Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Women's rights – Egypt'

This thesis explores the ways in which Islamic law and human rights interact within the work of women’s rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that advocate the reform of the Egyptian Personal Status Law (PSL) in the period between 2006 and 2010. The thesis shows the relevance of the human rights framework as well as the flexibility of Islamic legal discourse in the work of the NGOs. Drawing on both Islamic law and human rights enabled NGOs to develop a more gender-sensitive religious discourse, which supported their PSL reform demands. However the interaction between these two frameworks was largely affected by several important factors, which sometimes led NGOs to dilute some of their demands. These factors included the implications of the change in the form of Shari‘a as codified law under the modern nation-state; the Egyptian political context both internally and externally; the common local perception that human rights are a Western production and an extension of Western colonialism; the dominant religious but patriarchal discourse governing the PSL; the implications of activism through the NGO structure; and the personal religiosity of individual activists. The thesis explores NGOs’ PSL reform demands in depth bearing in mind these factors. It investigates NGOs’ discourse and shows its strengths and weaknesses. It shows that the interaction between Islamic law and human rights within NGOs’ work in this particular Egyptian context produced reform demands that were innovative and practically appealing on one hand, but epistemologically problematic in some instances, on another.

This thesis explores how secularism affected women’s marital rights in Egypt and Iran between 1920 and 1939. Situated within the religio-legal jurisdiction of Shari’a, family law in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region has been critically scrutinised by both adherents to Islam and Western observers. There is consensus between both tradition that secularism had no meaningful impact on women’s rights in the private sphere due to the continued influence of Islam on social and cultural practices in the region. The nature of the Egyptian and Iranian states has altered with varying degrees of religiosity being evident. This is partially dependent on individuals in power; however, interactions with foreign actors have also contributed to fluctuations in the secular or religious nature of the state. Despite arguments that increased gender equality arises within more secular environments, the authoritarian implementation of policies in some secular states results in further impediments. Religious interpretations also heavily influence policy development, with debates continuing about the compatibility of women’s rights and Islam as prescribed in the Qur’an. Silences emphasised through contemporary events such as 9/11, 7/7, the Arab Spring and the emergence of ISIS highlight significant gaps in our historic understanding. Occidentalist arguments frequently emerge stating that increasing religious traditions serve to protect the identity and traditions of the state from Western influences. Whilst this perspective is heavily contested, patterns of a similar nature become evident in the early twentieth century following escalations in foreign presences in Egypt and Iran. Whilst twenty-first century family law in many Muslim countries remains firmly embedded in religious law, it is possible to see how the implementation of secularism during the early twentieth century influenced the trajectories of family law, facilitating the legal structures visible today.

There is a general notion that Islam, as a religion, looks down upon women and encourages discrimination against them. Thus, the status of Arab and Muslim women has become a controversial issue, drawing significant research attention amongst scholars in different fields such as sociology, social development, theology and feminist studies. This thesis aims to explain and understand both the actual status of Muslim Egyptian women and their rights in Muslim societies and also the influential role played by the ulama. The case of Egypt offers a useful focus for this research since the matter can be studied from multiple angles; political, and cultural. The emphasis given to introducing Muslim women's views, especially at the grassroots level on the subject under examination, are based on their current status and personal experiences. Field research was conducted in two main governorates in Egypt; Cairo and Qena. A total of 233 Informants participated in this study, representing different social, economic, educational, geographical, and cultural backgrounds. The findings of the study suggest that women hold a good level of awareness and knowledge of the rights granted to them by Islam, despite the discrepancy in the percentages obtained in both governorates. There is also a strong link between the content of Television drama and raising awareness about current legislations, given that the Media represent the main source of education for women about their rights in both locations. Finally recommendations are made at both macro and micro levels with the aim of creating sustainable improvement in women's rights in Egypt.

