The appearance of the first news anchor wearing hijab (Islamic headscarf) on State TV has been associated in the eyes of observers with the rise of Islamists that have brought to this country its first freely-elected president. The ban imposed by the media of the Mubarak regime keeping veiled women off screen, albeit allowing them key posts in the TV and Radio building is what actually made the appearance of Fatma Nabil into a news item, highlighted by local and international news agencies. In actual fact the ban was rather strange because women wearing such headgear in Egypt has been something normal for years, given the correlated social and religious connotations. With a large number of women wearing the headscarf, it was abnormal that this sector could not find themselves represented on screen as presenters and in soap operas. The point then is that not all hijab wearers are by association members of the Muslim Brotherhood or any other Islamist group. The commotion made about the first hijab-wearing woman anchor was unnecessary because her appearance has redressed a situation that did not express the mainstream of society. Even before the emergence of Islamists on the political arena, several veiled presenters had waged a legal war against the TV administration to allow them equal chances with their unveiled colleagues. Women wearing hijab in other fields, such as aviation and the diplomatic corps, also had a hard time under the former regime to prove that they can be as efficient as others and that outward appearance is a matter of personal freedom and human rights that has to be respected. While flight attendants of the national carrier lost their battle, it was claimed that veiled wives of diplomats meant that chances of promotion for their husbands were minor. However, if the case were reversed and women anchors were forced to wear the hijab, that would also make news because it simply violates recognised freedoms as granted by constitutional rights.
