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No Country for Any Woman: On Living in a Male-Dominated Public Space

August 17, 2018
Women protesters in Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, 22 November 2011. Credit: Mohamed Omar/ EPA

A few weeks ago, news of the United Kingdom allowing Egyptian women to seek asylum due to gender-based violence and discrimination spread like wildfire on all sorts of social media. The news consisted of several claims, essentially focusing on how the UK is seeking to help women escape the rampant epidemic of sexual harassment. Upon coming across it, I remember jokingly telling a friend it’s finally time for us to seek a harassment-free life. But I won’t deny that, for a moment, I seemed to believe what I read. I began wondering, what sort of case would I have to make to the UK Immigration Service. Would they ask me to recall a specific traumatic incident? Would I be required to submit some form of evidence? If so, how? Would I have to tell them about all the times men believed they had the right to throw words at me? Or how they took advantage of their position of power to get away with harassment? What about the countless times I saw police officers choose to turn a blind eye? Would I have to tell them about how frightening it…


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