Lekaa El Kholy, Woman Mechanic Fixes Wheels and Stereotypes in Egypt; Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Hailing Her as The Upper Egypt’s First Female Motor Mechanic
New
Age Islam News Bureau
06
January 2021
•
Loujain Al-Hathloul’s Nearly Six Years of Prison: Saudi Prince’s Strategy on
Women’s Rights Is Doomed To Fail
•
Tunisia to Enlist Women into the Army
•
Online Quranic Course for Women Underway in Iraq’s Najaf
•
How Female Politicians In Turkey's Ruling Party Help Strengthen Patriarchy
•
Balochistan Awami Party’s Nusrat Shaheen Elected Senator Unopposed On Vacant
Seat
•
Egypt’s First Female Motor Mechanic Defies Conservative Norms
•
Pakistan’s Entertainment Industry Is Finally Confronting Its Sexual Harassment
Problem
•
Health Ministry Makes An All Out Effort To Get Women In The UAE To Stay Fit
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/lekaa-el-kholy-woman-mechanic/d/123998
--------
Lekaa
El Kholy, Woman Mechanic Fixes Wheels and Stereotypes in Egypt; Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi Hailing Her as The Upper Egypt’s First Female Motor Mechanic
By
Srimoyee Chowdhury
Jan
05, 2021
Lekaa El Kholy, 24, has been fixing cars for more
than a decade in the village of Esna and has captured national attention (Facebook)
-----
Lekaa
El Kholy’s father used to rub a little blackened engine oil onto her face and
tell her to wear overalls when they went to the Egyptian city of Luxor to buy
supplies for his car repair workshop.
It
was his way of showing people his daughter was a mechanic just like him, and of
confronting deep-rooted beliefs about gender roles that keep all but a few
women out of traditionally male professions in socially conservative Egypt.
Today,
El Kholy, 24, has been fixing cars for more than a decade in the village of
Esna and has captured national attention - with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
hailing her as the Upper Egypt region’s first female motor mechanic.
This
month, she opened her own car maintenance centre in nearby Luxor and is also
helping other aspiring female mechanics enter the male-dominated trade,
especially those facing social or family pressures over their career choice.
“It’s
not only about achieving my career dreams but also giving a helping hand to other
women who are facing social challenges to become mechanics,” El Kholy said in
her office, her late father’s portrait standing on a desk behind her.
She
said she had been lucky because her father, who died in 2016, had supported her
since she first showed a passion for the profession at the age of 11.
“I’m
sure there are many other women out there who are passionate about the job but
don’t find adequate support and help,” El Kholy told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
According
to the 2015 Global Gender Gap Index, Egypt ranks low in gender equity compared
to other nations.
The
Index, which measures disparities between men and women across countries,
ranked Egypt 136th out of 145 nations and noted that only about a quarter of
Egyptian women have paid jobs compared with nearly 80% of men. El Kholy has
been organising training workshops for women interested in car maintenance in
her hometown and in Tanta, a city north of Cairo where she used to work in a
repair business.
So
far, about 20 women have taken part and El Kholy said she planned to hire some
of them at her new centre.
“From
my training experience with men and women, I can confidently say that women are
far better because they are more passionate about anything new they do,” she
said.
One
of El Kholy’s students, Nourhan Ahmed, 25, is already working at the car
maintenance centre.
Ahmed
said she had always loved cars and wanted to learn about vehicle maintenance -
either for a possible job or for when she buys own car - but had never been
able to find courses aimed at women.
Alongside
her efforts to help other women enter the profession, El Kholy has ambitious
plans for her business and hopes to open several branches in Egypt and even
launch a brand that can be franchised abroad.
“This
is a dream for me and I believe that I will achieve it one day,” she said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/it-s-viral/woman-mechanic-fixes-wheels-and-stereotypes-in-egypt/story-k1IENlm0zXhtIoHW4FdWPN.html
--------
Loujain
Al-Hathloul’s Nearly Six Years of Prison: Saudi Prince’s Strategy on Women’s
Rights Is Doomed To Fail
January
5, 2021
Loujain Al-Hathloul
------
Saudi
Arabia won points by easing some of its restrictions on women, but it’s now at
risk of losing them, and then some, after imprisoning the very woman whose
activism led to the rollbacks.
Last
week, an anti-terror court slapped Loujain al-Hathloul, one of the kingdom’s
most prominent women’s rights activists, with nearly six years of prison time
for endangering national security and seeking to change the country’s political
system.
