According to a UN Women report April , ninety-nine percent of women in Egypt have experienced a form of sexual harassment, highlighting that public transportation is the second most likely place for the harassment to occur.
Sexual harassment is a major type of harassment that includes any unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.
Staring or leering acts and deliberate contact or groping are the two major types of harassment of rude behaviours. Crude comments or remarks with sexual innuendos and obscene gestures are also fairly common. These types of behaviours can even evolve into more serious forms of harassment such as rape and sexual assault.
General Recommendation GR19 of CEDAW Committee provides a definition of sexual harassment that includes the types of behaviours experienced by women in public spaces, as well as in public transport. This underreporting is consistent worldwide, resulting in a vicious cycle. Daily harassment goes unpunished, which means that it continues to flourish and, as it continues, it is considered as something normal to endure rather than speak out about and thus it continues to go unreported.
In the past, laws have not been adequately enforced , and this has helped in spreading the idea that sexual harassment is not really a crime. Founded in , HarassMap is an initiative intended to engage the Egyptian society to create an environment where sexual harassment is not tolerated. It believes that building a strong social consensus against sexual harassment will inhibit harassers. Volunteers all over Egypt work with people and institutions to stand up to sexual harassment using evidence from reports and communications campaigns.
