CAIRO: A new project aimed at combating sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo will soon be launched. The project, called HarassMap, aims to create a map of the ‘hotspots' of harassment in Cairo – that is, the places where harassment most frequently occurs. The interactive project will rely on the public's participation. A unique mapping technology will use information sent by SMS to HarrassMap's number to plot the locations where women are harassed. Women who send an SMS to HarrassMap will then receive a response including where the women can receive help, ranging from legal aid to psychological support. According to co-founder Rebecca Chiao, mapping Cairo's hotspots is only the first step toward the group's goal “to change the social acceptability of sexual harassment.” Once hotspots are identified, HarrassMap will go in groups of volunteers to speak with the community, particularly shop owners. “Our message is that sexual harassment at these levels, with no consequences or support for women, is against Egyptian values, traditions, religions, everything. We've tolerated it and stayed silent for too long and now it has grown out of control,” Chiao told Bikya Masr. “And it is only us, the community, that can stop it. So shop owners can change their neighborhoods by pledging to stop harassers when they see them, and they can put a sticker in their window to make their store a safe zone for women.” Engy Ghozlan, one of the women working with Chiao on the program, echoed Chiao's sentiments. “We are hoping that this map would create a sense of the problem and community ownership,” she told Bikya Masr, and they're “making the best out of the current social media tools at hand” to get the job done. With Egypt's mobile phone network containing some 55 million users, the potential for HarrassMap is huge. It is this potential the group hopes to tap into. Most NGOs dealing with women's issues in Egypt focus on advocacy, said Chiao. HarrassMap wants to compliment the work of the NGOs by bringing the issue back to the public. “The other projects focus on changing the legal system,” she said. “We want to support them, but also focus on changing what's happening in the street.” HarrassMap's goal – “to reach a level of community support for stopping harassment, so that the environment will no longer tolerate harassers” – may seem lofty to some, particularly to the women who face verbal or physical harassment daily on the streets of Cairo. Yet it is also a much needed change. Perhaps going to the daily cause and effect of harassment will be more effective on some levels than lobbying to change legislation. It is the underlying social situation that HarrassMap ultimately wants to change. “We want men to tell other men that [harassment] is not ok; women to tell other women it's not their fault… and the public in general to start speaking up and interfering when they see it happen,” said Chiao. “Egypt deserves better,” said Ghozlan. “We can't stay in silence while our home is contaminated by new trends of immoral values that are certainly weird and new to the Egyptian society. “Egyptians were always known by being there for each other and it's that sense of social responsibility that we are trying to bring back.” BM
