The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights has been involved in anti-street harassment activism work for several years, so the recent headline in Reuters “Two-thirds of Egyptian men harass women?” about the high levels of street harassment in Egypt is no surprise to me.
In a survey of more than 2,000 Egyptian men and women and 109 foreign women, “62 percent of Egyptian men reported perpetrating harassment, while 83 percent of Egyptian women reported having been sexually harassed. Nearly half of women said the abuse occurred daily.” I wonder where the people who took this survey live in Egypt – like is it worse in the cities the way it seems to be in the US? Regardless, those are high numbers but not really surprising.
I’d like to say the following facts were surprising but they’re not either. “53 percent of men blamed women for bringing on sexual harassment, saying they enjoyed it or were dressed in a way deemed indecent. Some women agreed.” Hey, they’re just like people in the US and the UK who blame women for getting harassed! Don’t believe it? Just find any story on street harassment that allows for comments and then you’ll very quickly realize how many people have that opinion. Riiight, it’s women’s fault men can’t keep their mouths closed and hands to themselves…
This part of the story is particularly interesting to me: “The vast majority of women did nothing when confronted with sexual harassment,” the survey said, adding that most Egyptian women believed the victim should “remain silent.” Is that because they are afraid of getting hurt or being assertive or what, I wonder? I wonder what people in the US would say about how the victim of street harassment should act. When one feels safe and confident enough to, I advocate saying something to them or reporting them to a person of authority or their company etc. I just don’t think that ignoring them deters them. How do you think they should act?
Tags: street harassment, sexual harassment, activism, Egypt, blaming women, surveys, Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights
July 18, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I am a CDN 30something woman that visited Egypt back in March ‘08 – I obviously did not do enough research on the harassment issue because it totally took me off guard. I resolved to the belief that this was their culture and I was a visitor, period. It is wonderful to see that there is a movement in Egypt and it is clear it faces an uphill climb.
August 24, 2008 at 11:22 am
Hi,
Wow…I just spent 7 weeks in Egypt, and I loved the men. I will admit that in Luxor, the marriage proposals became draining after a while, but everywhere else, I was not bothered! Of course, I dressed conservatively. Women who go to Egypt and dress away from the beach as if they are on the beach can’t complain. Egyptian culture is not western culture. If a woman doesn’t get that, it’s her problem. Egypt is the safest place I have ever traveled to, and I found the men gentle and kind. “As we sow, so shall we reap” applies here.
November 15, 2008 at 7:15 am
I agree with you. Its very important not to stay silent.
In fact speaking back is very important. Staying silent is the same as saying “its not that bad”
And… (this is a very important distinction I think):
It’s important to speak back in a firm, decisive, confident, matter-of-factly way. (Hey, I do not find that polite, and I would appreciate it if you don’t do that. Thank you).
Unfortunately what happens most of the time, since women are taught to repress dissent and not speak up… They tend to bottle it up until it gets really bad, and then respond emotionally like (leave me the F alone) or flip them the finger.
For harassers this is very easy to rationalize out. “Oh, she’s just being emotional”. Especially since most women stay silent altogether.
So I think its very important to speak up… immediately.