By H.J. Cummins

A lively, first-person lament on enduring stereotypes attached to the Muslim hijab has won two-time ICFJ Anywhere graduate Ethar El-Katatney the prestigious Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press.

In The Veiled Muslim Bogeygirl, the Egyptian journalist wonders when the wider world will get past its preoccupation with a simple scarf: “My identity is – as are all our identities – more complex than you can possibly imagine,” she wrote. “And I can’t wait for the day when the veil … is looked at as what it actually is: a piece of fabric.” The guest column, in English, ran Jan. 20 on the online news site, BikyaMasr, in Egypt.

Ethar El-Katatney © Daily News Egypt

El-Katatney wrote the column after an international conference last year, frustrated that once again she encountered the typical – and offensive – one-dimensional view of her as, “the veiled Muslim girl.” It’s a view that comes with one of four stereotypes, she wrote: “the poor oppressed Muslim woman, the violent evil Muslim woman, the sexy-erotic Muslim woman, or the I-hate-Islam-and-am-no-longer-Muslim-but-please-use-me-as-a-legitimate-source-on-the-faith woman.”

El-Katatney has written on this prejudice before, she said. On a personal level, she would like people to accept that the hijab was her choice, based on her understanding of her faith. Collectively, she wants to defuse what has become such a charged issue, even in the media.

“The hijab is so easy to focus on because it is so tangible and easy to pin the blame on for all problems relating to fear of Islam and Muslims,” she said. “This is an issue I go through on a daily basis, as do hundreds if not thousands of women all over the world. The media image of Muslims, especially Muslim women, is horribly tainted.”

At just 24, El-Katatney, has already racked up considerable success. She was a staff writer at Egypt Today, the leading current affairs magazine in the Middle East, and at its sister magazine Business Today Egypt. She has been a contributor to Muslimah Media Watch, a website that critiques how Muslim women are represented in the media and popular culture. She is also the author of a book, Forty Days and Forty Nights in Yemen, published last year in London. She has three college degrees, all from The American University in Cairo: a bachelor’s degree in business, a Master in Business Administration, and Master of Arts in television and digital journalism.

Two ICFJ programs have helped El-Katatney with those achievements, she said. “International Coverage of Religion,” which she took online in 2009, showed her “the nuances journalists have to know when they cover religion,” she said. Of an investigative journalism course a year earlier, she said: “ICFJ definitely helped me with learning skills, and more importantly, exposed me to resources and opportunities around the world.”

Her list of awards is just as impressive. She was named CNN African Journalist of the Year in 2009, the first Egyptian and youngest journalist to win. Also that year, she received the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Journalist Award. The Samir Kassir award for commentary comes with a € 10,000 prize. The award, from the European Union in association with the Samir Kassir Foundation, was announced June 2 in Beirut, Lebanon, the sixth anniversary of the assassination of the Lebanese journalist and activist.

For all that, she intends to keep learning and growing, she said: “I want to be the best journalist I can possibly be, shedding light on important issues and bringing voice to the voiceless.”