{"id":1082,"date":"2011-02-21T17:24:38","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T17:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/changeleadersnetwork.com\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2011-03-30T00:49:35","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T00:49:35","slug":"egypt-and-womens-rights-fluke-or-possiblity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/changeleadersnetwork.com\/egypt-and-womens-rights-fluke-or-possiblity","title":{"rendered":"Egypt and Women’s Rights: Fluke or Possiblity?"},"content":{"rendered":"
All eyes have been on Egypt and its process of transformational change. With the sexual assault on news reporter Lara Logan, attention has turned to the issue of Egypt\u2019s treatment of women, and the discussion poses a significant question about the dynamics of transformation. Was the temporary absence of sexual harassment of women during the uprising a fluke or an illustration of the power of shifting people\u2019s focus to a larger issue, a higher goal?<\/p>\n
Historically, women in Egypt have been living under the threat\u2014and reality\u2014of frequent harassment when out in public, and even within their families. However, during the uprising, women report that they did not have that fear; they were a part of a larger force for change, side-by-side with men, fighting for something they ALL believed in. They walked the streets, participated in huge gatherings, and even slept out in tents on behalf of the declaration they were making for the downfall of the old government. They experienced the possibility of a transformed social norm, a partnership of equality with their fellow Egyptians: mutual, cross-boundary respect between men and women.<\/p>\n
With the assault on Lara Logan, we know that even in the celebration of the success of the uprising, the reality of sexual harassment was still present. Her assault has brought the issue to the media spotlight\u2014an awful and harsh experience for her, but a positive step for the women of Egypt. It appears from subsequent media reports and interviews with various Egyptian women that the old pattern still lives and the fear has returned. But the issue of the treatment of women now has attention, and women\u2019s new-found courage to speak the truth of freedom for all<\/em> needs to extend explicitly to Egyptian women as well as all of Egypt. It is not just the government that needs to transform; it is the social reality that the government condoned. Even though the harassment behavior seems to have returned, the larger issue is still present. The question is whether these old ways are what Egypt wants in its new reality.<\/p>\n Was the temporary absence of the fear of sexual harassment and disrespect during Egypt\u2019s 18 days of demonstrations a fluke, or something more? Isn\u2019t it possible that the uprising allowed a new reality to be experienced?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n