The United Nations Women organization just released this powerful public service announcement on December 9, 2013 for every woman in Egypt who is a victim of violence or abuse. The great thing about this video is that because it is on Youtube for the world to see, it will hopefully ignite thought patterns in other countries that are working to end atrocities toward women. We’re looking at you India!
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women published a report earlier this year showing that 99.3% of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual harassment, and 91.5% of women saying that unwanted touching was the most common for of harassment.
The video made shows the perspective of a young woman going through everyday scenarios that we all do: walking down the street, getting on a bus, passing by people etc. What the PSA points out is that women in Egypt unfortunately get blamed for the abuse because men are taught it is acceptable behavior to harass women, and the women have to live under strict rules of dress code and modesty.
UN Women’s Eqypt office produced the video through its “Safe Cities: Free from Violence against Women and Girls” project to highlight threats and unwanted advances impact Egyptian women and girls. Aimed at raising awareness among both women and men, the PSA is filmed as a direct invitation to men and boys to put themselves in women’s place and to stop blaming them for sexual harassment under that very slogan: “Put yourself in her shoes, instead of finding ways to blame her!”
There are, however, men and women in Egypt who want to change the way their culture thinks and are penetrating the conscience of their country with thoughtful experiments. 24 year-old male actor Waleed Hammad dressed up as a woman for a filmed experiment exposing sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo.
He told reporters on the Awel el Kheit TV show that although he was conservatively dressed, he was verbally abused (for no reason, other than being a “woman”) and also solicited for prostitution by some men. Wow…
Another young woman, 18 year old Egyptian rapper Mayam Mahmoud, who appeared on Arabs Got Talent, is using her voice and skills to speak up about violence toward women. She has been called an ‘infidel’ by local religious authorities, but thanks to encouragement from her parents, she is not backing down.
This video is yet another reminder that there is an awful ingrained line of thinking in the Egyptian and Arab culture toward women that needs to be changed. Both men and women see it, and thankfully the younger generations from this country are not afraid to use creative means to shed light on the issue.
We encourage all the young men and women out there working hard to create better lives for future generations to keep going! Change is happening and you are responsible for something great.
So happy not to have to face what these women face on a daily basis! The only way to change this is by doing what they are doing. So sad that it must be done at all. Counting my blessings!! And praying for these folks who have guts enough to stand up to this injustice.
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