The last interview with the Media Star, Fawziah Salameh
Ms Salameh passed away on July 27 2014
On Monday, July 27, the media star Fawzia Salameh, one of the presenters of the program “Sweet Talk”, passed away after a long suffering of pancreatic cancer as announced by the morning show “Good Morning Arabs” at MBC.
Ms Salameh underwent at the beginning of last year, a surgery to remove the pancreas in full to prevent the spread of cancer cells in other organs in the body.
She is one of four presenters of the most famous women’s talk shows broadcast on MBC, “Kalam Nawaem” (Sweet Talk). Ms. Salameh has a Master’s degree in media and is a writer on women issues. Her novel, “The White Sheets”, tells of the challenges, injustices and horrendous difficulties women face in Egypt. She was Editor-in-Chief of the famous magazine, Sayidati, and also Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. She has a daughter of whom she is extremely proud.
We were lucky at Middle East Business News and Magazine to have made the last press interview with the late media star Fawzia Salameh.
Here is the interview published on May 19, 2014:
Middle East Business was very lucky to meet with the legendary Fawzia Salameh in Beirut, the media star of the Arab world and a role model for many women. During our meeting, Ms. Salameh discussed the importance of women’s economic empowerment and having full control of one’s finances. Here is an overview of what she prevailed to us:.
“Control over one’s money is a basic right for women which is guaranteed by Islam. There is therefore no religious controversy over this issue and should be accepted as a given.
Second, the main objective of economic empowerment for women is to have control over one’s life and cultural choices. Previously women had neither control of their own lives nor their environment (surroundings). When having marital difficulties – especially in cases where women are being abused or beaten – some women feel obliged to stay put, to live with the situation being imposed upon them. When they have full control of their lives they can make a choice to refuse to accept this behaviour and leave, or to accept the unjust situation and stay. To exercise one’s right of self-determination can be seen as ‘psychological training’, learning to make decisions about bigger societal issues.
Mothers are role models for their daughters, so it’s their duty to give psychological support and advice to their daughters about their careers and their lives – if asked.
Men might not want women to have such privileges granted to them, as some people say that strong women lose their femininity if they want equality with men. But religion binds men and women, with many verses of the Quran stating, “The believing men and women”, an implication of equal responsibilities between men and women. However, some men do not want to relinquish any of their privileges.
In addition, there are some professions that request women’s work and professionalism, for example architecture. Women spend more time in the house than men (as often they are primary carer for the household), and women have more sense of what a house might need within its structure and the type of space required for family use (living room, kitchen size etc.). Another factor that is required to enable women to run their own business or participate in the labour market is a surrounding ‘ecosystem’ of quality kindergartens and schools.
This right, for women to control their income or their money, is a basic right granted by Islam. Anyone that says otherwise is clearly mistaken.
Ms. Salameh concluded our very interesting and heartfelt discussion by saying: “Women’s economic empowerment is indispensable for the advancement of societies in the Middle East”.
Meeting and chatting with Ms. Salameh was no normal event: it was a journey we were lucky to be taken on through her friendly, enthusiastic and passionate words of wisdom straight from her heart.
Don’t forget to watch the video of Ms Salameh talking to you and to us.