Her
real offense was her agitation itself — in particular, talking to foreign
journalists and embassies about women’s rights. She had famously called for a
ban on women driving to be lifted; in 2018, it was.
Al-Hathloul
“was charged, tried and convicted using counter-terrorism laws,” her sister,
Lina al-Hathloul, points out. “My sister is not a terrorist, she is an
activist. To be sentenced for her activism for the very reforms that MBS [Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman] and the Saudi kingdom so proudly tout is the
ultimate hypocrisy.”
Loujain
al-Hathloul has been in pre-trial detention since 2018, where she’s endured
several stretches of solitary confinement and, she alleges, has been tortured
and sexually assaulted, along with other female activists.
Her
case points up the tightrope MBS is trying to walk: He’s aiming to appease
activists and the West by easing some of the kingdom’s repressive laws while
also catering to supporters of those laws and punishing the activists. That’s
bound to fail, creating martyrs out of some activists — ratcheting up pressure
for more change — even as limited reforms infuriate the old guard.
The
prince needs to figure out a better way to shepherd his nation into the 21st
century. And do it quickly: President-elect Joe Biden has vowed not to give
Saudi Arabia “a blank check” on its “disastrous” policies, including targeting
female activists. Best for US-Saudi relations, and for Saudi women, if MBS
moves fast.
https://nypost.com/2021/01/05/saudi-princes-strategy-on-womens-rights-is-doomed-to-fail/
--------
Tunisia
to enlist women into the army
January
5, 2021
Tunisia
is set to propose a bill which would see women conscripted into the army, the
Ministry of Defence announced.
Set
to be presented to the House of Representatives, the bill will include
mandatory military service for both men and women in an effort to achieve
further equality between the sexes.
This
comes as the country faces an economic crisis and terror attacks.
All
men over the age of 20 are eligible for military service in Tunisia and this
obligation remains until the age of 35. Those under 20 who wish to enlist must
provide permission from their parents. However there has been a reluctance
among nationals to serve in the military leading officials to make the laws more
flexible.
According
to the 2020 population census, women outnumber men in Tunisia, with a little
over 50 per cent of the population female.
The
Tunisian army was classed the 11th most powerful army in the Middle East and
North Africa according to Global Firepower. With neighbours Algeria and Morocco
coming fourth and seventh in the ranking respectively.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210105-tunisia-to-enlist-women-into-the-army/
--------
Online
Quranic Course for Women Underway in Iraq’s Najaf
January
06, 2021
According
to quran.imamali.net, Zaman Al-Ibrahimi, head of the center, said that the
course started at the beginning of the new academic year.
The
registration for the course was completed in five days and the applicants’
Quranic skills and knowledge were evaluated in six days.
A
total of 360 women from different parts of Iraq as well as other countries have
participated in the Quranic educational program.
The
participants practice Quran memorization and learn how to solve problems in the
way of learning the Quran by heart.
The
course is held six days a week via WhatsApp and will take two years to
complete.
Quranic
activities have significantly developed in Iraq since the 2003 overthrow of
former dictator Saddam Hussein.
There
has been a growing trend of Quranic programs such as competitions, recitation
sessions and educational programs held in the country in recent years.
https://iqna.ir/en/news/3473622/online-quranic-course-for-women-underway-in-iraq%E2%80%99s-najaf
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How
female politicians in Turkey's ruling party help strengthen patriarchy
Pinar
Tremblay
Jan
5, 2021
People
in Turkey are routinely strip searched while being taken into custody over a
tweet, visiting family members in prison or simply because they were in the
wrong place at the wrong time, such as in a dormitory. This is a humiliating
experience, a form of sexual harassment that usually creates too much
embarrassment for survivors to speak out in public. Strip searches have
increased since the 2013 Gezi protests, and parliament has been made aware of
the issue multiple times. In 2018, for example, the Ministry of Justice
answered the allegations of strip searches, saying, “We didn’t conduct a
search. They (those in custody) stripped naked on their own.”
Over
the last couple of weeks, Turkish social media has been rocked by hundreds of
women speaking out on video about their own experiences with strip searches.
Most of these women are hijabis. Indeed, Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a lawmaker
from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), brought the matter to the
public eye in mid-September after thirty college students were taken into
custody in Usak province and strip searched.
Not
many people seemed to care until these women organized and spoke in front of
cameras about their and their children’s horrifying experiences.
