A survey was taken this past week in Cairo concerning sexual harassment on women in Egypt. Women reported that they were being sexually harassed at least once a day and the number has been growing since the Egyptian revolution. In many cases of sexual harassment, they escalate very quickly to mob attacks on women going out and running errands or women just going to work. Many of the mob attacks are extreme cases but they are still reported frequently. When local news stations asked men about the growing problem, they blamed women for provoking men with the way they dress. However, most attacks are made on women wearing the traditional conservative headscarves and baggy trousers who have everything but their face and hands covered. Even women who wear the full-face niqab are being harassed on a daily basis. It's becoming a severe social issue and the government is not intervening to stop any of it. Women who have tried to report attacks to police are told to go home and forget about it. Because of the growing religious fundamentalism in Egypt, women have been targeted not only for having well paying jobs but even for just leaving their homes. Egyptian men now believe that women should stay home all day because men are the ones that should be working and bringing home money, not women. The men on the streets believe that women are bringing the sexual harassment on themselves for leaving their homes.
While reading this, I was reminded of men even here in America trying to redefine sexual harassment and rape by the way women act like they are asking for it and the "stupidity" of women. Saying that a woman covered head to toe in traditional headress and niqab are asking for it is unbelievable. Men are taking the least amount of responsibility for their own actions and blaming it on the women. And not only is this an issue that deals with women's right's, it's a religious issue. Growing religious beliefs in Egypt are correlated with these attacks. Fundamentalism tries to put women in a negative light saying they provoke men because of their curves. Which translates to men can't help themselves because a woman has curves. And if a man can't help himself then that's his problem and a woman shouldn't be held responsible for his inability to keep it in his pants. Because these women are trying to make something for themselves with better jobs and higher education they are being shut down by men who aren't as successful as them. Police are even refusing to document their attacks. In today's society, a woman should be able to safely walk the streets of their town without worrying about being raped by men on the street. This is a global issue that we see everyday in many different cultures and societies around the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19511471
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19440656
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