Join Egyptian women in speaking out against street harassment today

As I’ve mentioned, last Friday a group of Egyptian women gathered in Tahir Square to protest sexual harassment were attacked by a group of men and–you guessed it–sexually assaulted.

Sexual assault of female protesters has marred Egypt’s revolution from the get-go. And your every-day, garden-variety street harassment is a regular occurrence. A 2008 survey by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights found that 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women had experienced harassment. And not one Egyptian presidential candidate has spoken out about this problem.

But women in Egypt, the Middle East, and the world are fighting back. In Egypt, a website called HarassMap provides a place to report incidents and warn others of where they took place. Co-founder Rebecca Chiao explains, “We want to change the social tolerance for harassment.”

This video about what men can say to men who harass women on the streets is one part of that. Like its American counterpart, it seeks to encourage men to hold themselves and their peers accountable for street harassment.

Today Egyptian women are speaking out online and you can show your solidarity by tweeting using the hashtag #EndSH.