From the moment protests began in Egypt on January 25, women have been on the frontlines, demanding respect for the human rights of all Egyptians.
On Tuesday, in honor of International Women’s Day, women assembled in Tahrir Square to claim their human rights, the Washington Post reported. However, the demonstration was marred by an angry mob of men who beat and sexually assaulted the female marchers, insisting that a woman could never be president and objecting to women’s demands to have a role in drafting a new constitution.
Image: © Ramy Raoof
The Washington Post reported, “Everyone was chased. Some were beaten. They were touching us everywhere,’ said Dina Abou Elsoud, organizer of the ambitiously named Million Woman March.”
In contrast to the status of women in Ancient Egypt, a period in Egyptian history which gave rise to powerful female leaders such as Queen Hatshepsut and Queen Cleopatra, women in Egypt today are underrepresented and sexually harassed. The gender-based violence seen in Tahrir square on Tuesday points to the long and difficult struggle that still lies ahead for women in Egypt to fully enjoy their rights.
According to a survey conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s rights, 98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed in Egypt. In addition, “20,000 women or girls [are] raped every year,” as cited in an article by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
This figure, coming from Egypt’s Interior Ministry, implies that about 55 women, on average, are raped daily. “However,” UNHCR reports, “owing to the fear of social disgrace, victims are reluctant to report cases, and experts say the number may be much higher.”
Incidents of sexual harassment on the streets of Egypt occur every day and in broad daylight. Sexual harassment can come in many forms. It can be obscene words, groping, being followed or stalked, lewd, lascivious looks, and indecent exposure.
Yet, the fear of being harassed was not enough to keep the women off of Cairo streets to protest against a government that has allowed the harassment of women to continue. The rampant incidents of sexual harassment against women convey a complete disregard for their human rights. Nehad Abu el Komsan, the Director for the Center for Women’s Rights told the Washington Post, “Egypt was more interested in political than public security … which often mean[s] that officials focused more on preventing political unrest than addressing social ills.” Although the government may say that women’s rights are a priority, women’s rights seem to be taking a back seat to other seemingly more pressing concerns.
The Convention on the Elimination of all form of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) guarantees women the right to the full participation and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.
How can women feel as though they are full citizens if they are constantly at risk of being harassed or raped?
Amnesty is concerned that women’s rights will be sidelined by Egypt’s new government. We urge the Egyptian authorities to respect and protect the human rights of women.
Women and girls from all over the world must unite to raise their voices and speak out against sexual harassment in Egypt and globally and claim their human rights. Sexual violence will only become history if our generation puts a stop to it today.
Heba Dafashy contributed to this post
According to the study published by the United Nations called
"FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005" http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_final_10_...
97 percent of Egyptian women have had their genitals cut off.
This article is beautifully written.
According to the study published by the United Nations called
"FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005" http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_final_10_...
97 percent of Egyptian women have had their genitals cut off.
According to the study published by the United Nations called
"FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005" http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_final_10_...
97 percent of Egyptian women have had their genitals cut off.
This article is beautifully written.
According to the study published by the United Nations called
“FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005”
http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_final_10_October.pdf
97 percent of Egyptian women have had their genitals cut off.
Women on the move. We shall NOT BE STOPPED! These rights should not be politicised, but as basic human rights. Many Govt. have jumped on this Women's right bandwagon to get international money that they pocket instead. They write very impressive projects and reports that end up in the Donors' archives. Visit those countries and you will see deplorabe conditions these women and girls are in. Uganda is a good example.
Would you like for your mother,sister, wife treated like this?
How about your daughter or granddaughter?
Then it is time to take action.
Or do you care? ?????
Again well written blog ,a very important issue that needs to be addressed.
The revolution in Egypt is in the process of giving birth .Labor is a hard time and pitfalls will happen..However we need to push forward with reforms and equality between men and women is essential outcome for the revolution.There is no society contemplating better future while insisting on suppressing 1/2 of its population.
