The Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments recently launched a booklet that aims at educating sheikhs and religious leaders on sexual harassment in the country and how to fight it, but the reality is that mosques are not going to be able to stem the problem alone, if at all, especially after reading through the booklet, which blames women for being harassed. In recent years, the problem of sexual harassment and violence against women has reached unparalleled levels in Egyptian history. The ministry has finally admitted that the problem exists. A number of officials have come out saying sexual harassment has reached “dangerous levels.” But the reality is the government, including the ministry, has done little to combat this problem over the past five years and one booklet issued is not going to do much. This month is the one-year anniversary of the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights study that revealed nearly all, 98 percent, of foreign women have been harrassed on Egyptian streets. For Egyptians, the report showed that even among the local, supposedly more conservatively dressed women, nearly 3/4 are harassed on a daily and weekly basis. This was not good news for a country that for so long had claimed to be tolerant and open. Obviously, this is not the case. The booklet examines in 35 pages the rise of the “phenomenon” in the country and gives leaders the opportunity to see how they may teach their pupils about harassment. Ironically, despite the initial praise it received, the pamphlet once again highlights how erring the government is over this predicament. “Clothes are important for men in general, but they are more important for women because they protect them against molestation,” the booklet says. It continues to argue that women should wear the higab, or headscarf, and be fully covered so that perpetrators would not be “tempted to approach them.” They can't be serious, can they? This argument once again shows that Egyptian society puts the blame on women and the dress they adorn themselves with. Last time I checked, men were not harassing and groping naked women, but fully clothed individuals. To say that clothes are an important part of this issue misses the point, again. It does not matter what a woman wears on Egypt's streets, they are getting harassed, manhandled and treated without respect whatsoever. The ministry is attempting to deflect the real problem facing Egyptian society: women are treated as chattle and men feel as though they can do whatever they want. Talk to nearly any woman, Egyptian or foreign, and they will tell you horrific stories about their experiences on the streets in this country. Talk to many men in power and they will argue that it is indecent clothing or a lack of Islam that causes harassment. When is this country going to take responsibility for their actions? My wife, Egyptian, is fed up. And I don't blame her. She wants out. It is stressful to walk on the street, to go anywhere for that matter, without feeling as though peering eyes are upon her. It is unfortunate, but a fact that has made us look for relocation. If men in this country, and especially the ones who claim religion as their buttress, continue to put the blame elsewhere, instead of on the perpetrators, then Egypt faces a dark future ahead. There is only so much rights groups can do to stem harassment. It is time that the country take a stand. If a woman is wearing a bikini on the street, it doesn't mean she should be groped, cat-called, etc. If you are not willing to admit that a woman, no matter where she is and no matter what she is wearing, deserves to walk in peace, then please shut up and go home. You are the problem. BM