This thesis focuses on the work of a social movement based in Cairo that dedicated itself to the addressing and reducing sexual harassment, or taḥarush in the streets. Based on a year and five months of fieldwork, this thesis elaborated upon the genesis of the movement, its ethos, and the methods it deployed to tackle taḥarush. It is argued that the movement deployed methods which encouraged members of Egyptian society to revisit and rework their ethical standpoints with reference to taḥarush, and as such public behaviour. In this way, members of Egyptian society were asked to become more aware of their roles within society itself. Firstly, such methods had to be tested by movement members themselves. The movement became known for two main activities: raising awareness and patrols. Both methods serve as ways by which the movement reshaped both people and the public spaces they occupied. Spaces are defined by the people who pass through them, and by acting on a given space, people can change how it is perceived. The movement designated itself a safe space, encouraging members to ponder ideas from society with the goal of changing society ‘for the better'. What my research revealed was that lack of consensus regarding definitions embedded in movement ethos contributed to conflict between members and discontinuity between ethos and its enactment. Government pressures required changes to the structure and internal functioning of the movement, and in addition to the initial ethical project regarding taḥarush, members found themselves learning to embody and perform roles associated with employed positions. The turmoil experienced both within in and outside of the movement is put back into the context of Egypt post 2011, to tease out the sense of temporality embedded in their struggle to survive the political climate of the time.

Since 2011, Egypt has been in a state of chaos and instability. During this time women have suffered disproportionality in comparison to their male counterparts. However, the poor state of affairs for women did not begin after 2011; while women have slowly gained more rights during the last decade, Egypt’s commitment to gender equality has always fallen short. This paper investigates the current state of affairs for women’s rights in Egypt, especially in wake of the 2011 Revolution, and asserts that the poor quality of women’s rights is a result of a battle for power between the military and Islamic politicians, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood. It then analyzes the possibility of a better future for Egypt through an examination of Turkey because it is a secular Islamic state, which has recently reduced military power and increased democratic inclusion in politics. Ultimately, the potential for dramatic improvement in women’s rights in Egypt would necessitate a significant cultural shift, as well as greater inclusion in government—both of which are unlikely given the current state of Egyptian culture and politics.

"This paper is therefore inspired to look at education with respect to girl children in Africa. This paper, by drawing inspriation from other settings, is also motivated by the need to find solutions on how best the rights of the girl child can be protected in conjuction with the educational policy of African countries. ... The study is divided into six chapters. Chapter one provides the context in which the study is set, the objectives of the study and its importance. Chapter two examines the importance of the right to education and in education and takes note of the issue of discrimination with respect to girl child education in Africa. In chapter three various international treaties that concern provisions on education and the discrimination factor as to gender are identified. Also in the international milieu, the role of international bodies in the effective and efficient insurance of girl child education is included. Chapter four examines on a regional level, the extent to which the African Commission has effectively monitored the provision of the African Chater. The African Children's Charter and the Draft Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women (the Draft Women's Protocol) in Africa are also discussed in relation to provisions in the African Charter and work done on girl child education by the African Commission. In this chapter, a comparative study is also done of instruments and the implementation mechanisms offered by the Inter-American and European systems to the African human rights system in terms of the girl child education. This is so because in terms of experience, jurisprudence and institutions, these systems are considered to be more advanced than the African human rights sytem. Finally chapter five discusses girl child education on a national level in Africa. This chapter focuses on the experiences of South Africa, Egypt and Cameroon. Educational policy and other national legislative instruments such as the constitutions of these countries are included. In the conclusion, the paper puts forward recommendations to assist new and old African democracies in advancing an administrative and political approach to the issue of discrimination with respect to girl child education." -- Chapter 1.
Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Enid Hill at the Department of Political Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The American University in Cairo, Egypt
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html
Centre for Human Rights
LLM

