To mark this year’s International Women’s Day, Google collaborated with Egyptian women for a special doodle to help them voice their hopes and dreams. This special video was shot in Cairo and 12 other iconic cities around the world. It features Egyptian celebrity Donia Samir Ghanem who appears alongside international symbols of successful women such as Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and celebrated scientist Jane Goodall. They all share their hopes by completing the sentence: “One day I will…”
“I am happy to take part in such an important initiative such as Google’s campaign for International Women’s Day as it is an expression of the hopes and dreams of women everywhere,” commented Donia Samir Ghanem on her participation in the special doodle by Google.
“Cairo, along with several other cities around the world, was selected to represent a diverse set of women from different countries, all with different dreams, ethnicities, ages, languages, walks of life. We wanted to feature as many women as possible, so we created special city edits to share the dreams of as many women as possible,” said Zain Masri, Product Marketing Manager for the Middle East and North Africa.
Google also produced an extension of the global doodle video shot entirely in Cairo that takes a deeper look at the women featured in the video. The video features 25 Egyptian women who stand before the camera with the Pyramids of Giza behind them as they declare what they want to be one day. Users will be able to see this video once they land on a landing page developed for International Women’s Day.
“The doodle idea in itself is superbly creative and shares an optimistic outlook from the heart of the Middle East with the world. I was genuinely happy to be there,” said Merna El Bari, a 22-year-old Egyptian university student who also featured in the video.
“One day I will be the first female president of Egypt,” Ms El Bari says in the video.
Google has celebrated the lasting impact of key Egyptian female figures through special doodles throughout the years such as the ones developed for Umm Kulthum, Sohair El-Qalamawy and Tahia Halim.
“Through our doodles we try to get closer to our users by highlighting key events close to their hearts. Over the past few years, we celebrated the achievements of more and more women in Doodles- across science, activism, journalism, sports, arts, technology and many other fields,” Mr Masri concluded.