Women on the move. We shall NOT BE STOPPED! These rights should not be politicised, but as basic human rights. Many Govt. have jumped on this Women’s right bandwagon to get international money that they pocket instead. They write very impressive projects and reports that end up in the Donors’ archives. Visit those countries and you will see deplorabe conditions these women and girls are in. Uganda is a good example.
Would you like for your mother,sister, wife treated like this?
How about your daughter or granddaughter?
Then it is time to take action.
Or do you care? ?????
Again well written blog ,a very important issue that needs to be addressed.
The revolution in Egypt is in the process of giving birth .Labor is a hard time and pitfalls will happen..However we need to push forward with reforms and equality between men and women is essential outcome for the revolution.There is no society contemplating better future while insisting on suppressing 1/2 of its population.
Are these Moslem men who harrass women openly in the streets?
I thought women were protected under Islam.
Don't any of you get it ?
97% of Egyptian women have had their clitoris amputated as children according to the UN.
“FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005″ http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_fi…
Why are you even worrying about Egyptian woman's rights not to be harassed in the streets ?
Do you really think a people and a society that is so completely opposed and in fact terrified of women being allowed to enjoy sex that they mutilate all their daughters genitals as little girls is going to suddenly stop harassing women who dare to try to walk down the street or actually have the bravery to try take part in politics?
We are talking about Egypt, one of the most backwards societies on earth, a primitive people that thinks nothing of doing such barbaric things to all its daughters that if you tried it on cattle in any normal humane civilized country you would be charged with animal cruelty.
Don't any of you get it ?
97% of Egyptian women have had their clitoris amputated as children according to the UN.
“FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005″ http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_fi…
Why are you even worrying about Egyptian woman's rights not to be harassed in the streets ?
Do you really think a people and a society that is so completely opposed and in fact terrified of women being allowed to enjoy sex that they mutilate all their daughters genitals as little girls is going to suddenly stop harassing women who dare to try to walk down the street or actually have the bravery to try take part in politics?
We are talking about Egypt, one of the most backwards societies on earth, a primitive people that thinks nothing of doing such barbaric things to all its daughters that if you tried it on cattle in any normal humane civilized country you would be charged with animal cruelty.
Don't any of you get it ?
97% of Egyptian women have had their clitoris amputated as children according to the UN.
“FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005″ http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_fi…
Why are you even worrying about Egyptian woman's rights not to be harassed in the streets ?
Do you really think a people and a society that is so completely opposed and in fact terrified of women being allowed to enjoy sex that they mutilate all their daughters genitals as little girls is going to suddenly stop harassing women who dare to try to walk down the street or actually have the bravery to try take part in politics?
We are talking about Egypt, one of the most backwards societies on earth, a primitive people that thinks nothing of doing such barbaric things to all its daughters that if you tried it on cattle in any normal humane civilized country you would be charged with animal cruelty.
Are these Moslem men who harrass women openly in the streets?
I thought women were protected under Islam.
sorry judonimh you know nothing about egyptian women what you talk about is not right the woman in egypt is minister and also the clitoris amputating is illegal by our law it is a crime in egypt that was since a long time ago.
please read well
Ayman:
Denying female genital mutilation (clitoral amputation) is not almost universal in Egypt is not very credible. Just read the UN study I linked to above for proof.
Egyptians treat women with all the civility of slobbering stone age cavemen.
Any foreign women who has had the unfortunate experience of visiting your dreadful country for more than 5 minutes will tell you this.
Don’t any of you get it ?
97% of Egyptian women have had their clitoris amputated as children according to the UN.
“FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A Statistical Exploration 2005″
http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/FGM-C_final_10_October.pdf
Why are you even worrying about Egyptian woman’s rights not to be harassed in the streets ?
Do you really think a people and a society that is so completely opposed and in fact terrified of women being allowed to enjoy sex that they mutilate all their daughters genitals as little girls is going to suddenly stop harassing women who dare to try to walk down the street or actually have the bravery to try take part in politics?