In
response to Gergerlioglu’s statement, Ozlem Zengin, a lawmaker from the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP), said, “I have not seen any other lawmaker
who terrorizes the parliament [as much as Gergerlioglu does].” When asked to
elaborate on what she meant, Zengin said “Whenever [Gergerlioglu] speaks in
parliament, he always talks about his own agenda. I do not believe there are
strip searches in Turkey. It doesn’t happen.”
“And
the women he talks about are pious Muslim women. Can we allow such treatment of
them? My whole life is dedicated to the women’s movement. Can we tolerate one
woman to be treated like this?” she added.
Zengin’s
blatant denial is embedded in her emphasis on "pious" women. She refers
to the fact that these women are hijabis, and the treatment of such women
cannot be permitted. Zengin's sentence insinuates that all women are not equal
before the law or in the eyes of law enforcement. She and other AKP figures
frequently remind the public about the grievances of the headscarf ban and
divide the society further as “us” (Islamists) and others. Any criticism about
their income and spending is promptly shielded with the defense that these
women are pious.
Women’s
rights have significantly regressed in Turkey over the last two decades. We
have to ask: What have the women in power — AKP’s female representatives — done
about this?
Ayse
Acar Basaran, an HDP deputy and spokesperson for the party’s Women's Council,
told Al-Monitor, “Just being a woman, as a biological attribute, is not
sufficient; the mentality about female consciousness is crucial. We need more
women who are willing to be involved in the women’s movement. For example,
during the budget talks at the parliament recently, I said, ‘This is a
male-minded budget that ignores female identity,’ and I got opposition from
other [female] deputies. It is not easy to be involved in politics. Women, if
they are organized independently, can act and lead as women politicians.”
We
observe Basaran’s comments frequently in Turkish politics, where female
politicians in the AKP and its ultra nationalist ally Nationalist Movement
Party are either invisible or in denial about women’s problems. From time to
time, when there is public outrage about a women’s brutal murder, female
politicians come out and express their condolences.
Eren
Keskin, vice president of Turkey’s Human Rights Association and a prominent
attorney, told Al-Monitor, “Since 1997, we have had 758 women asking for our
help as survivors of sexual attacks. Perpetrators generally are soldiers,
police and other men in uniform. None have been punished. Some cases have been
taken to the ECHR and found justice there.” For each case about sexual and
physical violence against women, all we hear from the AKP’s female politicians
is that “they will follow the case closely.”
The
AKP has 54 female lawmakers (the AKP's total share out of the 584-deputy
parliament is 289); six of them have never spoken or sought to introduce a bill
to the floor.
The
AKP’s female deputies frequently make statements that raise eyebrows. In 2016,
Sema Ramazanoglu, then family minister, held a press conference to answer
questions about sexual harassment cases involving 45 minors at Ensar Schools, a
religious endowment. Her statements seemed more concerned about the reputation
of the endowment than the accusations. Referring to the rape incidents, she
uttered, “[If it happens] only once, it should not mean anything.”
Huda
Kaya, another HDP deputy, told Al-Monitor, “Patriarchy is a mindset. Despotism,
arrogance really does not have a gender. A man or woman with this mindset can
reflect the scariest forms of fanaticism. There are women in all aspects of
life that fail to fight against patriarchy because it has permeated society like
a poison.”
Remziye
Tosun, an HDP lawmaker, complemented Kaya’s statement as she told Al-Monitor,
“Women have to be organized. The Kurdish women’s movement is targeted because
they know we have solidarity to support each other. It is not just the freedom of
expression, but that of assembly and association is crucial to battle against
patriarchy.”
It
must be difficult for the AKP’s female members to criticize physical violence.
In 2017, the AKP’s female lawmakers brutally attacked opposition parties’
female members. One of those attacked, Safak Pavey, had to be hospitalized as
her prosthetic arm was removed.
Every
women's day march or another women's protest against violence is met with
police brutality. The AKP’s female deputies never join these marches or acknowledge
women’s suffering.
The
AKP was carried on the shoulders of women in the early 2000s when they
campaigned vigorously door to door. However, women’s rights for AKP’s female
elites — either in government or in nongovernmental organizations such as the
Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) — have been stuck on the issue of
headscarves. The right to wear a headscarf as a public employee has been one of
the AKP’s major accomplishments, which could not have been possible without the
achievements of the feminist movement in Turkey. Since then, however, it has
become a shield to silence all criticism.
Ayse
Cavdar, anthropologist and journalist, told Al-Monitor, “[The] AKP’s hijabi
representatives try to justify all the wrong actions of the government today
with their battle for the right to wear the headscarf. This behavior pattern
jeopardizes not only the legitimacy of the political power they hold today, but
also their own histories — of those battles for freedom of religion (which
includes not only of worship, practice and teaching, but also that of dress
codes), human rights and women’s rights. This leaves a bitter legacy for the
future."
