Cairo: A veiled anchorwoman read the news on Egypt’s state television in decades after the ban on veiled presenters has been lifted.
Fatma Nabil, in a cream-colored headscarf and a dark suit, appeared on Channel 1 and read the 12pm news bulletin.
Women in Islamic headscarves and particularly full-face veils had been kept firmly out of the media until the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak last year and brought a Muslim Brotherhood president to power, AFP reported.
Women who wore hijab were allowed to work in Egypt’s Radio and Television Union as long as it was off-camera.
But new Islamist Information Minister Salah Abdel Maqsud told a private satellite channel on Saturday he could see no reason why a woman in hijab could not present the national news.
“Finally the revolution has reached” Egyptian media, Nabil told the Muslim Brotherhood’s daily newspaper, Freedom and Justice.
President Mohamed Morsi resigned from the Brotherhood—Egypt’s largest and most organised political force—when he was elected president in June.
Most Muslim women in Egypt wear the hijab, which covers the hair. The niqab, which covers the entire face, is also becoming more popular on the country’s streets.
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