Courtesy of the Daily Beast: a story about an Egyptian HarassMap meant to measure incidents of violence against women.
Here's a key line:
"Currently, there is no law against sexual harassment in Egypt."
This may seem shocking, but it actually raises a broader question: how much do these laws matter? Apparently 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women living in Cairo have been sexually harassed at some point. I think at least 83% of Indian women could say the same (and a hefty percentage of American women could too.) But I digress. India has a law against sexual harassment, but these laws are a laughingstock all over the world. The general philosophy seems to be that if you can't take the heat, you should get out of the kitchen (or back into it, as the case may be)
The article does one thing well: "Above all, however, the tacit acceptance of a culture in which abuse against women is tolerated in private and public has to change from the ground up."
The key here is "in private and public." I'm constantly amazed by the number of foreign women in Delhi who seem to think that the problem of violence against women is restricted to them. It's a unique type of white expat solipsism that's assumes that all experiences are personally unique. People who parachute into an abusive culture have a right to be shocked and offended. But it's people who live in these cultures who suffer the worst. They can't parachute back out.
But centrally, also, is the point that culture and not written law is the key determinant of how violence is perpetrated against women. The higher incidence of stranger rape in the United States is a direct result of women's emancipation - India has an equally high rate of rape, but a much higher rate of incestuous sexual assault. But both countries have a rape problem, especially compared with cities in Europe. Since we can't argue that men change (anyway, genetics disproves this) we have to assume that culture affects not only the incidence of assault against women but every aspect of how it is handled legally. It is the most important factor. There is no point, for Egypt, in passing a law against sexual harassment. That will not be enough.
Here's a key line:
"Currently, there is no law against sexual harassment in Egypt."
This may seem shocking, but it actually raises a broader question: how much do these laws matter? Apparently 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women living in Cairo have been sexually harassed at some point. I think at least 83% of Indian women could say the same (and a hefty percentage of American women could too.) But I digress. India has a law against sexual harassment, but these laws are a laughingstock all over the world. The general philosophy seems to be that if you can't take the heat, you should get out of the kitchen (or back into it, as the case may be)
The article does one thing well: "Above all, however, the tacit acceptance of a culture in which abuse against women is tolerated in private and public has to change from the ground up."
The key here is "in private and public." I'm constantly amazed by the number of foreign women in Delhi who seem to think that the problem of violence against women is restricted to them. It's a unique type of white expat solipsism that's assumes that all experiences are personally unique. People who parachute into an abusive culture have a right to be shocked and offended. But it's people who live in these cultures who suffer the worst. They can't parachute back out.
But centrally, also, is the point that culture and not written law is the key determinant of how violence is perpetrated against women. The higher incidence of stranger rape in the United States is a direct result of women's emancipation - India has an equally high rate of rape, but a much higher rate of incestuous sexual assault. But both countries have a rape problem, especially compared with cities in Europe. Since we can't argue that men change (anyway, genetics disproves this) we have to assume that culture affects not only the incidence of assault against women but every aspect of how it is handled legally. It is the most important factor. There is no point, for Egypt, in passing a law against sexual harassment. That will not be enough.
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