Shireen Lewis, a 27 year-old psychiatrist, was on her way home one early afternoon on the last day of Ramadan. “Like most of the other girls,” Lewis said, “I walk down the street watching everyone, especially young men.”

Shireen Lewis, a 27 year-old psychiatrist, was on her way home one early afternoon on the last day of Ramadan. “Like most of the other girls,” Lewis said, “I walk down the street watching everyone, especially young men.”

She saw a young man approaching her and expected verbal abuse, she recalled, “But instead he passed me then suddenly grabbed my leg from behind.  I tried to confront him but he fled after he had pushed me, causing me to fall down on the ground. I quickly followed him to the street where he hid and started screaming and asking those present to help me until some gathered around and asked what the matter was.”

What shocked Lewis were people’s reactions: “Forget about it. You don’t want to shame yourself, do you?” Another one said, “Thank God it has ended like this.” 

Lewis, however, was determined and went to the Matariyah police station to file a complaint. When Lewis explained her situation he answered, “All the officers are out on duty.”

Lewis, she said, went home thinking, “Was I about to sacrifice my life in the revolution in order to be sexually harassed?”

Youth campaigns against harassment

Catch a harasser… Be a man and protect her instead of harassing her… Egyptian girls are a red line… These all are slogans of dozens of campaigns organized by youth to face the phenomenon of sexual harassment, which has become widely common in Egyptian streets, especially at social events during holidays.

According to a report issued by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, 83% of female Egyptians and 98% of female foreigners are harassed. These campaigns aim at raising awareness, tracing harassers and handing them over to police and encouraging harassed girls to file complaints.

Shireen Thabet, coordinator of a campaign ‘May your hand be cut’ to fight sexual harassment, talked about her campaign. “We are a group of university students who are trying to educate the society about the seriousness of this phenomenon, in order to form a public opinion that rejects and eliminates harassment,” she explained.  

“We believe that the society doesn’t reject such reprehensible acts and blames not the harasser but the victim.  We also support harassed girls and help them file a complaint to get their right and punish harassers, especially since a great percentage of victims stay silent for fear of defaming themselves.”

Which police?

Even though she failed to file a complaint the first time, Lewis returned to the station where another officer helped her and accompanied her to the street where she was harassed. “This girl is like your sister,” the officer said, “You should protect her.”

Thabet, on the other hand, believes that the police’s way of handling these issues is poor, which encourages young men to harass girls inside metro stations despite good security presence.  Thabet recalls an incident she once had inside the metro. “I was physically assaulted in the subway when a young man boarded a wagon for women. When I objected and asked him to leave, he refused and beat me. I tried to file a complaint but the police didn’t cooperate in the filing process and pressured me to let it go. The man’s wife filed a complaint against me to bargain with me to surrender my right!”

 An increase in harassment cases in public places and on holidays, led to police arresting the culprits and tracing them down.  But police action has not yet proven to be a deterrent, Thabet said.

Awareness and consequence

While the law in important, said Nevine Ebeid, coordinator of Women’s Organizations Alliance, addressing sexual harrassment is not only a legal issue.

“I can’t deny the role of justice in bringing stability and security to society,” Ebeid said, “but we need an awakened society to eliminate this phenomenon. Unfortunately, the officials are currently justifying it, which is what we felt through previous MPs who dealt with these cases with severe recklessness.”

“No matter how loud are the voices that call for restricting women’s freedom and defend sexual harassment, the law will remain above all, yet it should be really activated”, she added.

The religious role

Rashad Abdullatif, a sociologist, holds the religious discourse partially accountable for this growing phenomenon because it is not tackling the societal issues.

“Many sermons, whether at mosques or churches, are interested in political awareness and have neglected addressing social problems, including sexual harassment,” Abdullatif said.  “I have not heard about any sermon that warns of that phenomenon and talks about its risks and how religion prohibits it. The religious discourse in Egypt is slowly moving away from the real problems of society.”

Abdullatif said the youth are in need of sexual awareness that comes through religion.  “Sex education is almost completely non-existent in Egypt,” he said.

“The best solution”, he insisted, “is the family and educational institutions as they play a key role in upbringing generations.  Sex education should also be included in curricula since there are several misconceptions among the youth.”