CAIRO: As tourists in Egypt, we have heard plenty of stories from friends and relatives that have visited Egypt. Primary among these stories are the accounts of women that are sexually harassed during their stay in Egypt. These stories range from explicit comments in English and Arabic to being inappropriately touched. It's clear to anyone who hears these stories that sexual harassment is a serious issue in Egypt. The seriousness of this issue was brought to the limelight in Egypt by a few important events. Two of these events occurred during the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of Ramadan in 2006 and then again in 2008. During these incidents, there were reports of over 100 young men and boys in a big mob that attacked women in the streets of Cairo. Both incidents occurred in different neighborhoods of Cairo but there were reports of groping and clothes being ripped off from both. The case of Noha Rushdi Saleh also helped bring this issue to the limelight. After being repeatedly groped by Sharif Gommaa on the streets, Noha Rushdi forced him to the police station. The judge ordered Sharif Gommaa to pay Noha Rushdi 5,001 Egyptian Pounds ($895) and sent him to jail for 3 years with hard labor. The pervasive nature of this problem has drawn the attention of many people and researchers. The primary group that has been investigating this issue is the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR). In a survey that they began to conduct in 2005, the ECWR found that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women experienced sexual harassment at some point in Egypt. Half of the women reported that they experience it on a daily basis. They also found that the majority of Egyptian men (62 percent) have sexually harassed women. Most important, they found that although most respondents agreed that women with less modest dress (not wearing the veil and dressing western) were more likely to be harassed, most veiled women still experienced sexual harassment (72 percent). Because their surveys have suggested that there is a real problem with sexual harassment in Egypt, ECWR has begun a campaign to increase awareness about this issue. Helen Rizzo, a Social Sciences professor at the American University in Cairo, has investigated ECWR's campaign since 2005. She states that although they've had many events that involved panels, conferences, and Awareness Days, these events have been unable to reach-out to the masses. In other cases, the government itself is an obstacle to this. She mentioned a specific example in 2007 in which Cairo University allowed ECWR to distribute its survey to the campus community but the State Security prevented them from doing so. However, there seem to be some positive turns in recent years. Rizzo pointed to an increase in government attention to the problem of sexual harassment in Cairo. Referring to a recent conference on sexual harassment and its negative effects on tourism sponsored by ECWR, Rizzo mentioned that that event inspired a few public service announcements by the Ministry of Tourism that advise against harassing foreigners and specifically foreign women. She also mentioned that she noticed an increase in the number of police present in crowded areas during the major holidays, particularly the Eid holiday. There has also been an increase in the population's attention to this issue. The most important recent change that Rizzo addressed is the drafting of a law against sexual harassment. There are currently three drafts, only one of which has gone before parliament. A different group sponsors each of these drafts: the ECWR, the National Council for Women (NCW), and Mohamed Khalil Qaweyta, a member of parliament. “They all seek to have a better definition and a better penal code,” said Rizzo. There are important ways in which these drafts differ. “The ECWR draft focuses on the public sphere while the NCW draft focuses on employment and the work place.” Besides the number of different drafts, other obstacles stand in the way of the passing of this bill. Parliament members have objected to the passing of the law stating that it would lead to no change. The law was compared to the passing of a traffic law in recent years, which has not lead to any change in traffic and driving patterns in Cairo. Rizzo disagreed and stated that “in the metro it's illegal to smoke and pollute and they enforce it. A lot would need to happen between passing the law and enforcing it.” The current primary goal for the ECWR is to get a law through parliament so that they have something in the law books to work with in their campaigns. “Things need to be systematic.” Clearly there have been some positive effects that have come about because of the campaigning done by the ECWR. It is unclear, though, whether their programs, which have also included radio public service announcements, have had any affect on the rate of sexual harassment in Egypt. Currently, the ECWR is creating a new survey in order to investigate the current rate of sexual harassment in Egypt. It is unclear whether this rate has decreased even though there is evidence that sexual harassment is now being taken more seriously. Yet, as recent as the Fall of 2008, Suzanne Mubarak went on air and downplayed the occurrence of sexual harassment in Egypt. The best hope for change in the occurrence of sexual harassment in Egypt seems to lie in the passing of a law that will criminalize sexual harassment. However, that is only a beginning. ** David Vilder is a 25-year-old student in Political Science and freelance photojournalist based in Montreal, Canada. He was in exchange at the American University in Cairo for the spring 2010 semester. While in Egypt, he volunteered with the NGO Better World Foundation based in Heliopolis and researched sexual harassment in Egypt. Felix Pichardo is a 23-year-old recent graduate in Psychology and Philosophy in New York. He studied at the American University in Cairo. While in Egypt, he also volunteered with the NGO Better World Foundation based in Heliopolis and researched sexual harassment in Egypt. BM
