HarassMap

HarassMap is at the forefront of such technologically empowered initiatives. It crowdsources SMSs and online reports of sexual harassment and maps them online. The map illustrates the scale of the problem and is also intended to dispel myths and excuses, such as “how women dress” or “sexual frustration” offered as justification for harassment.

Founded in 2010, HarassMap has already expanded to 18 governorates and is supported by 1,000 volunteers of both genders. These volunteers talk to doormen, shopkeepers, and kiosk owners in their neighbourhoods and encourage them to collectively combat this epidemic. According to Noora Flinkman, the initiative’s head of Marketing & Communications Unit, HarassMap also works with schools and universities on putting a stop to sexual harassment.

What’s wrong with Egypt?

Hani Morsi of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex believes that a huge transformation caused by the information revolution has shaken Egyptian society in the past decade: “Egyptian men who have access to the internet, satellite TV and other technological conduits, have a false perception and a distorted interpretation of freedom and basic rights. An Egyptian male teenager believes that it’s acceptable to show off his virility by harassing women in any way, shape or form, as this grants him a stamp of manhood from his peers, and sadly, from society.”

The Egyptian public, in the majority of instances, blame the harassed before the harasser. The International Federation for Human Rights’ report on sexual harassment in Egypt indicates that the women who experience sexual harassment are often reprimanded for their appearance, including their attire, and also stigmatized and shamed by their families and acquaintances.

So what has HarassMap done about it?

HarassMap is endeavouring to change this recently entrenched passivity in Egyptian society. “What HarassMap has been doing in the past four years,” Morsi explains, “is bringing the sexual harassment discussion to the forefront. Removing the veneer of shame and stigmatization of the victims of sexual harassment has empowered many women to speak up.”

Yet many Egyptian women are still afraid to confront this social malaise. After interviewing seven Egyptian women from 4 governorates, we noted that while they were aware of HarassMap, their willingness to voice their dismay about sexual harassment was still affected by society’s negative perceptions.

 “Many Egyptian women are still afraid.”

“No matter what I put on, I am sexually harassed in my hometown of Alexandria on a daily basis,” sighs a 35-year-old lady. The veiled woman, who works at an accounting firm and is rearing a small family of 2 children, believes that the streets are currently an unsafe place for any woman regardless of her age, appearance or nationality. “I am ogled and have to listen to unsavoury remarks and sexual innuendos every time I walk in the street whether accompanied by my husband and children, whether in the morning, afternoon or at night.”

“Many Egyptian women are afraid to disclose their negative experiences on the streets and public transport,” extrapolates Flinkman in an interview with Tea after Twelve. “But others are not anymore. And through HarassMap, they have a venue for sharing their ordeals with the entire world while pinpointing the location, date and time of the unfortunate incident on our map.”