CAIRO: Having worked extremely hard for the past year and half, 24-year-old Fatima had expected to be promoted. Instead, her manager stole her project idea, got credit for it, and promoted another employee who'd only been at the company for three months – all because Fatima rejected his marriage proposal. Sitting on the metro, listening to music, Fatima seemed almost relieved to have somebody to finally talk to about her struggle to keep her job – to continue to help support her family. Married with three children, Fatima's thirty-year old manager has verbally and physically harassed her since she was hired. It was about one-year ago when he asked her to marry him, and then started threatening her with being fired when she rejected his proposal. Faced with an ultimatum, Fatima complained to her manager's direct boss, who accused her of lying and asked her not to repeat what she had told him – to not distort the image of the company, which she asked me to keep anonymous. For revenge, the newer, less-experienced employee received the promotion that Fatima believed she'd deserved and had needed desperately for economic reasons. With a single father, younger sister and two mentally-challenged siblings, Fatima needs to keep her job. Her father, who's a plumber, has refused to remarry after his wife died from illness when Fatima was only 6-years-old. Fatima's parents were cousins, which she believes is the reason why she has two mentally-challenged siblings. She complained to me about how the government neglects those who are mentally-challenged. Most schools dedicated to the mentally-challenged in Egypt are either too far, too expensive or boarding schools. “There should be special schools in every district,” she said, adding that she believes her 22-year-old sister is quite talented with her hands and just needs special attention to develop her skills and even get a job. “They are very depressed,” Fatima told me referring to her siblings. “They barely go out and have trouble communicating with the world,” she said, adding that she can see from their eyes that they are very unhappy. BM
