Danger in the Streets
Egyptian Women Fight Public Sexual Harassment
Lately, women on the streets of Egypt have
been under assault -- threatened by looks, by words and by physical
attacks. As more Egyptian women claim the freedom and power to enter
the public sphere, they are being confronted with a growing wave of
public sexual harassment.
AP Photo/Ben Curtis
Protestors demonstrate against sexual
attacks on women and the government's failure to investigate them, in
downtown Cairo, Egypt on Thursday, November 9, 2006
The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights
The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights' Campaign Poster reads: "Safety for everybody. When you catcall...what do you gain?
This trend gained a sudden worldwide audience in 2006, when
amateur videos captured crowds of men surrounding and groping women
during a religious festival. These videos were shared on the internet
for the world to witness.
Targets are not confined to a specific group. Women of every age and
class are targets of obscene behavior, even those who dress modestly in
veils.
Experts put forth many explanations -- the explosion of easily
available sexual material, lack of education about sex and sexuality and
Egypt's economy. Due to the high cost of living, couples are forced to
wait to marry until later in life, leading, some say, to rising sexual
frustration in a portion of the male population.
Whatever the cause, women are afraid to report the harassment to
police, worried that they will be ignored, or worse, blamed for their
attacks.
The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights has declared this "a social
cancer." Their campaign against public sexual harassment is fighting to
enforce existing laws protecting women, create new legislation, and
break the silence around this taboo subject.
I.M.O.W. spoke to Engy Ghozlan, Project Coordinator for the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights.
How did you become involved in the campaign against sexual harassment?
You hear comments on the street like: "You belong to the house." "You
shouldn't be on the street." It took me years to recognize that the
depression I was having whenever I walked on the street was because I
was not acting, I was just silent.
For me, it was an issue that I'm not going to be a victim of any
sexual violence against me anymore. I felt that it's the time to move
from being a victim to being one who helps others and helps herself to
actually survive everyday on the street. I might not be able to stop it
by myself but at least talking about it actually gave me the power to
feel that I don't have to feel sad anymore, I know that I am doing
something, and this is enough for me until I reach the day I can see
legislation that can protect me and other girls on the street.
Does the sexual harassment occur in a variety of settings? It's on the street -- but is it also in homes and schools?
Yes, it happens in houses, it happens in schools and universities, it
happens, of course, in the workplace. Girls who have to work in shops
or restaurants, the owners use them sexually. They are sure that she
can't leave, and she can't go and tell anyone because it is her
reputation that she'll be hurting.
Girls sometimes face sexual harassment on the street. If they stopped
and told the guy, "Don't do this!" or "You're attacking me!"--sometimes
people on the street don't support a girl-- they actually blame her.
In Egypt, if a girl goes to a police station, people start gossiping
about her. So girls can't go to the police, girls can't talk about it.
Our first idea was to break the silence and let girls start talking.
Is it hard to do this in a culture where there's not a lot of conversation about sexuality in general?
At the time the campaign started, talking about sexual harassment or
anything with a sexual nature was a taboo. There was this denial from
girls, they said they didn't experience it, but when you talked to them a
little bit away from sexual words, they started writing, and what they
wrote was horrible.
We were really happy that, finally, people were talking about
something that related to their sexuality or to their bodies. We found
lots of girls who were blaming themselves for the issue. The girls
thought that the reason they were getting harassed was because of their
bodies and because their bodies were beautiful, whether they wore a
veil or covered their faces or not.
Part of your campaign is to target both sides; you try to
raise awareness among young men as well as women. Have you seen changes
in the men you've worked with?
When you ask the question "Why do you sexually harass?" you get a
very stupid answer from guys. They have this idea that girls like to be
sexually harassed, at least verbally, because it gives them the
impression that they are nice, they are beautiful, and guys think this
is something that girls actually like.
But now, some of them say: "I think of my sister, I think of my mom.
What if my mom was walking on the street and someone touched her? I
would feel hurt, I would feel scared for her. I would feel I wanted to
protect her. And maybe, thinking the other way, if I imagine that any
woman on the street could be someone in my family, that would actually
make me change."
For people who practice something like this for many years, just
raising awareness is not enough to change their behavior. You need to
change the circumstances around that behavior. The circumstance that is
in our hands is to change legislation.
The economic situation that would allow men to get married sooner and
actually start a life, to allow guys to find jobs and find themselves
and have potential is not something that I can guarantee in the short
term. What I can say is that if we had legislation along with a change
in the economic and social situation, maybe one day soon we will see a
change in the behavior.