The Egyptian Revolution 2011 created a space and opportunity to forward important demands concerning different social and political issues, amongst these matters related to women's status and situations in the society. Feminist and women's rights proponents in Egypt conceptualize the aims of a feminist or women's rights agenda as (women's) human rights and citizen's rights, independence, freedom and choice, though such universal concepts are understood in accordance with particular cultural or individual contexts. Feminist struggles must be seen in the cultural and social environment in which they take place in order to be properly understood. Feminist struggles in Egypt takes place in an overarching religious context. Religion constitutes a source of legitimacy in the Egyptian society and feminist activists appropriate religious language to pose their political demands and to make them comprehensible at a local level. Feminist demands are generally brought forward strategically, in order to achieve acceptance and enhance cultural legitimacy. A patriarchal culture is perceived as the main obstacle to advance women's status and situations. For that reason, addressing and changing that patriarchal culture is seen as the main objective for feminist struggles. Individual agency is highlighted in this respect. The interest and responsibility of securing and forwarding women's rights is mainly perceived to lay in the hands of feminist activists and women's rights groups themselves. The Egyptian Revolution was an outcome of individual and collective agency. In the revolution, women may have enacted more of a public agency than an individual agency to realize their interests. During the revolution women transcended gender roles and exposed some images of women as stereotypes. The Egyptian Revolution broke a barrier of fear in the society and invoked in men and women a sense of dignity and rights. The post-revolutionary public and political discourse constituted a backlash for women's rights, but it may also have produced a renewed interest for feminist struggles and women's rights. After the revolution, the participation in the society may have increased and men and women might not be as easily intimidated as before.

The goal of this study is to generate a more holistic picture of the diffusion and assimilation of universal human rights norms in diverse cultural and political settings such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The overarching question to be investigated in this thesis is the relationship between the evolving international human rights regime and the emerging human rights normative and legal culture in the Middle East. This question will be investigated in detail with reference to regional human rights schemes such as the Arab Charter of Human Rights, as well as local human rights developments in three Middle Eastern states, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Having gauged the take-up of human rights norms on the ground at the local and regional levels, the thesis examines in full the extent of socialisation and internalisation of human rights norms across the Middle East region at large.

Late Antiquity and the associated rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire are often thought to be fraught with violence and radical change. This understanding has recently become more nuanced, and we now understand that the period was a dynamic one, involving both continuity and change. Similarly, with respect to women, it is now thought that the rise of Christianity brought with it sweeping changes, for example, in standards of morality and sexuality, but also firm continuity, for example, in law. Throughout previous centuries, the experiences of these women have been seen primarily through the lens of Christian literature, such as homilies, Church histories, and saints’ lives. As a result, the picture of an early Christian woman was a highly idealized one, of a submissive and subservient wife whose place was in the home and who was considered an image of retained guilt and an object of sexual temptation to the men around her. Since these sources are highly ideological, such a representation is less than reliable. Using legal and documentary sources, therefore, which are inherently less ideological than literary sources, this thesis analyzes the areas of continuity and change in the lives of early Christian Egyptian women in order to assess the evolution of their roles, rights, and responsibilities to understand what effect the rise of Christianity had on their day-to-day lives. That is to say, this thesis aims to answer the question: Did the rise of Christianity actually affect or change the rights or status of women in Late Antique Egypt? The thesis concludes, on the basis of the mentioned sources that early Christianity affected little meaningful change on the rights and status of women in Late Antique Egypt, but that the situation is far more complex than the normative literature suggests. Some change can be seen in understandings of sexuality, particularly in the Christian emphasis on virginity, but this change is not inherently gendered. Beyond this, there is overwhelming evidence for continuity.