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/01/turkey-why-female-akp-lawmakers-strengthen-patriarchy.html
--------
Balochistan
Awami Party’s Nusrat Shaheen Elected Senator Unopposed On Vacant Seat
Saleem
Shahid
06
Jan 2021
QUETTA:
A political worker of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Nusrat
Shaheen, was on Tuesday elected unopposed a member of the Senate in the
by-election on a vacant seat of the upper house of parliament from Balochistan.
The
seat had fallen vacant after the death of three-time elected senator from
Balochistan on tickets of different political parties, Kalsoom Parveen. She
died after getting infected by Covid-19 last month.
Ms
Shaheen will enjoy the Senate membership just for 57 days as the term of this
Senate seat will end on March 11.
According
to the Provincial Election Commissioner, Balochistan, only two female
candidates — Nusrat Shaheen and Rita Kumari — had filed their nomi-nation
papers after schedule for the by-election on the vacant seat was announced.
However,
Rita Kumari later withdrew her nomination papers before the polling date which
was Jan 4.
The
Provincial Election Commissioner, Balochistan, Mohammad Razzaq, on Tuesday
announced the result of the by-election on the Senate seat.
“Ms
Nusrat Shaheen of Balochistan Awami National Party (BAP) has been elected
unopposed senator on the vacant seat of Senate from Balochistan,” the election
commissioner announced.
Nusrat
Shaheen had joined the BAP last year and worked as a worker in the party. Many
active party female leaders were interested in the Senate seat, but BAP
president and Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani had awarded the party ticket
to Ms Shaheen.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1599957/baps-nusrat-shaheen-elected-senator-unopposed-on-vacant-seat
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Egypt’s
first female motor mechanic defies conservative norms
05
January 2021
Lekaa
El Kholy’s father used to rub a little blackened engine oil onto her face and
tell her to wear overalls when they went to the Egyptian city of Luxor to buy
supplies for his car repair workshop.
It
was his way of showing people his daughter was a mechanic just like him, and of
confronting deep-rooted beliefs about gender roles that keep all but a few
women out of traditionally male professions in socially conservative Egypt.
Today,
El Kholy, 24, has been fixing cars for more than a decade in the village of
Esna and has captured national attention - with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
hailing her as the Upper Egypt region’s first female motor mechanic.
This
month, she opened her own car maintenance center in nearby Luxor and is also
helping other aspiring female mechanics enter the male-dominated trade,
especially those facing social or family pressures over their career choice.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“It’s
not only about achieving my career dreams but also giving a helping hand to
other women who are facing social challenges to become mechanics,” El Kholy
said in her office, her late father’s portrait standing on a desk behind her.
She
said she had been lucky because her father, who died in 2016, had supported her
since she first showed a passion for the profession at the age of 11.
“I’m
sure there are many other women out there who are passionate about the job but
don’t find adequate support and help,” El Kholy told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
The
Index, which measures disparities between men and women across countries,
ranked Egypt 136th out of 145 nations and noted that only about a quarter of
Egyptian women have paid jobs compared with nearly 80 percent of men. El Kholy
has been organizing training workshops for women interested in car maintenance
in her hometown and in Tanta, a city north of Cairo where she used to work in a
repair business.
So
far, about 20 women have taken part and El Kholy said she planned to hire some
of them at her new center.
“From
my training experience with men and women, I can confidently say that women are
far better because they are more passionate about anything new they do,” she
said.
One
of El Kholy’s students, Nourhan Ahmed, 25, is already working at the car
maintenance center.
Ahmed
said she had always loved cars and wanted to learn about vehicle maintenance -
either for a possible job or for when she buys own car - but had never been
able to find courses aimed at women.
Alongside
her efforts to help other women enter the profession, El Kholy has ambitious
plans for her business and hopes to open several branches in Egypt and even
launch a brand that can be franchised abroad.
“This
is a dream for me and I believe that I will achieve it one day,” she said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2021/01/05/Egypt-s-first-female-motor-mechanic-defies-conservative-norms
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Pakistan’s
Entertainment Industry Is Finally Confronting Its Sexual Harassment Problem
By
Neha Maqsood
Jan
6, 2021
The
blurring of personal boundaries has long been accepted as an integral part of
art, but cases like Meesha Shafi’s and others are challenging that perception.
