Before Mother’s Day, we went down the streets of Cairo and asked men one simple question - ‘What is your mother’s name. We launched a film of our findings on social media, to begin an initiative for the men of Egypt, to ‘Give mom back her name’ with the hashtag #MyMothersNameIs
The film was picked up from social media, leveraged and spread across every corner of the nation by Egypt’s mass media and on their social media platforms. This created a ripple effect of awareness and started debates online and on-ground across the Middle East region and beyond.
Every leading newspaper and television channel in Egypt, the Middle East and the world covered the issue, debated the stigma and spread the message.
They took the debate to the Schools, Community Forums and the Streets.
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Scores of Egyptian men, women and leading celebrities, questioned the stigma and revealed their mother’s names proudly in public.
There exists a peculiar age-old taboo in Egypt, where men never disclose their mother’s names in public, fearing they could be shamed or ridiculed.
So much so, that mother’s names are forgotten over time, and they are only referred to as ‘the mother of her eldest son.’
Starting Mother’s Day, UN Women – a champion of women’s rights and gender equality, wanted men across Egypt, to ‘Give mom back her name’.
Our primary target was the men of Egypt. They were the key agents of who we were aiming at. Our secondary target were mothers who would become more conscious and aware of the taboo that surrounded them. We launched the campaign on social media, which would subsequently be picked up, leveraged and spread across every corner of the nation by Egypt’s mass media and their online platforms. This created a ripple effect across the Middle East region and beyond.