We are talking about Egypt, one of the most backwards societies on earth, a primitive people that thinks nothing of doing such barbaric things to all its daughters that if you tried it on cattle in any normal humane civilized country you would be charged with animal cruelty.
sorry judonimh you know nothing about egyptian women what you talk about is not right the woman in egypt is minister and also the clitoris amputating is illegal by our law it is a crime in egypt that was since a long time ago.
please read well
Ayman:
Denying female genital mutilation (clitoral amputation) is not almost universal in Egypt is not very credible. Just read the UN study I linked to above for proof.
Egyptians treat women with all the civility of slobbering stone age cavemen.
Any foreign women who has had the unfortunate experience of visiting your dreadful country for more than 5 minutes will tell you this.
Women I think in most country can give more respect and value. For every trouble and issue like this one of the most things to do is to defense like using our women and also children. That's only my opinion…
Dear Ayman, & all true friends of Egypt —
Do you think Judonimh really cares about Egyptian women's rights, let alone their sexual pleasure ??
His agenda's different.
For he represents Israel, he SPEAKS for Israel.
Today, when the whole world is INSPIRED by the Egyptian people, Israel & Israelis are deeply unhappy, gloomy , afraid & anxious !!
Why ??
Because Mubarak was Israel's LAST REAL FRIEND in the Middle East !!!
Mubarak & Netanyahu were GREAT personal friends as well, meeting often to discuss their COMMON concerns : Iran …. Gaza …. the Israeli – Palestinian situation.
Mubarak was the PILLAR on which Israel's regional strategy rested.
Mubarak freed Israel's army to move without worries on ANY OTHER front : Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria…..
When the Egyptian Revolution began to shake Mubarak, Netanyahu begged the Western leaders to HELP the dictator !
When they wouldn't, Israelis' reaction was voiced in thre words of one senior Israeli official:"The Americans & the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion & aren't considering their GENUINE INTERESTS.
"Jordan & Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how EVERYONE IS ABANDONING MUBARAK, & this will have serious implications."
***** ***** *****
Do you think Judonimh gives a damn about Egyptian men's or women's rights ?
Mubarak's ruining of the economy, his corruption, his rights violations, his torture chambers, ENABLED 30 years of security for Israel, & gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted to the Arab world.
& who swiftly brought down this great friend of Israel's ?
The world's present darlings …. the Egyptian People !
& when the oppressed peoples everywhere, from Bahrain to Madison to China, are LEARNING from the Egytptian people how to dare to struggle, how does Judonimh describe Egyptians as a whole, as a people, as a society ?
He calls them " a people & a society completely opposed [ to ] & terrified of women … enjoy[ing] sex …"
Where the Egyptian people & society are right now fighting for the very SURVIVAL of their justborn democracy, uniting under the chant "Muslims or Christians, we are all Egyptians! ", Judonimh calls them "one of the most backwards [sic] societies on earth, a primitive people", a people who "treat their women with all the civility of slobbering stone age cavemen" !!!
This, in the very hour Egyptian women & men are standing together, & all depends on their unity !!
Judonimh's language of hate is the language of Israel's racist bigotry , the language of Apartheid, of Zionism, towards the Arab peoples, the very peoples Israel dispossesses, occupies & invades again & again.
THIS is how Israel really sees ALL Egyptians, ALL Arabs .. except for a few "good" Egyptians & Arabs …. like Mubarak !
EGYPTIAN WOMEN & MEN, CHRISTIANS & MUSLIMS, STAY UNITED !!!
CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF EGYPT, AWAY FROM ISRAEL & ZIONISM, … BACK TOWARDS THE ARAB WORLD !!
WE STAND UNITED WITH YOU ALL !!!!
EGYPTIAN WOMEN AS A WHOLE WILL ONLY BECOME FREE ALONGSIDE OF , & TOGETHER WITH, THEIR MEN !!
Savage:
The topic of this blog is Egypt's misogynistic sadism against women.
It has been the strategy for the last 60 years of the Arab dictators now being heroically overthrown to blame all thier countries social ills on little Israel to distract and brainwash the populace into not complaining. You are trying above to use this same tired discredited propaganda method but it does not anymore fool the Arabs who are rising in revolt and it aint gonna work with any of us reading this neither.
Israel has nothing, do you hear me? nothing, n-o-t-h-i-n-g, to do with the fact that Egypt is jam packed to the rim full of sicko sexually perverted men who hate women.
