Let’s Sit & Talk: May 18th, @ the Cultural Wheel

ECWR Press Conference: Making Our Streets Safer for Everyone

ECWR is pleased to invite you to a press conference marking the conclusion of the first phase of our campaign against sexual harassment, Making Our Streets Safer…For Everyone.

 

The conference will cover the following topics:

• The results of our analysis of over 2500 sexual harassment complaints that we’ve received;
• Our report on sexual harassment laws in six countries (Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, India, France, and United Kingdom), as well as relevant articles from the Egyptian penal code; and 
• The components of our campaign, including:

1)   Legal Advocacy: Does Egypt need new legislation to stop sexual harassment or are the existing articles of the Egyptian penal code enough?

2)   Media & NGOs: How can we impact public opinion and influence local communities?

3)   Youth: How can we best involve youth in our efforts to stop sexual harassment?

 

The conference will take place on Saturday, March 24, 2007 at the Pyramisa Hotel, Versailles Hall, in Dokki, beginning at 10:30 AM.

 

We feel strongly that your participation in this event will greatly enhance the quality of our discussion.  We would greatly appreciate your attendance.

 

For more information please contact us at ecwr@link.net     

 

ECWR Chair

                                                                                                           

Nehad Abul Komsan

                                                                                                          Lawyer  

 Making Our Streets Safer … For Everyone

In response to complaints from many women detailing increased suffering and incidences of sexual harassment in our streets, ECWR began to organize a campaign to stop sexual harassment. For a year and a half now, since October 2005, we have carried out activities for the first phase of this campaign against street harassment. This phase has included volunteer participation in each of its processes, including:

 

• Distributing and collecting questionnaires that ask women and girls about their stories or experiences with sexual harassment. This information has been used to prepare meaningful statistics in support of this campaign. Over 2500 questionnaires were collected, narrating some of the many miserable stories of sexual harassment;
• Building a network of twenty-five NGOs;
• Reaching out to media and journalists (including Dream, Orbit and Channel 2) to host on-air discussions about sexual harassment and to raise awareness of the issue amongst the greater public as well as the media itself;
• Consulting with almost 100 volunteers to take suggestions and develop innovative ideas;
• Completing a study of sexual harassment laws from six other countries, and providing a report in both Arabic and English; and
• Cooperating with a marketing company who volunteered to develop contacts with the campaign sponsors and help plan our public awareness activities.  

 

In addition to hearing the results of the first phase, attendees will have the opportunity to express their opinions on the next phase, and reflect on the emerging constitutional amendments.

 

We feel that presenting the results of this first phase of our work is a step in the direction of making our streets safer for everyone. Cooperation with NGOs, the media and the concerned authorities is crucial to developing public awareness. We hope to direct the attention of different populations and communities (such as youth, men, women and students) to understanding their roles in promoting awareness of this trend and efforts to change it, and to direct concern about women and girls on the streets of Egypt into constructive advocacy to shape the law in this regard.     

IGWS Sexual Harassment Forum

The American University in Cairo

Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender
& Womens Studies

Cordially invites you to the

IGWS Sexual Harassment Forum

Moderated by
Hind El-Hinnawy,
Graduate Student in Gender and Womens Studies
& Riham Sheble,
Graduate Student in the Department of Arabic Studies
­_____

The West El Balad Events: An Eyewitness Account
Wael Abbas, Editor in Chief of Al-LiWa¢ Al-Misri Online

Socio-economic Interpretations of the West el Balad Events
Dr. Galal Amin, Department of Economics, AUC

The State and Sexual Harassment
Dr. Mariz Tadros, Department of Political Science, AUC

Comparing Sexual Harassment Law: France, the US and Egypt
Dr. Amr Shalakany, Department of Law, AUC
 
The Politics of Protest
Rebecca Chiao, International Relations Officer,
Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights
 
These short presentations will be followed
by an open discussion.

Monday December 4, 2006
7-9 pm
Falaki Main Stage Theatre

The Stand: Updates

Just came a while ago, and let me tell you, we are safe “fi ayden amina”…Amn Markazi kteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer…secuirty people kteeeeeeeeeeeer.  Ya3ni seriously I was amazed!!

Anywayz, it was really good, I think we made a clear statement.  Yet my only comment eno it came out more like a political stand although it was meant to be a social one…mesh moshkela bardo.  Will talk about that later.

Remember, this was just a first step….we still have a lot of work to do.

A few photos from the stand here, and a couple of videos

I would love to thank every single person helped out or showed interest in helping out with this event and the upcoming ones. “Malek, Bent Masreya, Rebecca, mademoiselle-hh, Hend, Lesley, Blue,  Berry, Mo, Hesham and the Sandmonkey, who deserve a separate post, begad I can’t thank him enough for the effort, time, and energy he put in this stand. 

“Forgive me ma3lesh if I forgot anyone”

N “still chasing the sun”

Stories!!!

These are a few samples from the info I recieved from The Egyptian Center for Women’s Right.

