New TV channel run exclusively by fully veiled women

[rug]

By Sarah El Sirgany, Special to CNN
updated 10:03 AM EDT, Tue July 31, 2012

CNN) -- After graduating from the mass communication department of Cairo University, Heba Seraq-Eddin couldn't find a job. Potential employers turned her down, she says, because of her veil. Heba wears the niqab, the black fabric that covers her whole face, except for the eyes.

"I used to tell them I won't appear on camera, my niqab won't be visible," recalls Serag-Eddin, trained as a director and camera operator. But there were no job offers and she felt that the networks rejected the very concept of the niqab in the workplace.

Then she came across an ad for a new TV channel called Maria, run exclusively by niqab-clad women. She was hired right away.

Maria, the first channel of its kind anywhere, kicked off with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on July 20. Until it gets more funding and staff, it's a daily four-hour broadcast on its mother channel, Al-Omma, an independent channel seen in the Middle East.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/31/world/africa/egypt-veiled-tv/index.html?iref=allsearch

Video at link.

[virgogal]

1. For some reason they often wear lots of makeup.

[formercia]

2. As long as they have nice eyes,

they can wear burlap for all I care.

[pennylane100]

3. Wow, I bet that will be a ton of laughs.

There is something seriously wrong, IIMHO, with women who want to spend their whole lives, covered from head to toe, to please either a man or a god. A childhood spent at convent schools taught me that.

[demosincebirth]

5. to please men and their society only. I don't think God care what you wear.

[pennylane100]

6. Well of course not.

We have no idea if there is a god and what his/her fashion tastes are. The point is that these confused women believe that, not only is he is real, they think he wants them to cover, up.

[demosincebirth]

4. Would an alert go up if one walked into...lets say...a Chase bank?

[cbayer]

7. Cool and good for them.

They are not letting the niqab stop them from doing what they want.

Visiting a country where many women were wearing them gave me a whole new perspective. The women, who mostly traveled in groups, seems perfectly comfortable, happy and, interestingly, free from any kind of sexual harassment whatsoever. It was enlightening.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. "Radio" ? What's that ? nt