The Press and Woman

In this article of his, "Tawfiq al-Hakim" supposes that woman is by her nature a "reporter" of the first order. And "reporter" here carries the meaning the great Egyptian man of letters intends... There is no doubt that our writer has an opinion of his own in this article, which we present to the readers of "The Woman's Voice"??
Nor shall we forget to remind readers that Tawfiq al-Hakim was, in times gone by, a sworn enemy of woman.
The Editors

I have always believed that woman is better suited than man to the most important branch of the profession of journalism, which is the gathering of news... For the journalist, so far as I know, is of two kinds: "editor" and "reporter"... and woman, in my view, was created by nature a "reporter" of the first order...

I remember that a cultivated young woman asked me one day for my opinion of her taking up journalism... and whether this work suited her nature as a woman?... I said to her: Rest assured that woman is a newspaper reporter by instinct... whether she joins a newspaper or joins her home... In Paradise, "Adam" was calm, gentle, and still, thinking of nothing, with no news reaching his world... So who brought him the news?... I mean the proposal of Iblis to eat the forbidden fruit? Was it not "Eve" who conveyed to Adam this important piece of news?!

Who was it that listened to the talk of the "serpent," held "conversations" with her, drew news from her, and passed it on to Adam? Was it not Eve?... I believe that this incident was the first act of journalism since the beginning of creation. And thus "Eve" was the first woman reporter to appear in the universe, before the idea of the press had crossed the mind of any creature...

Journalism is in woman's blood... When she finds no news to relay and no one to interview, she turns to her husband and pours out to him everything she heard in her day and saw in her

daylight hours... But if it is the husband who comes in to her from outside, she receives him with question upon question: Where were you? With whom were you? What were you talking about? Woe to him if he dodges answering, pleading fatigue, or begging to put the talk off, or insisting that he met no one of importance and came upon nothing of consequence... For then she treats him as though he were a weighty minister deliberately concealing from her the secrets of an international crisis!... She tightens the noose around him... argues with him and maneuvers about him with all skill and adroitness; and if he assures her and swears that he has nothing worth telling, she cries out at him: Is that reasonable? All that time outside and you have nothing to say?... And she keeps prodding him until the poor man is forced to fabricate for her a piece of news that never happened... But by her instinct she perceives that what he has said has no share of truth in it. So she smiles and falls silent, feigning attention, until he entangles himself in a chain of lies and contradictions, and she catches him red-handed in the falsehood... He confesses... and here she says to him:

— I will never believe you again... all your news is false!...

— And who told you to take me as a source of news?...

— Why do you invent?... Why not tell the truth?...

— Because there is no truth... there is nothing whatsoever... and you are determined to wring news out of me by any means...

— I want true news, not invented!

— There is none... I told you, there is none... I have no true news today... Nothing is left but to invent!... Otherwise I shall keep an utter silence... and never you ask me anything at all...

— Then invent... That, at any rate, is better than nothing...

Yes... news journalism is woman's inheritance from her grandmother Eve... Let her go down into its field if she wishes, relay what news she wants, and draw from whatever sources she finds... Nor will she lack an "Iblis" in the world today, nor will she want for a "serpent," for the circles of society, national and worldwide, swarm and clamor with devils and demons, serpents and snakes — with their talk, their temptations, and their proposals...

And perhaps millions of years have by now taught woman wisdom... so that she will not relay the "news" that would drive her new Adam out of "Paradise"!

"Akhbar al-Yawm"