After Egypt's new Prime Minister Sherif Ismail appointed the country's new Cabinet last Saturday, one particular aspect caught the attention of the public and the online community in Egypt: The appointment of three female ministers.
After it was announced on TV that Ghada Waly would keep her position as minister of social solidarity, Nabila Makram would be the minister of immigration and Egyptian expatriate affairs and that Sahar Nasr would be the minister of international cooperation, an Arabic hashtag praising the three female ministers emerged on social media.
The fact that the female ministers were praised is definitely a good sign. However, it was what they were praised for that was somewhat troubling.
On the hashtag titled "Egypt is getting prettier", the three ministers were praised for how pretty they looked, how elegantly dressed and how beautiful they were.
"New hashtag #Egyptisgettingprettier .. The female ministers."
Throughout the online and traditional media worlds, the conversations regarding the three ministers, whether positive or negative, revolved only around their appearance.
These conversations did not praise the ministers for their past accomplishments, they did not evaluate them based on their qualifications and they did not congratulate them for reaching such a high position in their careers, unlike their male counterparts.
This type of behavior, which both women and men joined in, clearly shows how society views gender, it is simply because they’re women that these three ministers were only judged by how good-looking they were, not by what they have accomplished.
The underrepresentation of women in the public sector should make us celebrate the accomplishments and achievements of those women who do manage to become representatives, not corner their lives' work into how pretty they are.
"It's not important for the female minister to have blonde hair. It's important for her to have blue eyes so that we can feel the change. We're almost there, Egyptians."
So let’s change the conversation and take a look at who these women actually are.
Minister Waly has been working in the development field for over 23 years. She was previously the Managing Director of the Social Fund for Development.
She was also the assistant resident representative for the United Nations Development Program, the poverty reduction and job creation team leader and the Millennium Development Goals point person.
An economics and political science graduate, Minister Makram was previously Egypt's consulate general in Rome and deputy consulate general in Dubai.
Last but not least, Minister Nasr has been a leading financial economist in the World Bank's Finance and Private Sector Development Department of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as a regional leader for the World Bank in financial development.
Her expertise includes managing bank restructuring, mortgage finance, affordable low-income housing, access to finance and financial transparency.
Let's try to change the discourse and celebrate women for their contributions to society, not for how pretty they look.