Egypt’s first female ship’s captain, Maroua Elselehdar, is outraged by attempts to blame the Suez Canal crisis.
As soon as it became clear that the huge container ship “Ever Given” was standing diagonally in the canal and blocked it, Maroua searched the Internet for more information about the incident. And to her surprise and shock, she found that, according to online rumors, she was to blame for what had happened.
“I was shocked,” Maroua said. She added that at the time of the incident, she was working as a first mate on the Aida 4, which was hundreds of miles from the Suez Canal in Alexandria. This ship supplies food to the Red Sea lighthouse staff, but is also used to train cadets from the Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, a regional university run by the Arab League.
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Photos: Personal profile of Maroua Elselehdar
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Rumors of Maroua’s role in the Suez Canal incident were backed up on the Internet by manipulated photos. The original photos, which were the subject of the manipulation, were from an Arabic news publication on March 22, dedicated to Maroua’s success as the first female captain in Egypt. Maroua, 29, says she has no idea where the fake story came from and why she was accused of the Suez Canal blockade.
“I have a feeling that maybe they took aim at me because I’m successful as a female captain or because I’m Egyptian, I don’t know,” she said.
Maroua says that she loves the sea very much she has always dreamed of being on a merchant ship. After her brother became a cadet at the Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, she applied for and received permission to become part of the students there. This happened during the time of President Hosni Mubarak, who ordered a legal review of whether a woman could enter a school where only men entered. During her years of study, Maroua has always been the object of sexism. She says it was really difficult for her to fight all this on her own without affecting her mental health. After graduating, Maroua rose through the ranks and became first mate. As such, she directed Aida 4, which first crossed the newly expanded Suez Canal in 2015. At the time, Maroua was both the youngest captain and the first Egyptian female captain to cross this waterway.
In 2017, she was awarded by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during the International Women’s Day celebrations.
When rumors surfaced that she was to blame for the Suez Canal crisis, Maroua feared it would affect her job and reputation as a captain. She denied the information and felt better when many people also came out in her defense and denied the fake news.
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Photo: Twitter
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Next month, Maroua will take an exam to be a full-fledged ship captain, and she hopes to set an example for women who also want to be part of the merchant navy.
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