CAIRO — Safaa Hegazy, the director of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), recently suspended eight female TV presenters. The decision wasn’t based on technical reasons or poor work performance; rather, it was attributed to the women’s weight. Hegazy gave the suspended presenters a deadline of one month to diet and achieve a “decent appearance.”

Hegazy, a former presenter herself, was banned from appearing on the air in 2007 after a decision was issued by ERTU to ban overweight women from reading headline news. She had worked for 17 years as a newsreader for state TV.

The Aug. 9 decision was met by a fierce wave of criticism and condemnation from women’s rights activists. Azza Soliman, the director of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance in Cairo, expressed her shock at the decision. She told Al-Monitor it demonstrates the extent of discrimination faced by women and highlights how they are restricted when society determines their value based on their appearance alone. According to Soliman, this results in women being viewed as commodities.

“We’ve yet to hear about a male presenter being relieved of his job for being overweight,” said Soliman, adding that Egyptian women as a whole are subject to societal oppression by virtue of the fact that their appearance is judged using standards imposed by men. She stressed that men are not subject to such “degradation.”