It
goes without saying that acting is an inherently odd profession. You are put in
a room with a group of people you’ve never met before but are now expected to
be completely vulnerable with. Actors, writers, directors, and producers face a
quiet responsibility to nurture an intimate working relationship to allow for
greater creative breakthrough. Artists also spend a large proportion of their
time separated from the outside world. These blurred personal boundaries enable
the perpetuation of the existing systems of exploitation within the acting
industry.
Ahmed
Majeed Agloria, a Pakistani method artist who trained at Lee Strasberg,
explains how the notion of a set or stage becoming an “alternate reality or
another dimension without consequences leads to the blurring of lines, a
phenomenon particularly taken advantage of in patriarchal countries like India
or Pakistan.”
When
I was 17, I was cast in a play in Karachi at the Arts Council. During one of
our night shows, I had fumbled my stage direction and exited the stage from
where I wasn’t supposed to. As I quickly shuffled off, the director grabbed a
chunk of my hair and yanked me back roughly. Unable to express nor understand
what had just happened, I went straight home after the show finished and wept.
For
many other Pakistani-Muslim women, choosing to step into the media industry also
means that they become subjects that viewers can simultaneously objectify and
impose questions of morality upon. This makes it further complicated for these
women to find redressal.
Shahana
Jan, a Pakistani-American actor and content creator, spoke about how even when
certain advances and moments made her feel uncomfortable, she’d “often have to
shrug it off and act like it didn’t happen.”
“In
my mind, I would hear people say, ‘Well, she’s in the media – why’d she put
herself in that position in the first place?’”
The
burden of maintaining a professional and cordial working relationship thus
falls onto the women. A female makeup artist who wished to remain anonymous
revealed the measures she takes to protect herself within the industry – from
avoiding being “overfriendly” to never giving out her number and refusing to
mingle with the crew after rehearsals – the latter being a space where she
believes things become murky.
Actress
Hina Altaf recently spoke out about how closeness on film sets is exploited. On
the talk show, To Be Honest, she said her co-star Faisal Rehman would use
intimate scenes to become “too romantic” with her. “For instance, if you hold a
finger in a scene, this man will just grab your arm.”
Jan
explains how cultures that enable such behavior occur are created at the top.
“Many producers were involved in creating an environment that wasn’t just
predatory and unsafe for young women but also fostered traits of toxic
masculinity in young men – validating certain behaviours to make us feel that
this was okay and that if we said anything, we were overreacting.”
Unfortunately,
very few film, theatre, advertisement studios, and production houses within
Pakistan have an operational Human Resource department or a governing body
equipped to handle misconduct allegations. Due to the immense ramifications of
filing misconduct allegations – losing out on critical job opportunities or
getting boycotted by the industry – women are extremely unlikely to report
their harassers. And if they do come forward with their stories, they find
themselves inadvertently becoming centres of speculation, upon whom moral
investigations are conducted. Oftentimes, to sustain one’s livelihood and
pursue the work one’s passionate about, many actors are forced to collaborate
with their abusers and harassers.
In
October 2017, the #MeToo movement that called out the widespread gender
discrimination and sexual harassment within the Hollywood entertainment
industry also made its way to Pakistan. It provided a platform for media
artists to come forward with their stories. Unfortunately, the stories of those
who worked behind the camera – production assistants, makeup artists, grips –
were not brought to the forefront despite the crew forming perhaps the most
essential part of any production.
The
most prominent of these stories was that of singer Meesha Shafi, who alleged
sexual harassment against fellow singer Ali Zafar. Following her statement, a
handful of Pakistani women came forward sharing similar incidents of Zafar’s
inappropriate behavior. However, as Shafi went public with her claim, she faced
immense backlash and was shamed incessantly on social media. It worked to only
further highlight the misogynistic attitudes still ubiquitous among the masses
and the social and emotional cost of coming forward with such statements.
Sajeer
Shaikh, an editor at the digital publication, Mangobaaz, explained that terms
like “harassment and sexual assault are new to our (Pakistan’s) vocabulary
which makes it difficult to articulate what’s happening.” Unfortunately, in
Pakistan where tradition and honour heavily prevail, many continue to question
the veracity of sexual harassment allegations.
During
productions, the cast and crew are thrown together and told that they’re one
big happy family and that everything goes. But perhaps that is a flawed way of
looking at things. Roles, job descriptions, and boundaries should be more
clearly defined – the job of the director should remain principally to direct
and the actor to deliver accordingly. Those overseeing the production, from
casting directors and producers to stage managers and financiers, must ensure
greater accountability and consequences for misdemeanour on set. Before any
production is given the green light, harassment policies must be outlined to
the entire crew and made clear that such behaviour would not be tolerated in
order to ensure that every person feels protected.
