The Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments set a new action plan May 13 for the holy month of Ramadan, which included, for the first time, allowing female preachers to provide religious lessons in major mosques. The female preachers will also be allowed to organize tours in some villages and visit a number of government departments to discuss the values of Islam with female employees.

The Ministry of Endowments issued a decree Feb. 13, 2017, appointing 144 women as religious preachers in mosques. Another group of women were later appointed, bringing the total number of female preachers to about 300. The women underwent training for an entire year to be able to start preaching at the beginning of this Ramadan.

The head of the Religious Department and chairman of the Values Committee at the ministry, Sheikh Jaber Taya, told Al-Monitor over the phone how important the role of women is in explaining and interpreting women's religious issues. He said that before the women were appointed as female preachers, they had to pass a series of tests. Their functions include working in different mosques to teach women about religion and holding private seminars, as well as visiting a number of government departments to preach to working women about the values of Islam.

Taya added that the ministry has designed a special plan to activate the functions of these preachers during Ramadan by assigning them to major mosques in Cairo and a number of governorates and allocating specific times for them to give religious lessons.