Rana Ashkol: Our foundation has been concerned with women's issues in the Middle East and North Africa since 2010
Women are victorious with "comedy" and fighting stereotypes
Maria Alyan on "You Hear It From Me" program. From the source
The CEO of the Women's Foundation, Rana Ashkol, confirmed that the launch of the "You Heard It From Me" program is part of the Foundation's work to highlight women's issues that still plague them in the Middle East and North Africa, noting in her interview with Emirates Today that the phenomena that women are experiencing In the Arab world it is still centered around violence and inequality in laws. She pointed out that they are working on presenting these programs with the aim of reaching true equality between men and women at the political, economic and social level by spreading awareness about gender equality.
Stereotype
Asqul explained that "Womene" has been concerned with women's issues in the Middle East and North Africa region since 2010, and the Foundation began focusing on using the media to change the stereotypical idea in minds about the role of women and men in society, explaining that there are many urgent issues, including laws and legislation. In addition to the phenomenon of violence against women, which has returned to the fore with the home quarantine period. Asqul pointed out that violence is an ever-present phenomenon, and that there is a deep rooted stereotype that generates what we currently see, whether unfair laws and the presence of the violent, and what is available to men and women. Asqul considered that in the early stages of work, it may be difficult to change the act, but rather to change the thinking, and that is why in 2010, the focus was on the actions of women and the launch of Nisaa FM Radio in Ramallah, which is the first Arab radio station led by an Arab woman and directed to Arab women. Her goal is to provide women with an opportunity to have their opinion heard, as well as presenting women's news from the perspective of women. She pointed out that the Foundation launched other programs, including the “Bama Ragil” program, which is a 30-episode program that deals with the story of Noha. Three seasons were produced from it, and the transition from the radio to YouTube pictorials took place, and there were many distinguished personalities, and the actress participated Mona Zaki and actress Saba Mubarak present Noha’s voice during two seasons to reach viewers.
Attracting young people
Ashkol confirmed that this type of program was decided to change in 2019, so they moved away from graphic drawing and launched the "You Hear It From Me" program, which is a program that uses more comedy and is presented by Maria Alian, explaining that it gives listeners the feeling that their issues are presented in a comic and bold manner, and that it may Comedy has been used as a template for the program, because it is considered the most attractive to young people on social media platforms. She noted that 10 episodes dealing with many topics related to women were presented that are not addressed in a large way, including women and sexual harassment, or women and menstruation, and the value of women in society, in addition to the issue of honor crimes, noting that all episodes are based on figures and studies. These episodes are presented on the "khatrah" platform, which is launched on all social media.
Asqal pointed out that there is cooperation with the various platforms to share the content of "You heard it from me", through their social media platforms, with the aim of reaching the largest possible segment of the audience. She confirmed that the episode ranged from five to seven minutes only, and this time is well thought out, because the most common videos are less than 10 minutes.
Various issues
The CEO of the Women's Foundation, Rana Asqol, pointed out that the most common women's issues in the Middle East differ from one country to another, including issues of harassment and the spread of domestic violence in Lebanon, in addition to the mother's inability to confer nationality on her children, which is widespread in Jordan and Lebanon. Meanwhile, women in Morocco suffer from sexual harassment and problems with child marriage, which is also widespread in Iraq. Ashkol noted that there are problems that apply in all societies, including the percentage of employment in the Arab world, so women in the Arab world still have the lowest percentage of their employment in the world.
Foundation history
The CEO of the "Women" Foundation, Rana Asqol, confirmed that the foundation was launched in Geneva by a businessman who started his career through "Womenty", which had a different name in the beginning, and it was changed, and its 15th anniversary was celebrated. She pointed out that the foundation was initially concerned with young girls, especially those who were employed in Morocco as if they were slaveholders. After a short period, its founder found out that the issue is not limited to girls, as he found that women suffer various forms of persecution, and therefore the goal was to provide justice to girls and women, and for this the scope of the Foundation's work was expanded.
Nisaa FM is the first Arabic radio station that aims to provide women with opportunity and present their news from the perspective of women.
"You heard it from me" is a program that uses comedy to present bold causes that appeal to youth.