Erica Aisha

I'm from the West Coast, since I was raised between my Evangelical mother in Idaho and my queer father in California. That may seem at opposite ends of the spectrum, but I ended up religious like my mom (except I'm Muslim), and liberal like my father . Feminism, social media, gender research, journalism, international news and reading are my passion. I enjoy blogging about those subjects as well as Muslim American issues on my blog.

Posts Written by Erica
By Erica Aisha • 11 years ago

Harassment and the law for women in Cairo

This is material from my blog Opinion Ate It

The last year has been tumultuous in Egypt, for men and women. However, the recent constitution and continued protest marking the 2nd anniversary of the revolution, which ousted former ruler Hosni Mubarak have brought little reprieve to Egyptian women.

Sexual harassment is so rampant that it is a daily occurrence for women in Egypt, particularly Cairo. Women who are veiled, and unveiled are cat called, groped and harassed in the streets or crowded places. This has become so prevalent that it is synonymous with women in the streets. In 2008, a study revealed that 98% of foreign women* and 83% of Egyptian women reported they had been harassed. If you are so inclined, the PDF of this research can be found here it was produced by the  United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in association with the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR). More than half of the women surveyed stated they were harassed on a daily basis; interestingly they surveyed equal amounts of men to determine the reasons for harassment, and average age of harassers.