The statistics posted in the blog above speak for themselves and calling anyone who mentions these facts a racist won't shut us up either.
I posted a link to a UNICEF study showing 97% of Egyptian women have their genitals mutilated ( amputation of the clitoris).
That is the subject of this blog, the terrible suffering of Egyptian women, the epidemic of rapes, the oppression, the 80% female illiteracy rate, and the fact that every foreign women ever to visit Egypt suffers cruel sexual harassment and physical assaults.
Women in Egypt are treated as bad or worse than blacks were in the Southern US during segregation.
There is only one way to describe Egypt and that is GENDER APARTHEID!!
Women I think in most country can give more respect and value. For every trouble and issue like this one of the most things to do is to defense like using our women and also children. That’s only my opinion…
Dear Ayman, & all true friends of Egypt —
Do you think Judonimh really cares about Egyptian women’s rights, let alone their sexual pleasure ??
His agenda’s different.
For he represents Israel, he SPEAKS for Israel.
Today, when the whole world is INSPIRED by the Egyptian people, Israel & Israelis are deeply unhappy, gloomy , afraid & anxious !!
Why ??
Because Mubarak was Israel’s LAST REAL FRIEND in the Middle East !!!
Mubarak & Netanyahu were GREAT personal friends as well, meeting often to discuss their COMMON concerns : Iran …. Gaza …. the Israeli – Palestinian situation.
Mubarak was the PILLAR on which Israel’s regional strategy rested.
Mubarak freed Israel’s army to move without worries on ANY OTHER front : Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria…..
When the Egyptian Revolution began to shake Mubarak, Netanyahu begged the Western leaders to HELP the dictator !
When they wouldn’t, Israelis’ reaction was voiced in thre words of one senior Israeli official:”The Americans & the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion & aren’t considering their GENUINE INTERESTS.
“Jordan & Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how EVERYONE IS ABANDONING MUBARAK, & this will have serious implications.”
***** ***** *****
Do you think Judonimh gives a damn about Egyptian men’s or women’s rights ?
Mubarak’s ruining of the economy, his corruption, his rights violations, his torture chambers, ENABLED 30 years of security for Israel, & gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted to the Arab world.
& who swiftly brought down this great friend of Israel’s ?
The world’s present darlings …. the Egyptian People !
& when the oppressed peoples everywhere, from Bahrain to Madison to China, are LEARNING from the Egytptian people how to dare to struggle, how does Judonimh describe Egyptians as a whole, as a people, as a society ?
He calls them ” a people & a society completely opposed [ to ] & terrified of women … enjoy[ing] sex …”
Where the Egyptian people & society are right now fighting for the very SURVIVAL of their justborn democracy, uniting under the chant “Muslims or Christians, we are all Egyptians! “, Judonimh calls them “one of the most backwards [sic] societies on earth, a primitive people”, a people who “treat their women with all the civility of slobbering stone age cavemen” !!!
This, in the very hour Egyptian women & men are standing together, & all depends on their unity !!
Judonimh’s language of hate is the language of Israel’s racist bigotry , the language of Apartheid, of Zionism, towards the Arab peoples, the very peoples Israel dispossesses, occupies & invades again & again.
THIS is how Israel really sees ALL Egyptians, ALL Arabs .. except for a few “good” Egyptians & Arabs …. like Mubarak !
EGYPTIAN WOMEN & MEN, CHRISTIANS & MUSLIMS, STAY UNITED !!!
CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF EGYPT, AWAY FROM ISRAEL & ZIONISM, … BACK TOWARDS THE ARAB WORLD !!
WE STAND UNITED WITH YOU ALL !!!!
EGYPTIAN WOMEN AS A WHOLE WILL ONLY BECOME FREE ALONGSIDE OF , & TOGETHER WITH, THEIR MEN !!
Savage:
The topic of this blog is Egypt’s misogynistic sadism against women.
It has been the strategy for the last 60 years of the Arab dictators now being heroically overthrown to blame all thier countries social ills on little Israel to distract and brainwash the populace into not complaining. You are trying above to use this same tired discredited propaganda method but it does not anymore fool the Arabs who are rising in revolt and it aint gonna work with any of us reading this neither.
