It started slightly slow, the hashtag #endSH began to quickly take to the online activism community by early afternoon and then thousands of woman and women's advocates began posting and joining the cause sparked by Egyptian female activists in what is becoming a boisterous call for societies to crack down on sexual harassment in Egypt and across the Middle East. The event was led by HarassMap – arguably Egypt's most effective organization that has been tallying incidents of harassment across the country in an effort to help assist women when they traverse what has become an almost war zone-like atmosphere. Harassment is everywhere, but the online campaigners say it can end. “Men need to start to take notice that we are not going to sit down and just let harassment happen because this is our lives, our country and our future,” said Mona, a 19-year-old university student. She told Bikya Masr that never before has she believed that the situation facing Egyptian women can change. “I feel this is changing.” Still, as posts began to flood Twitter in the call for change and an end to harassment, there were detractors, many of whom were male and voiced their anger at the women attempting to take back the streets, and their bodies. “These women like being harassed,” said one comment from an unnamed Egyptian male. “If women in our country would just cover their bodies or stay at home they would be fine, but this fighting against nature is wrong.” Still, the campaign is increasing awareness of a cause that affects nearly all women, veiled or not. But the reality is more than online campaigns are needed to change the social fabric that has Egypt looking akin to the 1950s United States, when even a husband could call a psychiatrist and get information about his wife. Optimistically, times are changing. At the forefront of the January 25 revolution in Egypt were women: young, old, married, single, mothers, daughters and sisters. Their contribution to the cause could not be overstated. They were in Cairo's Tahrir Square in droves, creating the change that had eluded Egypt for decades. It was not a man's world on the streets. Now, as Egypt looks to a new future, women are again being pushed aside in favor of the “politicians” (read here, men). There are no women on the constitutional committee; there were no women among the 10 opposition leaders chosen to “negotiate” with the government during the revolution. It is a sad fact that Egypt must come to terms with in order to promote a new vision, and new society, that can be Egypt. Nearly all Egyptian women can relate a story of sexual violence, It is the hard truth facing Egypt in this transition period, and apologizing will not change attitudes. One of the new young leaders of the revolution, Google Executive Wael Ghonim, wrote on Twitter that “we need more girls” in reference to only one young woman being part of discussions with the military on the country's future. Ghonim is right: Egypt needs more women actively participating in politics. But wait, there were thousands of Egyptian women in Tahrir during the revolution, leading the push toward change. Now, they are being left out of their country's future. The fact remains that if Egyptian politicians and leaders wanted women to be more involved, they would be. There are a plethora of intelligent female leaders in the country, from opposition leader Gameela Ismail to the scores of young women who risked their lives for the betterment of the country in recent months. Egypt is in a transformative state and one that could see women be the harbingers of justice and equality, but the men must let them. According to a survey published by the Egyptian government's statistics agency late last year, revealed that 80.4 percent of males and 66.7 percent of females believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife if she speaks to another man and almost 44 percent of women surveyed reported being sexually harassed. Four out of five men also said it was acceptable to harass a woman if she wore “provocative” clothing. Making matters worse is the perception that non-Egyptian women, as evidenced by the Logan apology, are more important than the country's citizens. Just ask Heba, a recent university graduate who was assaulted on the streets of Cairo's upscale Zamalek neighborhood. When she went took the perpetrator to the police, they told her to forget the matter. “The captain said it would be too difficult and that I shouldn't bother,” she begins. “When I was about to leave after nothing was being done, the same captain turned to me and said ‘thank God it wasn't a foreigner or a diplomat's wife'. This is the problem, we Egyptians are not even treated with respect as citizens,” she believes. But Egypt has, for the past few weeks, talked about change. Women must be the number one priority for change for the country. The many women who took charge of the protests have been outspoken critics of the government, against sexual violence and have unified the country in ways that Egyptian men had been unable to do for decades. Nehad Abu Komsan, the Egyptian Center for Egyptian Rights (ECWR) head, told me recently that until society's mindset changes, stereotypes and misogyny will continue. “Egyptians need to understand that this is a major problem that only in the past few weeks have we as a society been able to speak openly, but too many people are focused on the politics, while the social problems remain as concrete as ever,” she said. Talking of the importance of women's empowerment is all good and well, but the reality is that societies do not change through talk. Just ask Egyptians. What needs to happen is a concerted effort to locate those women who have invested their lives for the country, ask their opinions and put them on leadership councils and in direct discussion with the military. To do otherwise will continue to perpetuate the long-held belief that a woman's place is in the home, repressed and away from the public. Egyptian women deserve better. It is their time to make a new country, for themselves and for their fellow citizens. ** Joseph Mayton is Editor-in-chief of Bikya Masr. BM
