Across the last two weeks up until the launch of the new anti-sexual harassment campaign on Sunday, women from the Egyptian Streets team and 12 others were asked to call the National Council of Women’s (NCW) harassment hotline two to three times a day, at different times, in order to report a harassment incident or to ask what to do in case of one. The numbers that we called were 15115 and 01007525600 – both being numbers advertised by the NCW. Out of those 15 callers, one 57-year old woman received an answer, which was to call the next day, from 9 AM to 3 PM. Another caller reported a harassment incident which happened to her sister; she was given standard bureaucratic questions asking for the harasser’s name, car license plate and the sort of data that one would never be able to receive on the streets. The person at the end of the hotline, who claims that they are a lawyer, presupposes then, that the victim already has information on the harasser. All of the other calls went unanswered. In total, there were approximately 40 calls made to the hotline….
This Is What Happened When 15 Women Called Egypt’s Harassment Hotline
November 26, 2018
