CAIRO: After months of wrangling, women in Egypt are now officially permitted to wear the higab, or veil, while presenting television programs on the official state television. It ends decades of Egyptian government regulations that barred women from wearing anything to cover their hair. The first woman, on Sunday, to don the headscarf was Fatma Nabil, who appeared on Sunday to read the 12 o'clock bulletin. She is the first woman to appear with a veil on state TV in nearly 50 years since the state television was established. Women seem split over the move, while on one side they believe it is a woman's right to wear the veil, as former journalist and now researcher Fardous Hossam told Bikyamasr.com. “Women should be given the ability to wear whatever their choosing on television as long as it does not disrupt their job,” she said. But others, especially those part of the liberal and secular groups in the country say it is another push by the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic President Mohamed Morsi to establish a conservative Islamic agenda over the country. The battle to wear a headscarf on television dates to late last year, when a woman in Alexandria working for state TV had filed a lawsuit against the ministry of information demanding that she be allowed to wear the veil. The anchor, Lamiyaa al-Sayed sued the former minister, hoping to revoke the decision. An Egyptian court in Alexandria ruled in late December that female television hosts at the country's national state TV have the right to wear hijab, or the Islamic headscarf, as it does not “stand between the woman and her work and dose not pose any obstacles for the working women," but rather “conserves her dignity." The court fined the minister of information 20,000 Egyptian pounds for not allowing a veiled anchor to appear on air unless she takes off the veil. State TV, from its start in the 1960′s, had maintained a secular look, not allowing female anchors to appear with any religious symbols. The ministry of information had barred the Alexandria anchor from appearing on screen before she removed her veil in 2008. The administrative court said in its ruling that the hijab is a dress that covers a woman's body and “cherishes it and preserves her dignity as a Muslim committed woman," according to the state-run MENA news agency. “Hijab banning is an issue of personal and religious freedom and that is why the decision will be revoked and the plaintiff will be compensated for all financial and psychological damages she endured," read the decision. The landmark ruling opens doors of hope for other women who work for the government, such as Egypt Air hostesses, who are also forced to remove their headscarf before boarding planes. Women have complained over the years over their wish to work in the form they feel most comfortable with, but were met with obstacles. They were told that the company will look into allowing them to work in the hijab, but after the whole uniform is redesigned, a matter that was used to stall responding to the women.