1. Your name (optional):

2. Your age:  26

3. Place harassment happened:  Faissal St.

4. Date and time harassment happened:  a few weeks ago (October/November 2005)

5. Who harassed you?  A man

6. About how old was he?  Late 20s or early 30

7. What happened? I am a married veiled woman. I usually dress in long wide clothes (if anyone thinks that women in tight clothes provoke and/or deserve harassment). On that day particularly I was wearing a wide dress, covering all my body and a hijab, that also covered the breast area. I was going to the supermarket (which is about 100 meters away from my house) to buy something when I felt someone walking quickly behind me. He then grabbed my underwear so severely that I thought it was torn apart, he also grabbed my butt and put his hands between my upper thighs. This all happened in a second. Shocked with what happened, I turned around and called him bad names, as loudly as possible. Unfortunately, the street was almost empty. He ran and I didn’t attempt to chase him. I went to inside the supermarket and bought the things. When I went out of the supermarket, I found him sitting on the sidewalk. I went inside the shop and told some of the guys inside that the man sitting on the sidewalk harassed me. I didn’t give details. I just pointed at him. A man from the shop went out and talked to him. I don’t know what he said to him. I left the scene and went home.

8. What was the reaction of other people around you?

9. Did you go to the police? No

10. If no, why? First, I don’t have evidence. Secondly, he can allege that I’m saying this because I’m a bad woman and I wanted to get at him.

11. If yes, what happened?

12. How did you feel after the harassment happened? I felt terrible. I wanted to cry. I felt so humiliated and shocked that this particular incident happened to me. Sadly, I got so used to verbal harassment that I no longer hear what men say when they come so close and say something bad. However, it was the first time that someone grabs me. I felt impure and violated for a period of time.

13. Did you receive any support from other people? Yes

14. If yes, how? My father and husband told me that it was his own problem and I need not wory about that. My husband was quite supportive and tried to chear me up. However, I still felt ‘unclean’ and ‘impure’.  ______________________________________________________

2. Your age:20
3. Place harassment happened:near my home, mohandeseen
4. Date and time harassment happened: about 3 yrs ago, 2002, at night about 9:00 pm
5. Who harassed you? some random guy from the street
6. About how old was he?  25-30
7. What happened? i was in high schl at the time when i used to take a private class in an education centre near my home that i only had to cross few streets. that guy used to follow me everyday & used to be very scared..he waited for me at the time when my class ends, at firs he used to follow me then day after day he tried to touched me successively, i used to walk faster or turn suddenly tats when he temporarily stop & resume after making me feel that he’s distant & that im safe.untill that day when he actually touched me & i shivered like a rabbit but i
had books in my hand & i turned & slapped him hard in the face & called him names, i was scared buti was very angry at the time that i still cant imagine how i did that..he was very expressionless & wasnt afraid of me..but after that he stopped following me & i never saw him one day after that
8. What was the reaction of other people around you? ppl in the street were only watching with no reaction at all & some men were even laghing ..& some other girls or women felt that my reaction was kind of tachy & that i shouldnt have done that!(isnt that sad)
9. Did you go to the police? no i didnt
10. If no, why?   i knew that nothing was ever to happen to rescue my dignity. & i wasnt gonna grab him & hand him to the police, & its not that unexpected  that the police men would have hit on me themselves!!!
11.If yes, what happened?
12.How did you feel after the harassment happened? i felt very unsafe  ..& i felt like i wanna throw up bcoz I was very disappointed! but since then ..shouting or cursing a guy in the street to stop himm   from being nasty is not a problem anymore..its even sth that I enjoy!! & when i do shout at some guy..they seem to be shocked that they never thought a girl would ever do that! & some seem to enjoy it..me cursing them!!
13.Did you receive any support from other people? i never told anybody
14.If yes, how?

________________________________________________________ 

I am 27 years old but would prefer to keep my name anonymous:

The incident took place about a year ago in the parking lot in Abdel Moneim Riad Square, under the 6th of Ocober Bridge. Unfortunately I do not remember the exact date but it was about 4:30 in the afternoon. I was ascending the Pedestrian Tunnel and moving into the parking lot when a police officer (’askari) started to call out names like ‘asal at me. If that were it, there would be nothing to tell. However, the fact is that he was naked at the time, except for his underwear (kalson). Clearly, a number of security people and police personnel reside in that area of the parking lot and that is where they change their clothes and I happened to come ouf of the pedestrian tunnel, which is a publid place,  while he was in the middle of getting dressed. The sad thing is that I got harrassed by the same person who is supposed to be protecting me as a citizen. Ofcourse I did not go to the police because I was harrassed by the police. There was noone else around except his colleagues who were laughing so I couldn’t turn to anyone else for help. I don’t know what else to tell you except I felt so angry and so dissapointed in our country and our police. I thought they were there to protect us from incidents like that but I guess they forgot that their mission is to protect citizens. I wrote to Bareed Al Ahram that day but my story did not get published.

