http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/999/fe2.htm
20 - 26 My 2010
Issue No. 999
Fighting for women's rights
A success story in the fight for women's rights, Enjy El-Naggar talks to lawyer and activist Nehad Abul-Qomsan
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Nehad Abul-Qomsan
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From being a very demanding student, constantly bombarding her teachers with questions, as she readily admits, to becoming a lawyer and head of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR), Nehad Abul- Qomsan is now one of the main figures in Egypt fighting for a better life for women.
Abul-Qomsan is one of the founders of the ECWR, which, established in 1996, has a mandate to fight for gender equality in Egyptian society and demonstrate that women's rights are an essential part of human rights. Part of the centre's agenda is the fight to secure basic freedoms and advance democratic government, as well as to support women's involvement in political and public life, essential to ensuring women's voices are heard in decision-making and in defining an agenda for change.
Abul-Qomsan is the mother of three children and is married to Hafez Abu Seada, himself head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights. She chose her career as a teenager when she read Egyptian writer and activist Nawal El-Saadawi's Memoirs of a Woman Doctor. "I met El-Saadawi when I was just 15 years old, and she encouraged me to follow the path of women's rights," Abul- Qomsan said in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly.
Later, Abul-Qomsan was in the vanguard of the group of activists who established the ECWR, and in the years since its founding the centre has already born many fruits. "The ECWR participated in campaigns that led to amending legislation in Egypt to stop discrimination against women," Abul-Qomsan says, and the problem of sexual harassment has been one of the main topics on the centre's agenda over the past five years.
"We've accomplished our mission in breaking the taboo of sexual harassment in Egyptian society and the Arab world," Abul-Qomsan says.
Sexual harassment has been growing in Egypt in recent years, with a study on the problem in government offices made by researchers at Menoufiya and Cairo universities showing that 68 per cent of women questioned said that they had been the victims of either verbal or physical harassment.
According to Abul-Qomsan, there should be cooperation between the ministries of information and education in order to combat the problem. "The ECWR has produced a cartoon booklet showing kids how they can deal with harassment. However, we are also calling for special lessons and books about the issue to be introduced to the school curriculum," Abul-Qomsan says .
She adds that the curriculum should also present the importance of women in society. "Many lessons indicate how important women are in society, but their content is still disappointing and appears to show women only in their role as mothers," Abul-Qomsan says.
In spite of the increase in cases of sexual harassment, some people still believe that the media has exaggerated the scale of the phenomenon. "Such people should ask their daughters, wives, sisters and mothers if they have ever been harassed," Abul-Qomsan says. "People need to read the statistics about sexual harassment in the streets and workplaces," she points out, in order to be aware of the scale of the phenomenon.
A perception that society discriminates against girls was the origin of Abul-Qomsan's interest in women's issues. "Egyptian families differentiate between sons and daughters. The phrase, 'he's the boy,' and therefore he was the one who was privileged, was a phrase I often used to hear when I was a child," she says.
At the age of 13, Abul-Qomsan started to read the Torah, Bible and Holy Quran in search of religious positions on women and women's rights. And overall, her childhood saw many incidents that gave her the impression that Egyptian society was patriarchal.
One of her male teachers once entered the class during home economics lessons and laughingly said, "Good girls. Now you can work as seamstresses when you grow up."
"His words made me crazy. And I asked him why a girl couldn't be a doctor, a minister, or even a president," Abul-Qumsan remembers.
She also remembered this incident when the issue of appointing female judges in Egypt surfaced again a few months ago. "This issue of appointing female judges to the State Council was shocking for me. The problem is that even well-educated male judges deny women their right to serve as judges," Abul-Qumsan says.
This year is particularly important for the public agenda in Egypt, since in addition to the forthcoming elections to the Shura Council and the parliamentary elections, there is also a lot of draft legislation to be discussed in parliament, including legislation on combating sexual harassment.
"The ECWR will continue its campaign against sexual harassment during 2010 and 2011 by trying to raise the awareness of members of low-income groups," Abul- Qomsan says, adding that a group of volunteers will be paying visits to disadvantaged areas to help achieve this.
"This is in addition to the ECWR's 'Safer Streets for All' campaign, which was conducted in coordination with the Ministry of the Interior," she adds.
Abul-Qomsan praises the efforts made by government bodies to support the ECWR's campaign to fight sexual harassment. Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garana organised inspection campaigns in bazaar areas in response to complaints by tourists of harassment, for example, and the minister warned the owners of the bazaars, especially those located in beach areas, of the negative impact harassment could have on Egypt's tourism industry.
The Alexandria governorate has also begun to apply a new scheme to deal with sexual harassment by setting up women-only taxis that are similar to the women-only cars in the Cairo metro.
"We're doing our best to ensure that Egyptian women receive all their rights, though we would still like to see women's issues at the top of the government's agenda," Abul-Qomsan says.
OFFICIAL statistics confirm that there was an increase in sexually related offences in 2009, reaching some 120,000 cases, well above the figures for 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The National Association for Rights and Liberties has also reported that in 2008 there were some 151 cases of aggravated rape in the country.
A report released by the National Centre for Social and Criminal Research indicates that there are currently some 20,000 cases of rape reported annually.
source: The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights
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