Meet Egypt’s first female deaf dentist

Esraa El Bably is an Egyptian girl who was born deaf. Despite the discrimination and the difficulties she had faced in the Egyptian society, she was able to make her dream come true and become Egypt’s first deaf dentist.

As a child, Esraa did not want to attend a school for the disabled so she applied for many mainstream schools in Egypt but was rejected from all of them. Her mother saw her potential and eagerness to learn and took her to Bahrain for her education.

 Esraa aspired to become a dentist but on her return to Egypt, she faced another challenge. She was turned away by all dental schools except for one which accepted her.

Esraa is currently working professionally and successfully in a dental office and her patients say that she is a great dentist and that they feel comfortable dealing with her. “We’re all different, we all have our own weaknesses. But, weaknesses can be turned to strength. As long as you are storng, and you don’t care what others think, the whole universe will bend in front of you” Esraa said.

Watch this video for Esraa's story: https://www.facebook.com/bbcthree/videos/10154945208055659/

Nour El-Sherbini the Queen of World Squash

Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini posing with the trophy after winning the Women’s World Squash Championship for the second time.

Egypt’s Nour El-Sherbini defeated compatriot Raneem El-Welily in the Gouna Squash Open Final on Friday, retaining her title in the Orascom Development PSA Women’s World Championship.

El-Sherbini, who is the first-ever Egyptian World Champion, successfully secured the title for the second year in row. The 21-Year-Old was at her best during her game against world number three El-Welily as she was able to close the win out by 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in 40 minutes in an all-Egyptian final.

“I’m really over the moon with this win. Two or three months ago I wouldn’t have imagined myself winning because I haven’t won any major titles all season,” said Nour.

She added: “I’m really happy to win in front of my home crowd and it’s never easy to play Raneem. I’ve grown up learning a lot from her and she’s told me a lot of things off court and on court. She’s the best ‘sister’ I could ever have besides my squash career and I am really thankful for everything she did for me.”

Egypt Mourns Three Female Martyrs from Police Forces

Brig. Gen. Nagwa Al-Haggar with her son.

Sgt. Asmaa Hussein

Sgt. Omneya Roushdy

Three Egyptian policewomen lost their lives at the bombing of St. Mark’s Church in Alexandria on Palm Sunday. Those three heroines became the first Egyptian policewomen to pass away in the line of duty.

First woman to die in that horrifying suicide attack was Brig. Gen. Nagwa Al-Haggar who was 53 years old. She was in charge of inspecting people entering the church and to maintain the security of the worshipers. Sadly, Al-Haggar lost her life as she was securing the main gate of the church where a suicide bomber detonated his bomb after trying to enter but being exposed. The two other female policewomen were Sgt. Asmaa Hussein and Sgt. Omneya Roshdy who both died on duty as well.

The bomb detonated early on Sunday in front of the main gate of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, left at least 16 killed and 40 injured, according to the Health Ministry.

Watch video of the St. Mark's Cathedral bombing here:https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2017/apr/10/alexandria-coptic-church-attack-video-shows-lead-up-to-suicide-bombing

Women Who Changed The World

The world is full of strong, ambitious and influential women whose bravery and dedication are a source of inspiration. Those women were able to make their voices heard and to serve humanity in different fields and sectors. We have got a list here which includes ladies who are pioneers in medicine, science, literature and much more. Narrowing down my list was a not an easy task but let’s go together on a journey throughout history and get introduced to five women who changed the world.

1.  Elizabeth Blackwell (First female doctor)

“It is not easy to be a pioneer - but oh, it is fascinating!”

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree from an American medical school. She faced lots of struggles and hardships including admittance to an all-all male institution and financing medical school. Along with her own sister and colleagues, she opened the New York Infirmary for women and children in 1856. This institution and its medical college provided training and experience for woman doctors and medical care for the poor. By entering this male-dominated career, Blackwell was able to pave the way for many women to practice medicine. 

2. Marie Curie (First female winner of Nobel prize)

“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas”

Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland. She was a physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. Curie was the first Professor of General physics in the faculty of sciences at the Sorbonne in 1906. She was also the first woman to obtain a Doctor of science degree and the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize. In addition to that, she is the only person to win in two different sciences which were Physics and chemistry. Madame Curie was able to discover two elements, polonium and radium. She is unarguably a genius and a true inspiration to all women.

3. Mother Teresa (The compassionate humanitarian)

“Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love”

Mother Teresa was originally from Macedonia, she was a catholic nun and is considered one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20^th century. She dedicated her life to helping the sick and the poorest of the poor, her charitable work included helping evacuate young hospital patients during the war in Lebanon, doing earthquake relief in Armenia, and ministering to famine victims in Ethiopia. She founded the order of the Missionaries of charity, a Roman Catholic congregation which had over 4,500 sisters. Among many other honours, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. A true role model, Mother Teresa!

