Egypt’s state broadcaster suspended eight of its female TV news anchors for being overweight, and told them they can return on-air only after going on a diet.
They were kicked off the air thanks to a decision by Saffa Hegazy, the female chair of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), which gave them one month to “slim down.”
Hegazy took over the position in April with a promise to modernize the Egyptian TV network and make it competitive with other major broadcasters.
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One of the anchors, Khadija Khattab, who has two shows on state TV, said she’s worked there for more than 15 years and called the suspension “moral assassination,” but the union is standing by its decision.
She said the decision was “humiliating and even scandalous.”
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“There are standards for those who appear on television screens all around the world,” said Amr Al-Shennawaii, a chief manager for state-run Nile TV International. “For many years, people have mocked Egyptian presenters because of their appearance and lack of qualification, so when we are finally trying to bring reform, people are angry. That’s strange.”
He also added that the same standard would apply to men, although no male anchors have yet been suspended. “The eyes see before the ears hear, so appearance is important,” Al-Shennawaii said.
Khattab revealed that she has not received an official letter from the station demanding that she drop the weight. “I won’t lose any weight,” she added. “I am satisfied with how I look and if they decide to do what they say, I will take a legal path for help.”
Khattab also wants people to watch her most recent TV apperances and judge for themselves if she is really “fat,” and whether she deserves to be prevented from working.
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The situation sparked an uproar among women’s rights groups, partially because there’s no weight requirement stated in the union’s hiring guidelines.
Dalia El-Hamamsy, the executive director of an NGO that promotes fair views of Arab women, said her organization is prepared to fight the ruling either through social media campaigns to raise awareness about the issue or by filing a court case.
“It’s 2016,” she said. “And we will not accept someone telling a woman, ‘Sorry, you’re fat, go home.'”
Eman Beibers, chairman of the Association of the Development and Enhancement of Women, said the decision was wrong and used Oprah Winfrey as proof that weight should not matter for television presenters.
“Our problem is that we judge people by appearance rather than performance and content,” she said.
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Some people appeared to be in support of the controversial decision.
Radwa Shaaban, a director who works for state television, said she believes the guidelines that saw Khattab and the others sent home should have been adopted a long time ago.
“How did they manage to appear on the screen all this while?” Shaaban said. “We’re talking about jobs that first depend on how you look.”
Majdi Lasheen, a state television official, defended the move and said it should “sound the alarm for all TV presenters that they have to pay attention to their appearances, including body weight.”
“This is the beginning of a plan to apply discipline and regulations designed to restore the beautiful image of all official TV stations,” Lasheen said.
“The decision to suspend the eight presenters is aimed at giving them a chance to change their looks in order to fit appearance on television.”
Alaa el-Sadani, a commentator for Al-Ahram, said that she was “sickened by the disgusting and repulsive” appearance of the eight suspended anchors, and that she believed the rest of the country agreed with her.
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Fatma al-Sharawi, another Al-Aram writer, welcomed the move as a way to improve ratings of the state channels. “Is a ban for eight enough?” she asked.
“They don’t understand that people don’t watch them because they have no credibility, skills or quality,” said Mostafa Shawky, a free-press advocate with the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression. “It has nothing to do with looks. But it goes to show that actual skill is not something they care about.”
Shawky said the suspensions reinforced a widespread notion in Egypt that only women who meet a certain definition of beauty should work in television journalism. “The fact that it is a woman who is doing all of this just makes it all the worse,” he said.
ERTU sources told the Veto news website that the decision won’t be reversed, but the women won’t have their pay and benefits docked.
State television officials did not state how much weight the presenters were expected to lose or who would judge when their appearance was deemed “appropriate.”
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