Culture
Egyptians remain leery of female wedding officiants
Despite progress on gender equality, seeing a woman officiating a wedding is still an odd sight for most Egyptians.
As Zeinab Sayed el-Qawashti, a 34-year-old Egyptian ma'azouna (female marriage officiant), was taking her seat at a table to officiate a wedding in Cairo about two months ago, someone came to her and said, “Please get up. This is where the ma’azoun (male marriage officiant) sits.”
“I'm the marriage officiant,” Qawashti replied while laughing.
But the man thought that she was kidding and repeated, “Please, get up.”
Qawashti said again, “I'm the officiant.”