Violence against women (VAW) is a global problem existing in all cultures. This study is performed because there is a lack of knowledge about how healthcare personnel treat VAW to promote health and to alleviate suffering. The aim is to describe how healthcare workers experience violence against women and how it influences the care. Qualitative semi structured individual interviews were made with three nurses and one medical student in Egypt. The interviews were taped and transcribed before the text was analyzed by qualitative content analysis. The result showed that women were subordinated and discriminated in Egypt and in the healthcare. The care for the abused women was focused on first aid, and the respondents expressed that it was the woman’s own decision and responsibility to report or do any further actions. Often the violence was ignored or silenced. Violence and threats was accepted by the society and individuals as a mean for handling conflicts and was used in the healthcare settings as well. The respondents expressed a need for change and a wish for decreasing the violence, work for equality and stressed the importance of education in society. They also emphasised the need for women to gain more economic independence. Attitudes of healthcare workers need to be addressed and further investigation is necessary to prevent VAW.
Program: Sjuksköterskeutbildning

Sexual harassment in Cairo's public spaces is a symptom of infringement upon women’s rights in Egypt. Which is ingrained in the socioeconomic context, cultural, and traditional norms of the society. This grant proposal and background research proposes the construction of an extensive anti-sexual harassment infrastructure base in Egypt. The infrastructure platform is built on an evidence-based strategy and guided by recognized best practices. The platform is geared towards alleviating the symptoms of sexual harassment in Cairo's public spaces by constructing the urgently required, but currently missing, national mechanisms which are necessary to prevent, report, prosecute, and provide survivor services for victims of sexual harassment. In addition to the immediate perceived causes and effects of sexual harassment in Egypt there is also deep-rooted ecological factors that must be considered. These ecological factors, on an individual level, both biological and personal, include the fact that approximately 97% of Egyptian girls witness female gentile mutilation (FGM) in a publicized fashion between the ages 4 & 10. The practice of FGM, may have indoctrinated little boys and little girls, from an early age, that it is socially acceptable to inflict physical and psychological pain and suffering upon the female. FGM carried out at this age, as opposed to male circumcision, which is carried out during early infancy, allows for the neurological trauma that is generated leaves a lasting imprint. On a family level, 49% of adolescent rural girls marry before the age of 16. Marriage at this age is internationally recognized as sexual abuse, yet is common practice in rural Egypt. This practice sets a negative precedence for accommodating women's voices, this precedence may last a lifetime. On a community level, based on the most recent statistically significant surveys, approximately 70% of youth, both male and female, believe women are subordinate to men. This dictates that male must exercise control of resources and decision-making. And, that a girl must do what her brother says, even if he is younger. On a society level, 86% of surveyed male respondents indicated they would do “nothing” to try and stop sexual harassment if they witnessed it happening to a stranger in public. And finally, even from the moment they are born, the large majority of women in Egypt, because of religious dictates, inherit only half of what a male sibling would. Ceteris paribus, women in Egypt, just by virtue of being female, based on inheritance, are only able to afford a living standard, for themselves and their family that is only half as high as that of their male siblings living standard, unless of course their male sibling is benevolent enough to bestow upon them his own wealth. All these factors invariable, where they apply, undermine women's status in society and negatively impact attitudes of protecting women from harm and violence, in all its forms, which includes sexual harassment in public spaces.

