussion of harassment, rights
For the first time, Al-Azhar’s newspaper published the photos of unveiled women on the front page of an edition devoted to women's issues.
CAIRO — The Sept. 5 front page of Sawt al-Azhar, the official newspaper of Egypt's Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, featured several women, some of them unveiled, discussing sexual harassment. The unprecedented publication was a shock to both religious and social circles but was widely welcomed by human rights and women's rights activists.
“This is amazing. I did not expect them to publish my photo. I was asked to give comments on Al-Azhar’s role vis-à-vis women and recommendations to this effect. All my comments were unedited and published in the article. I am really astonished,” Azza Soliman, head of the Centre for Egyptian Women Legal Assistance, told Al-Monitor.
Ahmed al-Sawi, Sawt al-Azhar’s editor-in-chief, told Al-Monitor that it was not the first time that the newspaper has published the photos of and writing by unveiled women writers.
Sawi told Al-Monitor that the newspaper’s front page is a statement against harassment.