Israel has nothing, do you hear me? nothing, n-o-t-h-i-n-g, to do with the fact that Egypt is jam packed to the rim full of sicko sexually perverted men who hate women.
The statistics posted in the blog above speak for themselves and calling anyone who mentions these facts a racist won’t shut us up either.
I posted a link to a UNICEF study showing 97% of Egyptian women have their genitals mutilated ( amputation of the clitoris).
That is the subject of this blog, the terrible suffering of Egyptian women, the epidemic of rapes, the oppression, the 80% female illiteracy rate, and the fact that every foreign women ever to visit Egypt suffers cruel sexual harassment and physical assaults.
Women in Egypt are treated as bad or worse than blacks were in the Southern US during segregation.
There is only one way to describe Egypt and that is GENDER APARTHEID!!
It's not talking about women's oppression that makes Judonimh's views racist.
It's his total & indiscriminate portrayal of an ENTIRE people & society as being "completely opposed to women" & their rights…..
…. as being "primitive" & "one of the most backwards"…..
… akin to "slobbering stone age cavemen" ….
… of all of Egypt as one "dreadful country" …..
…. & , in his blog today, of being a country "jam packed to the rim full of [ sic ] sicko sexually perverted men who hate women."
To call such a portrayal of a whole people simply "racism" is inadequate.
Judonimh's portrayal is the view, the mirror image, of fundamentalism.
His view is the ideology of 19 th century Orientalism.
His view is the view of 19 th century Imperialism … that is, Zionism.
& this from a man who supposedly supports Arabs & their present "revolt" !!!
This is exactly how NOT to support a struggling people !
You support them by speaking of them, to them, with full respect, extending to them the dignity they're fighting for….
….not by abusing them as "primitives " & "slobbering stone age cavemen" !
You differentiate between the institutions, agencies & historical / religious / social roots of their oppression on the one hand, & the oppressed classes themselves ( the vast majority of the people ) & their resistance to the processes of their conditioning, on the other…..
… not lump all of these things together !
You support a struggling people by HELPING their awakening.
You don't beat & belabor them over the head & curse them & try to shame them & drive them back down to the very conditions of their oppression .
Judonimh's language shows how unbridgeable is the Void between his Zionism & the Arab people he purportedly "supports" in their hour of struggle .
He speaks not as their friend, but as their total enemy.
**** ****
Judonimh's 19th century Orientalism blinds him to a onedimensional view of Egyptian men.
Mubarak used the very same bogey Judonimh sets up before us.
But the Revolution has brought a different sort of Egyptian man & woman before us.
S/he is self sacrificing.
S/he is enlightened.
S/he is an universalist, an internationalist, seeing the struggle as global, from Egypt to Madison.
S/he is a theoretician, historian & philosopher, a thinker of the utmost sophistication, who understands & reads the world far better than Zionism can.
S/he breaks all narrow definitions of race & religion & nationalism.
All Revolutions birth this New Human.
All true friends of Egypt's awakening are seeing & learning today from this Being, the incarnation of the Egyptian People.
Zionism cannot see this Being.
Only friends & lovers can.
Savage:
You are right.
It was inappropriate to use the terms primitive, backwards, sicko sexual perverted cavemen to describe Egyptian men's treatment of women.
It was an great insult to cavemen and for that I apologize to the cavemen.
Savage, please try to wrap your head for one second around what it means to be a women in Egypt.
Try to imagine that as a little innocent child your own family, who were supposed to protect you instead had your private parts permanently disfigured in an unreversible horrific mutilation, amputating your sexuality for life.
Try to imagine that you then stood an good chance of never even being allowed to attend school at all because of your gender, and would go through life not being able to read or write. and even if you did by some miracle get an education you would almost certainly be forbidden by your family or husband from working.
Try to imagine being so terrified to leave your home because every single time in your life you ever dared so much as to step into an elevator alone or walk down a street alone or ride a bus alone or a train alone some strange man would 100% of the time move beside you and without any fear or shame stick his hands all over your body and no one would do anything to help you since you were to blame since you had the nerve to leave home alone meaning you were asking for it.
