On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Wednesday, November 25) and its #16days of activism, we bring you a list of 21 entities set out to raise awareness on women’s rights and combat gender-based violence in all its forms in Egypt. But first, allow us to take you through why these entities — whether emerging or well-established — are of crucial importance to support, track, follow, or even constructively criticize. The short answer is this: millions of women in Egypt are unfairly and terribly suffering from numerous forms of violence because of their gender…
In 2015, a study conducted in Egypt by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the National Council for Women (NCW), and the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed that roughly 7.8 million women in the country suffer from all forms of violence annually. This includes violence committed by women’s spouses/fiancés, individuals in their close circles, or strangers in public places. A 2013 study by the Egyptian government surveyed women and girls in the country to find that a shocking 99.3% of them have experienced “some form of sexual harassment” during their life. And the most common perpetrators listed by women in these studies were husbands, followed by parents (biological or otherwise).
The list of shocking numbers can still go on and on. But fortunately, many are set out to do something about it.
A) Organizations and Councils
1. UN Women Egypt
The UN Women program works with the Egyptian government, civil society organizations, and the public towards gender equality and women empowerment. Their ongoing efforts aim to help Egypt accomplish the 2030 vision of sustainable development and women empowerment goals. Whether through awareness campaigns or through supporting and organizing workshops and sessions, UN Women’s work revolves around three pillars; one of which is ending violence against women.
2. UNFPA Egypt
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) of Egypt works to ensure that women in underdeveloped areas have family planning, safe pregnancies, and maternal care. They also work on eradicating gender-based violence and, more specifically, female genital mutilation in the country.
3. UNICEF Egypt
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is all about children and their right to be raised safely. As the most prominent children’s agency, they have programs all over the globe and in Egypt that work to ensure that children’s rights are protected. Similar to UN Women and the UNFPA, they team up with the Egyptian government and civil society organizations to empower girls in underdeveloped areas by educating them and giving them support; both mentally and financially. They also strive to empower them through education and improve their access to basic needs. Throughout their work, they raise awareness of and find ways to fight gender-based violence against young girls in Egypt.
4. National Council for Women in Egypt
The Egyptian National Council for Women was established back in 2000, and since then, its self-declared purpose is to protect and promote women’s rights in general across Egypt with the country’s constitution as their guiding beacon. Their ‘15115’ hotline was built to receive complaints of all sorts, provide guidance to those who submitted them (legal and otherwise), direct them to the relevant authorities, and follow-up on them. They also run awareness campaigns and other development programs to attain the purpose of enabling and empowering women in Egyptian society while combatting all forms of gender-based violence against her.
5. The Women and Memory Forum
‘Women and Memory’ was established in 1995 by a group of ardent researchers looking to challenge the gender roles and stereotypes that Egyptian and Arab societies impose on women, and subsequently, contribute to combatting gender-based violence against women. Their game plan to achieve that is through creating an alternative culture and producing knowledge around issues surrounding us while observing them through the lens of gender.
6. The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood
The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood was established in 1988 and is one of four main entities that work under Egypt’s Ministry of State for Family and Population. Their main focus when it comes to gender-based violence against women revolves around helping young girls fight it. But they also have numerous other areas of priority and activity.
7.The New Woman Foundation
The New Woman Foundation is an Egyptian NGO that informally began its activities back in 1984. It strives to raise awareness about violence against women among other issues, these include gender inequality and women’s rights in general. They also work on empowering women to further their participation in the country’s political scene.
8. Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights
An NGO that aims to educate people on women’s rights and eliminate gender-based violence and discrimination against them, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights was founded in 1996. Since then, they persistently conducted studies and surveys, pushed for the reformation of Egyptian legislation related to women’s rights (so that it’s in accordance with facets of the Egyptian Constitution and international agreements on the matter), and offered free legal services to women who can’t afford them.
9. Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance
The Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance may not have the friendliest website, but their services are certainly essential in the fight against gender-based violence targeted at women. The NGO works to educate women on legal affairs and provide them with the legal consultations they need should they be unable to afford it. They also work to educate illiterate women and raise their awareness of their legal and constitutional rights.
