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egypt

Egypt ranks last in Arab world’s women’s rights

Just about every woman in Egypt has experienced some form of sexual harassment. The country also has high rates of violence and genital mutilation, according to a new study on women in the Arab world by the Thomson-Reuters Foundation. All of that makes Egypt the worst place for women among the 22 member-nations of the Arab League.

Egyptian women struggle to fight sexual harassment

Despite its calls for democracy, freedom of speech and revolution against traditional Egyptian society, the current anti-government demonstrations have witnessed one negative phenomenon – an increase in harassment of women.

Egypt and the universal rights of women

In 1799, the French artist Vivant Denon, accompanying a team of scientists traveling to Egypt with Napoleon (who excused his invasion with the logic that he was bringing democracy to the Arabs) was touring some ancient sites along the upper Nile when he came across an 8-year-old girl in severe pain. Writing in his journal, Denon noted that “a cut, inflicted with equal brutality and cruelty, has deprived her of the means of satisfying the most pressing want, and occasioned the most horrible convulsions.” Denon was referring, of course, to female genital mutilation. The Frenchman quickly pulled out a knife and performed a counter-operation, by which he “was able to save the life of this unfortunate little creature.”

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More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.