CAIRO: Harassmap, a Cairo-based anti-sexual harassment campaign, launched a new SMS-based system for tracking and documenting instances of abuses this week. Meanwhile, the small volunteer group has fielded requests pouring in from women's groups around the world who want to implement the Harassmap technology in their own countries. With the Harassmap's new SMS short code (6069), women in Egypt can document and archive instances of abuse with their location and a description of what transpired. Sexual harassment is an endemic, daily problem for women in Egypt, amid a largely indifferent legal system. The technology empowers women to proactively report any harassment, rather than resigning to the idea that Egypt's legal system will do little for them. The group has fielded requests from Indonesia, Pakistan, Palestine, Canada, Turkey, the United States, and beyond, from women's groups seeking to apply the technology in their home countries. “We got so many requests that we have asked our tech partners to make it so that the program can be easily downloaded by any group who wants it,” said Rebecca Chiao, who helped spearhead the Harassmap campaign. “However, we are developing a best practices manual because the technology is only a small part of what we do. Those who want to implement the system in their own country need to think about the issue within their own context, and must make the technology work wherever they are.” Those behind Harassmap believe that individuals must take the issue of sexual harassment into their own hands in order to affect societal change. “A lot of times when we do community outreach people say, ‘You shouldn't be working with society, you should be working with the law.' There is a law, but it hasn't changed anything,” explained Chiao. “During the first two days of the revolution, harassment disappeared overnight. People took power into their own hands and were enforcing decency in their own neighborhood. This is where the change will come from—not the government, not the police, not the law,” she continued. Harassmap has also worked to raise public awareness about the fact that an anti-harassment law, though unenforced, is on the books in Egypt. “Any person who exposes another to indecent assault publicly via words, actions or gestures shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 6 months and not exceeding 2 years, and with a fine of not less than LE 500 and not more than LE 2,000. The punishment in the preceding paragraph also applies in the indecent assault took place via telephone or by any other means of telecommunication,” reads Article 306 of the Egyptian penal code. However, in Egypt, where rule of law is largely weak, it is left to the whim of a police officer to enforce the law or not. Women often reveal that police officers are indifferent to their reports of abuse, and are often even the offending party themselves. Harassment in Egypt today, ten months since the January 25 Revolution the deposed of former President Hosni Mubarak and his regime, is as much as a problem as ever. “There is a discourse that now is not the right time for women's rights—even from women's groups themselves, but now is the right time. If not now, then when?” said Chaio. However, those at Harassmap say they see Egypt's post-revolutionary period as a time to implement social change and address Egypt's sexual harassment problem, as Egyptians across the board have taken hold of their social and political lives, seeking change. “Egypt is our biggest priority right now. There is a lot left to do,” said Chaio, who is excited to see its technology globalize, empowering women and men across the world to address the issue of sexual harassment in their own communities as well. BM
