Fed up of Cairo’s endemic street harassment, a group of Egyptian women has boldly taken to the streets in a so-called “short-dress march” to call for respect and a change of attitudes.
An astonishing 99 percent of women in Egypt have experience some form of sexual harassment, according to a 2013 UN survey. In a culture of victim blaming and women shaming this largely goes unreported.
One Egyptian woman, Dr Riham Atef, has had enough, and on Thursday she organized the protest in order to “shock the community” into action, she told al-Arabiya.
"We are wearing the dresses of the past, we want the streets of the past” the protesters’ banners read, criticizing the regression of attitudes towards women in the country since the open days of the sixties and seventies.
Atef highlighted that the campaign was inspired by “European traditions”. Since 2011, an international movement of “slut walks” has encouraged women to protest while dressed provocatively in order to defy suggestions that women should change their clothing to avoid rape or harassment.
The women’s actions have gained some support on social media:
مسيرة بفساتين قصيرة بوسط البلد لمواجهة التحرش والعنف ضد المرأة #مصر #القاهرة #ثوري #تاة_مربوطة pic.twitter.com/u8aPUq0TY4
— تبولة التويتي (@Sarah_AboZeid) December 10, 2016
“Short dress march" in the center of town in order to combat harassment and violence against women. #Egypt #Cairo #Revolutionary
You have to be sad when you find guys encouraging the idea and wanting the fashion of dresses, and the way women were in the past to come back around, but you get girls shaming and turning their noses up at them. Why are you so backwards? Be more certain in your existence!
Despite these women's brave efforts, the volume of negative Facebook comments and posts on the topic are enough to indicate that Egypt has a long way to go in combating sexist and outdated attitudes towards women.
RA