Acting
is a fabulous profession that manages to stop the flurry of the world around
you, albeit for a minute. But in order to preserve that wondrous and surreal
feeling more often for female actors, the dynamics and structures within the
world of acting need to be thoroughly reformed.
Neha
Maqsood is a Pakistani multimedia journalist whose writing on race-relations, global
feminism, and South Asian culture has been published in Metro UK, Foreign
Policy, Al Jazeera, Business Insider, Buzzfeed India, Byline Times, and other
places. Her debut poetry book, Vulnerability, was awarded the 2019-2020
Hellebore Poetry Scholarship Award and will be published by Hellebore Press in
2021. You can follow her online @ItsNehaMaqsood.
https://theswaddle.com/pakistans-entertainment-industry-is-finally-confronting-its-sexual-harassment-problem/
--------
Health
ministry makes an all out effort to get women in the UAE to stay fit
January
06, 2021 11:47
Suchitra
Bajpai Chaudhary
Dubai:
The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has launched its public outreach
campaign titled ‘Together we Move” to promote physical activity among women
from all ages, by equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge and
helping them adopt healthy lifestyles to be protected from different diseases
and to enhance their mental well-being and positive energy.
The
two-month campaign is in line with the UAE Government’s Community Design
Initiative for the Quality of Life and MoHAP’s Strategic Framework for
Happiness and Wellbeing initiative, which was launched during the Innovation
month in 2019.
The
campaign includes direct interviews with social media influencers,
awareness-raising videos and posters, outdoor ads in Sharjah, Global Village
and City Walk in Dubai, indoor mall ads (Dubai Mall, Mirdif City Centre, the
Arabian Centre, Ajman City Centre, Fujairah City Centre, and Bawabat al Sharq
Mall in Abu Dhabi, in addition to two-week mobile vehicle ads in Ajman, Ras
Al-Khaimah, Umm Al-Quwain, and Fujairah.
The
health ministry has also expanded the scope of the campaign by coordinating
with the most popular radio and TV shows to cover the event for a month through
interviews, commercial breaks, and promoting the campaign objectives. This is
in addition to preparing special communication messages and appropriate media
content for the various segments of the customers of the ministry’s partners,
each according to their interests, besides the collaboration with global
brands, women’s clubs, beauty centres, food outlets, and others.
Strengthening
society health
Dr
Hussein Abdel Rahman Al Rand, Undersecretary of the health ministry’s health
assistant sector, health centres and clinics, said, “The campaign aims to
encourage women in general and Emirati women, in particular, to engage in
physical activity on a daily basis.”
Dr
Al Rand added: “This comes as part of health ministry’s ongoing
awareness-raising campaigns and initiatives to highlight the importance of
regular exercise and healthy lifestyles. It also falls within the ‘Initiative
to Raise Awareness About Healthy Lifestyle’ and the National Agenda 2021 to
prevent chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and blood
pressure and to improve the outcomes of the national health indicators.”
AlRand
pointed to the national initiative to promote awareness of healthy lifestyles,
which involves the participation of communities and civil society institutions
in health promotion programs in cooperation with government and private sector
partners, stating that the initiative aims to raise awareness of healthy
lifestyles that help build community capabilities, create a supportive
environment for health, and prevent the prevalence of non-communicable diseases
through physical activity and healthy food.
“The
campaign messages were designed based on the findings of the community design
study and the use of specific media strategies to help reach out to target groups,”
he concluded.
Reducing
risk of heart attacks
Dr
Fadila Mohamed Sherif, director of health ministry’s Health Education and
Promotion Department, said, “When engaging in regular physical exercise,
women’s energy will be boosted, the risk of heart attacks will be reduced, and
their productive capacity will be improved. Besides, the campaign aims to
promote mental health, reducing absenteeism from the workplace or the school,
and reduce health care expenditures.”
She
noted that the campaign objectives were built on the outcomes of panel
discussions with women of various society segments, explaining that the
campaign will educate women on how to do at least 150 minutes of physical
activity throughout the week in a simple and practical way, according to the World
Health Organisation’s recommendations.
https://gulfnews.com/uae/health/health-ministry-makes-an-all-out-effort-to-get-women-in-the-uae-to-stay-fit-1.76282207
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