Try to imagine this. It is crazy to our western brains to even conceive of such rabid dog behavior, but every western tourist ever to be so stupid as to spend tourist dollars in that hellhole has seen this with their own eyes and I am not exaggerating in the least.
Here are the facts that Egyptian men are so desperate to ignore and cover up:
98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed in Egypt.
(Egyptian Center for Women’s rights)
20,000 women or girls raped every year,”
( UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR).
60% of Egyptian women are illiterate.
(United Nations Human Development Report)
Egyptian women have one of the lowest rates of participation in the workforce of any country on earth.
(United Nations Human Development Report)
97 percent of Egyptian women have had their genitals mutilated .
(UNICEF 2005)
Women are treated under the Egyptian Gender Apartheid regime every bit as badly as blacks were treated under South African Apartheid.
It’s not talking about women’s oppression that makes Judonimh’s views racist.
It’s his total & indiscriminate portrayal of an ENTIRE people & society as being “completely opposed to women” & their rights…..
…. as being “primitive” & “one of the most backwards”…..
… akin to “slobbering stone age cavemen” ….
… of all of Egypt as one “dreadful country” …..
…. & , in his blog today, of being a country “jam packed to the rim full of [ sic ] sicko sexually perverted men who hate women.”
To call such a portrayal of a whole people simply “racism” is inadequate.
Judonimh’s portrayal is the view, the mirror image, of fundamentalism.
His view is the ideology of 19 th century Orientalism.
His view is the view of 19 th century Imperialism … that is, Zionism.
& this from a man who supposedly supports Arabs & their present “revolt” !!!
This is exactly how NOT to support a struggling people !
You support them by speaking of them, to them, with full respect, extending to them the dignity they’re fighting for….
….not by abusing them as “primitives ” & “slobbering stone age cavemen” !
You differentiate between the institutions, agencies & historical / religious / social roots of their oppression on the one hand, & the oppressed classes themselves ( the vast majority of the people ) & their resistance to the processes of their conditioning, on the other…..
… not lump all of these things together !
You support a struggling people by HELPING their awakening.
You don’t beat & belabor them over the head & curse them & try to shame them & drive them back down to the very conditions of their oppression .
Judonimh’s language shows how unbridgeable is the Void between his Zionism & the Arab people he purportedly “supports” in their hour of struggle .
He speaks not as their friend, but as their total enemy.
**** ****
Judonimh’s 19th century Orientalism blinds him to a onedimensional view of Egyptian men.
Mubarak used the very same bogey Judonimh sets up before us.
But the Revolution has brought a different sort of Egyptian man & woman before us.
S/he is self sacrificing.
S/he is enlightened.
S/he is an universalist, an internationalist, seeing the struggle as global, from Egypt to Madison.
S/he is a theoretician, historian & philosopher, a thinker of the utmost sophistication, who understands & reads the world far better than Zionism can.
S/he breaks all narrow definitions of race & religion & nationalism.
All Revolutions birth this New Human.
All true friends of Egypt’s awakening are seeing & learning today from this Being, the incarnation of the Egyptian People.
Zionism cannot see this Being.
Only friends & lovers can.
Savage:
You are right.
It was inappropriate to use the terms primitive, backwards, sicko sexual perverted cavemen to describe Egyptian men’s treatment of women.
It was an great insult to cavemen and for that I apologize to the cavemen.
Savage, please try to wrap your head for one second around what it means to be a women in Egypt.
Try to imagine that as a little innocent child your own family, who were supposed to protect you instead had your private parts permanently disfigured in an unreversible horrific mutilation, amputating your sexuality for life.
Try to imagine that you then stood an good chance of never even being allowed to attend school at all because of your gender, and would go through life not being able to read or write. and even if you did by some miracle get an education you would almost certainly be forbidden by your family or husband from working.