4.    Malala Yousafzai (The bravest children’s rights activist)

“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced”

Malala Yousafzai was born in Mingora, Pakistan. She is a children’s and woman rights activist. As a young girl, she defied the Taliban in Pakistan who at times banned girls from attending schools and demanded that girls must be allowed to receive education. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived. She also wrote a book I Am Malala to tell her story and was the youngest girl to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. Her experience is so heart touching and inspiring, the world certainly needs more brave young people like Malala!

5.  Anne Frank (The little diarist who told history)

“Despite everything, I believe people are really good at heart”

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany. She was a diarist, writer and one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. She fled with her family to Amsterdam due to Anti-Semitism in Germany. However, seven years later, the Nazis occupied the Netherlands which caused Anne and her family to spend two years hiding in an annex where she wrote a diary as a means of self-expression. Her diary was published after her death under the name of “The Diary of a Young girl” and served as a unique eye-witness account of life during Holocaust and became one of the world’s most read books.

Hillary Clinton: Misogyny “certainly” played a role in my defeat

Hillary Clinton speaks at women in the World Summit.

At the Women in the World Summit in New York on Thursday, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke on women empowerment and said that misogyny certainly played a role in her 2016 election loss.

Clinton was greeted with a warm welcome at the Women in the World Summit. She said she “spends a lot of time wrestling” with the fact that 53% of white women voted for Trump and the impact of her gender on her loss. She added “With men, success and ambition are correlated with likability, so the more successful a man is, the more likeable he becomes. With women, it’s the exact opposite.”

Clinton advised women to take criticism seriously, but not personally. She is also on her mission to encourage women to run for office. Clinton covered a range of other issues, including US intervention in Syria and bipartisan investigation into Russia election interference.

Former president Obama shared her perception as he said during his campaign period, “society is still grappling with what it means to see powerful women.”

For a part of her interview, watch here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2017/apr/07/misogyny-played-a-role-in-election-loss-says-hillary-clinton-video

                                                                 

Mass sexual assault in Zagazig

Women chant slogans as they gather to protest against sexual harassment in front of the opera house in Cairo June 14, 2014. REUTERS

According to Al-Ahram, six men were arrested following a collective assault and harassment of a woman returning from a wedding on Thursday night in the Egyptian city of Zagazig.

Dozens of men encircled a woman who was in a dress, returning from a wedding at night. The woman was then insulted, assaulted and harassed. The owner of a café nearby and other men helped the girl and let her into the café to get away from the crowd.

The police was later informed of the incident and arrived shortly at the scene. The group of men reacted violently which caused the police to give five warning shots to disrupt the gathered crowd. Six men were then arrested and identified by the girl.

According to 2013 UN study, 99 percent of women in Egypt have witnessed some form of sexual harassment. However, the Egyptian government passed an anti-harassment law in 2014, which penalizes those found guilty of sexual harassment with a fine of LE 3,000 to LE 5,000 and/or a jail sentence of no less than six months.
Watch video of mass sexual assault here: https://www.facebook.com/livemisr1/videos/1312220062147767/

                                                                       
                               

Feminism Is For Everyone

         To begin with, Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. How it all started? Well, feminism had three waves or movements. The first-wave of feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19^th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. It mainly focused on legal issues and primarily on gaining women’s suffrage (the right to vote). However, lots of people have a misconception about Feminism.

         Unfortunately the term "feminism" usually has a negative connotation for some people. Some people think of feminists as a bunch of angry women who are men-haters and who are actually willing to discriminate against men or to promote women superiority. Men even tend to find women who call themselves “feminists” less attractive, less appealing or less desirable.

        Feminism is NOT for men-haters nor lesbians as some may claim. On the contrary, being a feminist is not a label and feminism is for everyone. Feminists' mission is to empower women not to degrade men. Feminism is for men and women who believe in the equality between the two sexes. “I am a feminist and we should all be feminists because feminism is another word for equality” says Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate.

         Why is it important? Feminism is a movement to give women a voice, to end sexism, male domination and female oppression in society. Feminism is taking gender out of the equation and treating women as free independent humans who have a lot to bring to the world and who are dreamers and ambitious individuals willing to leave their impact in society.

        What has Feminism accomplished? How has it made the world a better place for women? It granted women the right to vote, the right to receive an education, the right to have equal job opportunities and to equally get paid, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and the right to own property. In addition to that, according to research from Safe Horizon, 1 in every 4 women will experience domestic violence and 5 percent of women on college campuses experience rape or attempted rape every year. Feminism actually fights against sexual harassment, rape culture and domestic violence. Of course all of this varies from one society to another and we shall hope that Arab human right activists would help make the situation better in the Middle East and to spread awareness about Feminism on a larger scale. Don’t forget that even you can become an activist if you just believe in your cause.