Mesurer l’impact des réserves Charia sur l’application des dispositions essentielles de la Convention sur l’élimination de toutes les formes de discrimination à l’égard des femmes (la CEDEF) est l’élément principal de cette étude. À cette fin, le statut juridique de la Femme est examiné, à la lumière des dispositions de la Convention, dans trois pays de culture musulmane (Egypte, Arabie Saoudite et Iran). La présente étude tend à démonter que le statut moindre de la Femme, dans les pays de culture musulmane, est la conséquence de la primauté de l’Islam, en tant que doctrine politico-religieuse, au sein des sociétés civiles. L’étude met l’accent sur l’antagonisme qui existe entre le droit international positif, de nature essentiellement séculaire, et le droit religieux, d’essence divine en vigueur dans la majorité des États de culture musulmane. Elle insiste également sur cette réalité persistante qui consiste, dans de nombreux pays, à nier l’application des droits humains aux femmes, au prétexte de leur incompatibilité avec la loi religieuse supérieure. C’est l’ambition de cette recherche que de proposer que, seule, une séparation nette, de la Religion et du Droit serait à même de garantir l’application universelle et uniforme du droit international de l’Homme et la Femme
Measuring the impact of Sharia reservations on the application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the principal subject of this paper. In this respect, the legal status of women is examined, in the light of the Convention (CEDAW), within three Muslim countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran). The present study tries to demonstrate that the lesser status of Muslim women is the result of Islam’s primacy, as a politico-religious ideology, within civil societies. The paper emphasizes on the existing irreconcilable conflict between, the international positive law, essentially of secular nature, and the religious law, mainly of divine nature. This paper also advocates that the persistent denial of basic human rights of women in Muslim countries is mainly due to the incompatibility of those rights with imposed religious norms (sharia law). In it’s ambition this study aims to prove that only a strict separation between law and religion could guarantee the universal application of human rights of men and women

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2005.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 1, 2008) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Claude Welch. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis attempts to deepen the understanding of changes and trends in reproductive health and rights after the occurrence of political turmoil in the region of the Middle East and Northern Africa in 2011. Using the right based model of reproductive health it explores the effects of economic development, social development, gender equality, democracy, abortion rights and religiosity on reproductive health in the politically diverse countries of Tunisia and Egypt. In the course of the thesis, the influence of these determinants and variables are accessed through literature review, scientific researches and statistical analysis. The aftermath of the Arab Spring suggests a great importance of the variables democracy, economic development, and religiosity, making them the most consequential contributors of change in reproductive health in Tunisia and Egypt.
Esta tese tenta aprofundar a compreensão das mudanças e tendências da saúde reprodutiva e direitos após a ocorrência das turbulências políticas na região do Oriente Médio e Norte da África em 2011. Usando o modelo baseado em os direitos de saúde reprodutiva, a explora os efeitos do desenvolvimento econômico , desenvolvimento social, igualdade de gênero, democracia, direitos ao aborto e religiosidade na saúde reprodutiva nos países politicamente diversos da Tunísia e do Egito. No decorrer da tese, a influência desses determinantes e variáveis é acessada por meio de revisão bibliográfica, pesquisas científicas e análises estatísticas. O rescaldo da Primavera Árabe sugere uma grande importância das variáveis democracia, desenvolvimento econômico e religiosidade, tornando-as as contribuições mais importantes da mudança na saúde reprodutiva na Tunísia e no Egito.

