Fake newsmakers target Egypt’s first female captain after Ever Given’s grounding in Suez Canal

After having celebrated 8th March 2021 as International Women’s Day (although every day should be), I found it appropriate that I pay tribute to all the women in the Shipping and Freight industry all over the world..

In many of the shipping companies around the world, you will find many women involved in the business of shipping and freight and in my personal experience, I have seen that women outnumber men in many of the departments..

Women have come a long way in this male dominated industry and are growing from strength to strength with many of them moving to the higher echelons.. This shows their dedication, tenacity and perseverance along with determination..

From experience and in my personal opinion, the women in the industry have proved their mettle time and again through their meticulous work style and ethics..

Well done ladies and may you grow evermore.. I SALUTE YOU..

But what I DIDN’T find appropriate is a news item that used a current event like the grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal to troll women in the shipping industry..

Anti-feminist internet trolls seem to have used the incident to circulate fake news about Egypt’s first woman to have sailed as a ship’s captain..

It has been reported that a few hours after Ever Given hit the bank in the Suez Canal blocking the passage of ships, anonymous trolls went to work falsifying a headline — purporting to be from regional English-language publication Arab News — about Captain Marwa Elselehdar..

Captain Marwa El Selehdar is the first woman in Egypt to qualify as a ship’s captain and some unsavory elements on Twitter and Instagram stole a portrait of Capt.El Selehdar along with content from a write-up on Arab News about her role in piloting the 1,386-dwt Aida IV through the newly expanded Suez Canal in 2015..

They have linked the content and image to connect her falsely with the casualty of the Ever Given, under the mocked-up and social media-circulated headline “Cargo ship crashes into Suez Canal. First female Arab Lloyd captain involved in incident“.

But this headline is reported to be false in a few different ways as per this article from Tradewinds..

Capt.El Selehdar is reported to have told Youm7 that “a page captured a screenshot of an interview she did a while ago, and photoshopped the headline to make the disinformation seem like recent news“. It is “an “organized campaign” against her for that three fake accounts having her name were created on Twitter harnessing 20,000 followers in a few hours” Seledhar added..

The fake post is circulating on social media along with a caption that derogates Arab women’s ability to work as sea captains..

Despicable to say the least if it is all true..

There is a still a long way to go for women to be recognised and accepted as equals and we all must dedicate ourselves to making this happen as quickly as possible.. I for one, am deeply committed to this and hope my readers will be as well..