10. The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW)
The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women was officially registered as an NGO in Egypt back in 1987. They’re one of the first NGOs in the country to primarily focus on “female heads of households” living under challenging circumstances. They also deliver a couple of initiatives aimed specifically at combatting gender-based violence against women. An example of those initiatives would be their self-defense and martial arts programs.
11. Cairo Foundation for Development and Law
The Cairo Foundation for Development and Law is a feminist Egyptian NGO with a hotline that offers free legal consultation to Egyptian women who need it to lead a safe life. In addition, they run awareness campaigns targeting gender-based violence against women. Most recently, on November 25 of 2020, they launched the ‘Her Health is Her Right’ campaign to reach out to people living in Egypt and educate them on gender-based violence against women in the healthcare sector (especially during, before, and after their pregnancy), and ways to cope and deal with it on a legal, medical, and psychological level.
12. Caritas Egypt
Caritas Egypt, which is affiliated with Caritas International Confederation (a network of Catholic charities), was recognized in Egypt by the Ministry of Social Solidarity back in 1967. Their development scope is quite broad but primarily focuses on emergencies and pressing matters. Regarding gender-based violence against women, they have a Women Empowerment team that contributes to organizing sessions and seminars to educate people around the country on the matter and encourages them to take action and speak up.
13. Tadwein Gender Research and Training Center
This relatively young and promising gender research and training center, Tadwein, works on raising awareness and persuading people to stand again and/or dump beliefs, traditions, customs, and habits that result in gender-based violence against women. They do so since 2014 with data and research; their aim is provide an evidence-based approach to gender-based violence against women in Egypt.
14. E7na Foundation
E7na Foundation is an NGO that emerged in 2020 with the aim of combatting sexual harassment, violence, and abuse through exploring it from numerous angles. Their first summit was held in November 2020. It brought experts on different topics related to sexual harassment and gender-based violence against women together with prominent activists in these areas to engage with online audiences in a virtual event.
15. Women and Development Association
Established in 2000, the Women and Development Association focuses on many areas of development, and among them is the enablement and empowerment of women. One of their core programs is devoted to combating gender-based discrimination and violence against women in Egypt.
B) Activism and Communities
1. This Is Mother Being
Mother Being is an initiative that aims to teach women about their bodies and eradicate all the misconceptions about the female body. The platform raises awareness about numerous aspects of health to helps women avoid gender-based violence or abuse, especially during, before, and after pregnancy.
2. Assault Police
Assault Police were arguably at the helm of what has been dubbed the Egyptian ‘Me Too’ movement, and since then, the social media page rose to world fame and became home to awareness campaigns and shared stories on all forms of sexual harassment, violence, and abuse. Additionally, they partner with other organizations and initiatives to provide support to survivors of these horrid experiences.
3. The Bussy Project
The Bussy Project aims to provide women (and men) with a safe space where they can share their experiences with gender-based violence or sexual abuse in a creative way and liberate themselves from any shackles society might inflict on them. Through conducting workshops that revolve around storytelling and theatre, the project empowers and enables people to step on stage in front of an audience and talk about their experience with gender-based violence. Additionally, Bussy also uses storytelling on social media platforms to encourage us to empathize with the survivors of gender-based violence and raise awareness about different facets of the subject.
4. Catcalls of Cairo
Catcalls of Cairo is an online safe space that initiates conversations about the catcalling phenomenon in Egypt. The initiative allows women and girls to share their experiences and get heard and supported.
C) Tech-Enabled Solutions
1. Harassmap
Harassmap is an award-winning attempt at a tech-enabled and community-based solution to Egypt’s sexual harassment epidemic. Founded in 2010, it developed a digital map-centered model to track harassment incidents across the country. Through using their solution, one can report the harassment they endured easily online. They also help raise awareness about the issue and train people on how to intervene should they witness sexual harassment. Additionally, they provide free legal and psychological advice to women who faced it.
2. Dare
Dare is an emerging mobile application that is accessible only by women and aimed at exposing harassers through posting about them. More details will be coming soon as it launches.
Finally, we encourage you to send us all and any inquiries, suggestions or criticism that could help us improve this list at 952team@925egypt.com or on any of our social media platforms.