In my thesis I firstly aim to investigate the global constructions of Arab women in news platforms, through a semi-structured theoretical discussion of frames of representation. In the State of the Art I firstly reflect the fieldwork in the chapter on Politics of Media Frames and Silenced Realities, in assessments on: 1.1 Languages and Power of Media, 1.2 Eurocentrism: Collective Outrage versus Collective Apathy, and 1.3 Women’s Resistance in Epistemology: Human Rights Encounters and Arab Feminisms Deconstructing Double Patriarchies. I move on to explore the portrayals of the Arab in productions of the Orient and the “Third World”, discussing: 2.1 Frames of Oppression: Framing the Other, 2.2 Orientalism and The Immoral “Moral” Contest of Human Rights, 2.3 Doctrines of Exclusion: The “Civilising Mission” and the Burden of Representation, and 2.4 Double Patriarchies: (Non)Recognition of the Other of the Other. Finally, I assess dichotomies between the South and North, assessing constructions on women in the research dialogue Polarized Geographies and Polarized Feminisms, inquiring: 3.1 Veiling and Unveiling: Injustice(s) on the “Arab” and the Arab Woman’s Body, 3.2 Social Construction of Vulnerability and Violence on the Woman’s body, 3.3 Purity, Honour Crimes and Crimes of (Dis)Honour, and 3.4 Orientalist (Mis)Representations and the Egyptian Women’s Burden(s). My fieldwork encompasses the scrutinization of media reportage on the region and with particular focus on Egyptian women, in order to de-orient the homogenizing frame. De-orienting epistemology constitutes of critical discourse analysis articles from a renowned international newspaper, under a specific Egypt-centric time frame rather than a western-centric one. Articles are collected and analysed under the keywords Egypt, Women and Rights and are assessed for their frame: imagery, language, content and layout. Under a Key of Analysis which I designed, the articles are coded to assess trends, frames of silencing and empowerment and their frequencies and instances. In doing so, the critical findings of media portray that the image of the general Arab women and more so Egyptian women has been blurred. The dangers of misrepresentations were underlined under trends of normalized depictions of alienation of the woman from her rights, face and body. Double Patriarchies are evident in systematic narrations of violence, in western experts and Human Rights organizations speaking for and on the region, in focuses of men over women speaking for women’s rights, portrayals of the woman as victim and the vilification of Egyptian society. The few instances in which direct quotes of agency of empowered women are stated are acknowledged to be as objective as possible. It was disclosed that languages largely perpetuate oppressive frames evident from the critical key of analysis discussion in quantitative and qualitative findings. Imageries to a high extent reproduce prevalence of repeated Double Patriarchies. Abstracting a small number of instances of direct women’s quotes reflects stigmatic perpetuation of foreign imposition, cultural obscurement and focus on men in Egyptian women’s empowerment. The research therefore sought to de-frame Frames of Oppression by deconstructing them and their languages, and to go beyond this, through articulations of Egyptian women leaderships themselves involved in women’s rights whether directly or indirectly. This was carried out through semi-structured interviews which carry my own resonances with them as an Egyptian woman and as the interpreter and producer of the research, whereby my own voice is present throughout the work. The interviews reveal that the voices of Egyptian women, let alone Arab women are clearly non-homogenous and diverse, each with important stories to share. While there are nuances between perspectives, these must be seen and heard. The relational distance among women is seen within Cairo, between Cairo and outer cities, and levels of education. This mirrors the significance of exchange in women’s rights discourse within Egypt and amongst feminisms of the South and North. Epistemologies ultimately should seek to listen to and invite women from the South to produce their own knowledge on the world, on women’s rights and most crucially on themselves.
