A million signature petition to criminalise sexual harassment? That's the aim of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights' latest campaign, writes Sarah Kamshoshy Basma Mohamed, a 46-year-old housewife, is fed up with being harassed in the streets. She is far from alone. "Kids put their hands anywhere and then they start running," she says. "They clearly haven't been taught how to respect girls. This could happen to their sister or their mom. We need to fix some things in our society." When told of the One Million Signatures Campaign, a petition devised by the staff of Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR), Mohamed said she would be more than happy to sign, joining more than 10,000 women who have added their signatures since the start of the campaign. Engy Ghozlan, a member of ECWR anti-harassment campaign, explained how the idea started. "We thought that we need something more, something that would attract people's attention. We wanted people to begin to ask themselves what they could do to change the law." Nehad Abul-Komsan, one of the founders of ECWR, points out that the Egyptian penal code does not define sexual harassment. Section four of the code addresses public exposure and corruption of morals and section seven slander and the divulging of secrets, though they are often loosely interpreted to cover sexual harassment. Now, though, volunteer lawyers are working with ECWR to revise the penal code to specifically include the sexual harassment of women. For a housewife like Basma Mohamed, walking in the street is an ordeal. She will not go out when workers take their breaks. "During their lunch time they come out to the street to drink tea and eat sandwiches, but their looks and words make me uncomfortable. Harassment can be just words and they can really get to you." Sexual harassment can involve touching or simply uninvited comments. Abuse can be verbal or physical. The ECWR defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome and uninvited behaviour that infringes upon the privacy of women. Sarah Abdel-Azim, a 21-year-old student who also had not heard of the petition, says that most women overlook comments from passersby but cannot ignore other forms of harassment. "The worst is being followed. It leaves girls feeling terrified. If someone walks behind a girl or grabs her it can make her not want to leave the house." Abul-Komsan says the petition calls for more stringent legislation against sexual harassment as well as serving as a wake-up call to Egyptians. The first goal is to support the drafting of the law, the second to raise awareness and push people into thinking what is happening around them. It is, says ECWR, a matter of breaking the silence. Abdel-Azim believes that the petition will make a difference, but only if harassment is criminalised. "No law will have an effect in Egypt unless there is punishment. They should have policemen in front of girl colleges and other places where girls gather," she says. Signatures so far have come from men and women, foreigners and Egyptians. They have heard about the campaign through the efforts of non-governmental organisations, colleagues, the Internet and fellow students on campus. Though formal networking has proved difficult, the petition has found its way into schools and workplaces. "It would be a big support to know that a million people actually do want this to happen. We are collecting signatures because we want people to participate in helping us push this thing forward," says Ghozlan. The centre has received many phone calls from people wishing to sign or to volunteer to help. "University students give the petition to their peers since approval from the university authorities is difficult to obtain. Already a construction company has requested a copy so their staff can sign." The organisation is hoping to collect all one million signatures by the end of the year. It will then submit them to the Ministry of Justice alongside a draft bill criminalising sexual harassment, reveals Ghozlan. Circulation of the petition has spread by word of mouth, through the media and partner organisations. ECWR now intends to increase awareness via announcements on radio stations such as Nogoum FM and the English Nile FM, two stations popular among the young. The Internet has potential, though it is limited. The World Bank reported in 2005 that only 68 of every 1,000 people in Egypt are Internet users. Since the law is unclear about what constitutes sexual harassment many women simply choose not to report incidents to the authorities while those that do, says ECWR, are often laughed at by the police. Any legislation, argues Abul-Komsan, must make it easier for women to report harassment. Of 2,800 women of different ages and professions surveyed by ECWR, 21.9 per cent reported regular harassment. Yet of this number just 1.7 per cent say they complained to the authorities. "One man tried to touch me in a minibus and hold me around my waist. My friends and I yelled at him and then left. We could have told someone but didn't want to make the incident bigger," says Abdel-Azim. It is a story with which all too many women are familiar. "Those who have reported incidents got nowhere. There is usually a lack of witnesses, and because sexual harassment does not exist in the penal code the cases are reviewed as being sexual assaults. Other girls are afraid of entering a police station for fear of being talked about, or simply do not see the point," says Ghozlan. "Yet you cannot eradicate the problem if there is no punishment." The petition is a part of a larger ECWR campaign, Safer Streets for All, that has been in the works for three years. It seeks to change the way people view harassment from harmless fun to something far more serious. As part of the campaign educators are being taught how to help their students deal with sexual harassment and the centre is putting together a cartoon to teach children to recognise harassment and familiarise them with their rights. The campaign, in seeking to raise general awareness of harassment, works with psychiatrists, doctors and lawyers to provide help for women with the courts and police. The centre also seeks to encourage women to report incidents of harassment. "We have found that people grow up with the idea that it is normal for men to harass and for girls to accept harassment. This is a major problem," says Ghozlan. "We have to encourage people to ask why we accept it. Why when out on the street can't we find respect, appreciation and equality?"
