ASMAA FATHI

Cairo-Art has played an important role in changing and building ideas. Cinema is a form of art playing an important role in societies. However, women working in the cinema industry face discrimination and gender stereotypes. They have to make more efforts to prove themselves in this industry.

‘Lasting change takes time’

Speaking about the role of women in the cinema industry, Asmaa Nour, an Egyptian documentary director, said, “Egyptian drama series create gender stereotypes about the role of women in society by showing women as ‘prostitutes, liars or the persons who destroy marriages’. Women are mostly chosen to portray bad characters such as a drug dealer or one who makes a living by selling her body.

Asmaa Nour thinks the gender stereotypes in Egypt’s cinema industry can be changed by screenwriters. “Change is never easy. Lasting change takes time. To change gender stereotypes, the education system must be changed. Education system must be based on gender equality. The education system plays an important role in changing societies.

'The number of female filmmakers increases'

Speaking about how the bad image of women can be changed in the cinema industry, Asmaa Nour said, “To change it, we need political and social changes. The Aswan International Women Film Festival makes great efforts to change the bad image of women in the cinema industry. We can say that women in the cinema industry have recently made great efforts to eliminate discrimination against women and to change gender stereotypes. Before, there were no female filmmakers in Egypt but now there are many Egyptian female filmmakers. The number of female filmmakers increases every day. They raise awareness about many issues.”

‘Women produce their own projects’

Underlining that the women in the cinema industry wage a great struggle against the patriarchal mentality, Asmaa Nour said, “Like all women, the women in the cinema industry also suffer from the patriarchal mentality. Women work 18 hours per day. The film production companies prefer to hire men because they think married women and women, who have children, cannot work in the cinema industry. Women are also paid less than men. Recently, women have been producing their own projects.”