20 August 2008
EGYPT: SEXUAL HARASSMENT, 98% OF FOREIGNERS VICTIMS
A total 98% of foreign women visiting or living in Egypt are victims of several kinds of sexual harassment and 66.1% of them got an unpleasant impression of the Egyptian society due to the negative experience, but
not so bad that they will avoid going back to the country. Only 7.0% of them said that they had no intention of going back to Egypt and 4.6% will warn their friends, exhorting them not to visit the country of Pyramids. The above was stated in a research of the "Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR)", released today in Cairo and conducted under the campaign "Make our streets safer for everyone", which specifically aims at opposing sexual harassment and at condemning the risk that this behaviour might cause a strong reduction in the number of tourists, with disastrous economic consequences. In a study released in the last weeks of July, the Centre had informed that 82% of Egyptian women report to have been subjected to unpleasant attention by men, on the street, in public places or on transport vehicles. Without analysing the reasons for the greater impact of the phenomenon on foreign women, ECWR's president, Nehad Abul Komsan, suggested that the authorities install street cameras to be able to identify the authors of the harassments and to obtain at the same time a deterring effect, like it happens already in some centres of India and the United Arab Emirates At the presentation of the study there were also MPs like Mohsen Radi, exponent of the Muslim Brotherhood, who remarked how the aggressors "do not spare even the God-fearing women, wearing the hijab (the veil on the head) or the niqab (which exposes only the eyes)". "The majority of the victims refuse to report the aggressions. I will involve the Parliament to understand why this happens", he pointed out. Even on the workplaces harassment is widespread, according to economist Hamdi Abdelazeem, who focused on the abuse of power which is often exercised by managers and businessmen over their female employees. (ANSAmed).
15:01 Posted in Egypt | Permalink | Comments (0) | Facebook |
The comments are closed.