Try to imagine being so terrified to leave your home because every single time in your life you ever dared so much as to step into an elevator alone or walk down a street alone or ride a bus alone or a train alone some strange man would 100% of the time move beside you and without any fear or shame stick his hands all over your body and no one would do anything to help you since you were to blame since you had the nerve to leave home alone meaning you were asking for it.
Try to imagine this. It is crazy to our western brains to even conceive of such rabid dog behavior, but every western tourist ever to be so stupid as to spend tourist dollars in that hellhole has seen this with their own eyes and I am not exaggerating in the least.
Here are the facts that Egyptian men are so desperate to ignore and cover up:
98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed in Egypt.
(Egyptian Center for Women’s rights)
20,000 women or girls raped every year,”
( UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR).
60% of Egyptian women are illiterate.
(United Nations Human Development Report)
Egyptian women have one of the lowest rates of participation in the workforce of any country on earth.
(United Nations Human Development Report)
97 percent of Egyptian women have had their genitals mutilated .
(UNICEF 2005)
Women are treated under the Egyptian Gender Apartheid regime every bit as badly as blacks were treated under South African Apartheid.
When we talk about the Middle East or Islamic countries, we must not forget that we are talking about patriarchal societies in which Islam has had a profound influence.
The unwritten social rules and laws yet to be developed in Islamic countries are partly to blame for the limitations and abuses suffered by women. The rise of more conservative Islam is still being questioning, nowadays, what we expected of a woman and what she should do.
Whenever women protest and ask for their rights, they are silenced with the argument that the laws are justified under Islam. It is an unfounded argument. It is not Islam at fault, but rather the patriarchal culture that uses its own interpretations to justify whatever it wants.
Unfortunately, these traditions are so deeply rooted among people that in some cases they are placed before the religion. People believe and practice traditions that [destroy] women; they consider women as elements whose only duty is to give birth to children. And the other problem is the patriarchal view that is prevalent in this society.
For women to become equal they not only have to change the laws but also change attitudes and culture, because their culture is still incredibly patriarchal in Egypt and the rest of Islamic countries. We must not forget that women are the victims of this patriarchal culture, but they are also its carriers. Let us keep in mind that every oppressive man was raised in the confines of his mother's home.
But what really has slowed equal rights in these countries, has been, in most cases, the political and economic situation, preventing a true social development.
Palestine would be the best example, due to the misfortune and social paralysis that has suffered for more than four occupation decades. This exhausting reality, has left the Palestinian consciousness a heavy burden of poverty, isolation and condemnation.
Like its neighbors countries, the anxiety that the uncertain causes to those societies, has blocked completely its development and evolution.
However, if democracy advances, as it seems to be advancing in the Middle East, it is inevitable that the western values are progressing with it, and therefore also progressing women's rights
For this reason it is so necessary to involve the West countries in Islam. No one can win alone and the alliance are needed in the battle to preserve our world, battle over freedom of oppressed people joins with the fight for our ecological system, assistance and association.
When we talk about the Middle East or Islamic countries, we must not forget that we are talking about patriarchal societies in which Islam has had a profound influence.
The unwritten social rules and laws yet to be developed in Islamic countries are partly to blame for the limitations and abuses suffered by women. The rise of more conservative Islam is still being questioning, nowadays, what we expected of a woman and what she should do.
Whenever women protest and ask for their rights, they are silenced with the argument that the laws are justified under Islam. It is an unfounded argument. It is not Islam at fault, but rather the patriarchal culture that uses its own interpretations to justify whatever it wants.
Unfortunately, these traditions are so deeply rooted among people that in some cases they are placed before the religion. People believe and practice traditions that [destroy] women; they consider women as elements whose only duty is to give birth to children. And the other problem is the patriarchal view that is prevalent in this society.
For women to become equal they not only have to change the laws but also change attitudes and culture, because their culture is still incredibly patriarchal in Egypt and the rest of Islamic countries. We must not forget that women are the victims of this patriarchal culture, but they are also its carriers. Let us keep in mind that every oppressive man was raised in the confines of his mother’s home.
But what really has slowed equal rights in these countries, has been, in most cases, the political and economic situation, preventing a true social development.
