According to a 2013 UN Women study, nearly 99 percent of women in Egypt reported experiencing sexual harassment. Harassment is an issue so deeply embedded in society that it has become a part of Egyptian women’s day-to-day life. A 2014 study by HarassMap, an initiative founded in 2010 that uses SMS reporting and community outreach to combat harassment, found that 95 percent of 300 women surveyed in Greater Cairo faced similar issues. Although no recent statistics exist on harassment in Egypt, the yearly deployment of police officers in the country’s largest cities during holidays such as Eid and strengthened harassment fines in 2023 indicate that the issue remains prevalent. Similarly, a 2020 Arab Barometer report reaffirmed that sexual harassment in public spaces remains widespread. Despite ongoing efforts to tackle the issue, harassment continues to be a persistent reality for many Egyptian women, as several viral incidents in recent years have made clear. One such incident occurred in Old Cairo in July 2024, when a woman jumped from a moving tuk-tuk, fearing assault from the driver. The driver was arrested on 9 July 2024 after she filed a police report. Similarly,…
