Adham Center alumna Mona El Tahawy has recently become the managing editor of Arab Women's eNews. "I was chosen for this position because of my background in news reporting in the Middle East and the reputation I have built through my commentaries here in the United States," says El Tahawy.

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"The challenge in a television story is to tell that story in a short time," says El Tahawy. "If you can do it so, then you've learned the necessary skills to be a newsperson."

Over her news career, El Tahawy has worked in different media, including print, wire services, and television. While completing her master's degree at the Adham Center, she worked as correspondent and columnist for the Middle East Times. After having received her MA, she became a correspondent for Reuters News Agency in Cairo. Four years later, she filled the same position in Jerusalem.

She came back to Cairo in 1999 as correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian and also worked as a stringer for US News and World Report.

In 2000, El Tahawy moved to the United States, where she concentrated on writing opinion and editorial columns. At the beginning she wrote on a freelance basis for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and the Miami Herald.

In the mean time, she experienced the glamour of broadcast media by appearing as a guest commentator on the American networks MSNBC and Fox News, as well as National Public Radio and Voice of America.

Now she is experiencing online media by working for Arab Women's eNews, the Arabic sister site of the nonprofit independent online news service Women's eNews. According to the organization's website, Women's eNews specializes in covering issues that are of particular concern to women.

In October 2002, El Tahawy was offered the position of managing editor of Arab Women's eNews. This website was launched to promote cultural exchange and greater understanding between the English and Arabic-speaking worlds, says El Tahawy, adding that the site also aims to highlight women's problems in both worlds.

"It is important to understand that women in the West and women in the Arab and Muslim world face different challenges. Our website wants to explain those challenges and how women throughout the world are facing them," says El Tahawy.

This is not the first time for El Tahawy to demonstrate an interest in women's concerns. "I became a feminist when I lived in Saudi Arabia and I believe my readings and writing about feminism have helped me gain a greater understanding of the issues and struggles that Arab and Muslim women face today," explains El Tahawy.

"I have read and reported on women's issues throughout my 12-year career as a journalist," says El Tahawy, who in the 1990s was editor of the Middle East Times women's page, where she wrote about many feminist issues. She attended the United Nations conference on women in Beijing in 1995.

According to El Tahawy, the main issue that specifically concerns Arab women is education in all its forms. "It breaks my heart to know that one in two Arab women cannot read or write. This affects everything in their lives," says El Tahawy, explaining that Arab women will never know their rights unless they are educated.

Finally, El Tahawy is looking forward to being a syndicated columnist and to promoting the popularity of the Arab Women's eNews website. "My ambition is to promote Arab Women's eNews to such an extent that it becomes a popular name amongst everyone who has access to the Internet in the Arabic-speaking world," says El Tahawy.

By Noha El Hennawy