Palestine would be the best example, due to the misfortune and social paralysis that has suffered for more than four occupation decades. This exhausting reality, has left the Palestinian consciousness a heavy burden of poverty, isolation and condemnation.
Like its neighbors countries, the anxiety that the uncertain causes to those societies, has blocked completely its development and evolution.
However, if democracy advances, as it seems to be advancing in the Middle East, it is inevitable that the western values are progressing with it, and therefore also progressing women’s rights
For this reason it is so necessary to involve the West countries in Islam. No one can win alone and the alliance are needed in the battle to preserve our world, battle over freedom of oppressed people joins with the fight for our ecological system, assistance and association.
Islam has nothing to do with this issue.
This is just another smoke screen, another phony baloney excuse, just like these dictatorships laughably blaming Israel for all their nations social and economic problems for the last 60 years till the people got wise to their dictator's lies
There are plenty of other Muslim countries where none of the horrific Egyptian Gender Apartheid practices go on.
Honor killing of female relatives, female genital mutilation, preventing girls from going to school or learning to read, preventing women from working, massive harassment and assaults on women, nothing, not one word in the Koran justifies or approves of any of this.
Stop Egyptian Gender Apartheid !
Islam has nothing to do with this issue.
This is just another smoke screen, another phony baloney excuse, just like these dictatorships laughably blaming Israel for all their nations social and economic problems for the last 60 years till the people got wise to their dictator’s lies
There are plenty of other Muslim countries where none of the horrific Egyptian Gender Apartheid practices go on.
Honor killing of female relatives, female genital mutilation, preventing girls from going to school or learning to read, preventing women from working, massive harassment and assaults on women, nothing, not one word in the Koran justifies or approves of any of this.
Stop Egyptian Gender Apartheid !
Ok Judonihm,
I have not mentioned Israel at any time as the guilty of discrimination against women, if not all the countries with serious economic and social delays.
whatever the subject matter hereof….the only one who's always talking about
Israeli-Palestinian conflict are you.
you just need to say that female mutilation, massive harassment and assaults on women occurs in Western catolic countries.
Maybe I did not express myself very well. Let me rewrite one of the quotes I wrote in the text above, in order to help you understand yourself that, about Islam beliefs, we are more agree than it looks:
"Whenever women protest and ask for their rights, they are silenced with the argument that the laws are justified under Islam. It is an unfounded argument. It is not Islam at fault, but rather the patriarchal culture that uses its own interpretations to justify whatever it wants"
I Should add that I deeply admire you for how well you write, but I think you should also learn to read others properly.
And finally, I was not my initial intention to talk about Israel o Palestin in this Post, but since you and A. Savage you have brought it up, I just wanted to give you both my special and brief review.
Ok Judonihm,
I have not mentioned Israel at any time as the guilty of discrimination against women, if not all the countries with serious economic and social delays.
whatever the subject matter hereof….the only one who’s always talking about
Israeli-Palestinian conflict are you.
you just need to say that female mutilation, massive harassment and assaults on women occurs in Western catolic countries.
Maybe I did not express myself very well. Let me rewrite one of the quotes I wrote in the text above, in order to help you understand yourself that, about Islam beliefs, we are more agree than it looks:
“Whenever women protest and ask for their rights, they are silenced with the argument that the laws are justified under Islam. It is an unfounded argument. It is not Islam at fault, but rather the patriarchal culture that uses its own interpretations to justify whatever it wants”
I Should add that I deeply admire you for how well you write, but I think you should also learn to read others properly.
And finally, I was not my initial intention to talk about Israel o Palestin in this Post, but since you and A. Savage you have brought it up, I just wanted to give you both my special and brief review.
Thank you dear Savage – you are truly a savage – for spreading hatred and racism against me and my people. What has this racist nonsense got to do with female circumcision in Egypt is beyond me, but I hope you enjoy playing your "apartheid" campaign. Thank you for all your blind hate.
Thank you dear Savage – you are truly a savage – for spreading hatred and racism against me and my people. What has this racist nonsense got to do with female circumcision in Egypt is beyond me, but I hope you enjoy playing your “apartheid” campaign. Thank you for all your blind hate.