Na minha tese, primeiro pretendo investigar as construções globais de mulheres árabes em plataformas noticiosas, através de uma discussão teórica sobre quadros de representação. No Estado da Arte, reflito primeiramente o trabalho de campo no capítulo Política de Estruturas dos Média e Realidades Silenciadas, em avaliações sobre: 1.1 Idiomas e Poder dos Média; 1.2 Eurocentrismo: Indignação Coletiva versus Apatia Coletiva; 1.3 Resistência das Mulheres na Epistemologia: Encontros de Direitos Humanos e Feminismos Árabes Desconstruindo Patriarcados Duplos. Exploro retratos do Árabe em produções do Oriente e do “Terceiro Mundo”, discutindo: 2.1 Quadros de opressão: enquadrando o outro; 2.2 Orientalismo e o Debate "Moral" Imoral dos Direitos Humanos; 2.3 Doutrinas de Exclusão: a Missão Civilizadora e o Fardo da Representação; 2.4 Patriarcados Duplos: (Não)Reconhecimento do Outro do Outro. Por fim, passo a avaliar dicotomias entre o Sul e o Norte, avaliando construções sobre mulheres no diálogo de pesquisa em Geografias Polarizadas e Feminismos Polarizados, investigando: 3.1 O uso e o desuso do véu: injustiça(s) no “Árabe” e no Corpo da Mulher Árabe; 3.2 Construção Social da Vulnerabilidade e Violência no Corpo da Mulher; 3.3 Pureza, Crimes de Honra e Crimes de (Des)Honra; 4.4 (Não)Representações Orientalistas e o(s) Fardo(s) das Mulheres Egípcias. O meu trabalho de campo exigiu o exame minucioso dos relatórios dos média na região e com foco especial nas mulheres egípcias, a fim de desorientar o quadro de homogeneização. Desvincular a epistemologia dos artigos de análise crítica do discurso de um jornal internacional de renome, em um período específico no Egito, em vez de no Oeste. Os artigos são coletados e analisados sob as palavras-chave Egito, Mulheres e Direitos e avaliados pelo seu enquadramento: imagens, idioma, conteúdo e disposição. Sob uma Chave de Análise que eu projetei, os artigos são codificados para avaliar tendências, quadros de silenciamento e empoderamento e das suas frequências e instâncias. Ao fazê-lo, as descobertas críticas dos média retratam que a imagem das mulheres Árabes em geral e mais ainda a das egípcias ficou confusa. Os perigos das deturpações foram sublinhados sob tendências de representações normalizadas de alienação da mulher, dos seus direitos, rosto e corpo. Os patriarcados duplos são evidentes nas narrativas sistemáticas de violência, nos especialistas ocidentais e nas organizações de Direitos Humanos que falam pela e da região, nos focos dos homens nas mulheres que falam pelos direitos das mesmas, nos retratos da mulher como vítima e na difamação da sociedade egípcia. Nos poucos casos em que são citadas alegações diretas da agência de mulheres com poder são reconhecidos como os mais objetivos possíveis. Foi revelado que as línguas perpetuam amplamente quadros opressivos evidentes da chave crítica na discussão da análise em resultados quantitativos e qualitativos. As imagens reproduzem, em grande medida, a prevalência de repetidos patriarcados duplos. Abstrair um pequeno número de instâncias de citações diretas de mulheres representa perpetuação estigmática de imposição estrangeira, obscurecimento cultural e foco dos homens no poder das mulheres egípcias. A pesquisa, portanto, buscou desqualificar os quadros de opressão desconstruindo-os e os seus idiomas, além disso, através de articulações das líderes egípcias que estão envolvidas nos direitos das mulheres, direta ou indiretamente. Isto foi realizado por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, onde carrego as minhas próprias ressonâncias com elas como mulher egípcia, como intérprete e produtora da pesquisa, em que minha própria voz está presente em todo o trabalho. As entrevistas revelam que as vozes das mulheres egípcias, muito menos das Árabes, são claramente não homogêneas e diversas, cada uma com histórias importantes para compartilhar. Embora existam variações entre perspetivas, elas devem ser vistas e ouvidas. A distância relacional entre as mulheres é vista no Cairo, entre o Cairo, nas cidades exteriores e nos níveis de educação. Isso reflete a importância do intercâmbio no discurso dos direitos das mulheres no Egito e entre os feminismos do Sul e do Norte. As epistemologias deveriam, eventualmente, procurar ouvir e convidar as mulheres do Sul a produzirem seu próprio conhecimento sobre o mundo, nos direitos das mulheres e, mais crucialmente, sobre si mesmas.

This thesis examined the conditions under which taharrush (sexual harassment) has become normalized in Cairo, allowing acts once deemed unethical by Egyptians to become a daily experience. Experiences of taharrush were explored through an ethnographic study of three neighborhoods in Cairo and 20 semi-structured interviews with women from diverse backgrounds and age groups. Through the literature review of key themes and a historical analysis of the Egyptian context, this research explored the rise in sexual harassment over time and under different presidential regimes. The cross-generational aspect of this research highlighted the prevalence of sexual harassment in the past three decades. Furthermore, through the participants’ voices, numerous themes emerged explaining the increase of taharrush, such as: economic difficulties, decline in akhle (sense of community), and violence against women perpetrated by security officials. The interviews showed women’s experiences of sexual harassment, the perceived causes behind the issue of harassment being trivialized and normalized, and ways in which women combat harassment and security issues within Cairo.
February 2016