 Now if you or someone you know have been Harassed and want to report it, or willing to share your story, please go visit the ECWR Website and fill out their form and return it to ecwr@link.net.

The Stand

A “women in black” silent stand will be held next Thursday 9 November from 12-2 @ the Press Syndicate to resent the Eid Events at Downtown.

Let’s Talk: Let’s take an action

I guess keda it is just about the right time to take action in regards to what happened in Down Town during the Eid, I brain stormed keda shwaya, and i came up with a couple of ideas:

1- we can organzie “Wa2fa banati” , el wa2fa teb2a samta, we all dressed in black.

2- Presentation about el entehakat starting the events of 25 May, we can present it either @ studio 206, or neqabet el sa7afeyeen.

What do you think???

So, now if you please, whoever is willing to help with the presentation, let me know and leave ur email so we can discuss our schedule.

As for the stand, ladies please let me know if interested or not, as I would like to know if it is gonna be a big thing or…this will help in deciding the place w keda. 

كلنا ليلي - In All Ways A Woman by Maya Angelou

Originally uploaded by nerro285.

“In my young years I took pride in the fact that luck was called a lady. In fact, there were so few public acknowledgments of the female presence that I felt personally honored whenever nature and large ships were referred to as feminine. But as I matured, I began to resent being considered a sister to a changeling as fickle as luck, as aloof as an ocean, and as frivolous as nature.
The phrase “A woman always has the right to change her mind” played so aptly into the negative image of the female that I made myself a victim to an unwavering decision. Even if I made an inane and stupid choice, I stuck by it rather than “be like a woman and change my mind.”
Being a woman is hard work. Not without joy and even ecstasy, but still relentless, unending work. Becoming an old female may require only being born with certain genitalia, inheriting long-living genes and the fortune not to be run over by an out-of-control truck, but to become and remain a woman command the existence and employment of genius.
The woman who survives intact and happy must be at once tender and tough. She must have convinced herself, or be in the unending process of convincing herself, that she, her values, and her choices are important. In a time and world where males hold sway and control, the pressure upon women to yield their rights-of-way is tremendous. And it is under those very circumstances that the woman’s toughness must be in evidence.
She must resist considering herself a lesser version of her male counterpart. She is not a sculptress, poetess, authoress, Jewess, or even (now rare) in university parlance a rectoress. If she is the thing, then for her own sense of self and for the education of the ill-informed she must insist with rectitude in being the thing and in being called the thing.
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a woman called by a devaluing name will only be weakened by the misnomer. She will need to prize her tenderness and be able to display it at appropriate times in order to prevent toughness from gaining total authority and to avoid becoming a mirror image of those men who value power above life, and control over love.
It is imperative that a woman keep her sense of humor intact and at the ready. She must see, even if only in secret, that she is the funniest, looniest woman in her world, which she should also see as being the most absurd world of all times. It has been said that laughter is therapeutic and amiability lengthens the life span.
Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible, and live long lives. The struggle for equality continues unabated, and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory”.

http://laila-eg.blogspot.com

Announcement….”Highly Important”

The Breast Cancer foundation of Egypt (BCFE) is an NGO who cares about breast cancer awareness and treatment, BCFE encourage early detection to save lives. October is the breast cancer month internationally, BCFE encourage ladies above 40 years to do annual screening and get a discounted mammogram.

BCFE needs volunteers to represent our services to public in Sakyet El sawy and Gezira Club in Zamalek area, from 9 pm to 11 pm during Ramadan.
If you are interested or feel you can help, please contact BCFE office 3682432 -0101707690.Best regards,

Niveen Torky

What is BCFE ?
The Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt (“BCFE”) is an NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs, registration number 5840-04. It is a foundation thus there is no dues paying member body. A small group of 24 founding members, Egyptians and expatriates concerned with the high incidence of breast cancer and the lack of related support services in Egypt joined together to form an organization to address the problem. Individually they represent health care professionals, breast cancer survivors, and civic spirited citizens. Collectively they are a driving force to bring breast cancer awareness, education, and services to Egyptian women.

Mission Statement

To promote breast health through cancer awareness, education, and research, as well as, facilitate services and support to women in all economic strata

Our Goals ?
Build a culturally sensitive physical and emotional support system to enhance the quality of life for women with breast cancer and their families.
Collect a body of statistics to support research and enlightened care.
Facilitate access to affordable and high quality professional diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitative services for women in all economic strata.
Educate the public about breast cancer, the importance of early detection, and eradicate the stigma attached to having breast cancer.

“hope I can see u all there guys”.

Ewww….Sick

Read Mostafa’s account “female genital mutilation”, and didn’t manage to hold back my tears…it is SICK…way far from what the word “Humanity” means. Read this, this, and this to know more about the physical, psychological, and sexual effects of female genital mutilation. Literally…catastrophic repercussions.

“Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn’t worth ruling” Louisa May Alcott