Campaigning for women’s empowerment: Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, kickstarting a 16-day campaign of activism for the cause. This year’s theme, according to the United Nations, is Orange the World — with the color orange representing a brighter future without violence against women and girls. Nearly 1 in 3 women have been abused in their lifetime, and that percentage has only increased during the pandemic times with a new report from UN Women finding that “2 in 3 women reported that they or a woman they know experienced some form of violence and are more likely to face food insecurity.” The problem is only exacerbated by the lack of effective channels women can access to report or gain support in cases of abuse. This makes violence against women much less likely to be reported.

What’s the situation like in Egypt? Violence against women in the country has taken several forms, as suggested by The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (pdf). They include violence domestic violence, [redacted] harassment, FGM, and structural violence that limits women’s participation in public matters. A 2015 survey titled the Economic Cost of Gender-Based Violence found that around 7.8 mn women suffer from all forms of violence yearly, whether perpetrated by a significant other or individuals in their close circles. Meanwhile, FGM is estimated to affect 90-97% of Egyptian women and some 17% of girls have been subject to child marriage. Also, over 99.3% of women in the country have experienced [redacted] harassment, a 2013 UN Women report found.

Our shortcomings on these fronts caused Egypt to fall in The Economist’s Safe Cities Index, pointing to “lack of laws safeguarding women’s safety from domestic violence and harassment weighed on the ranking.”

Enter USAID: The international institution launched the Safe Cities project in Egypt this year, with investments of USD 8 mn, to “end violence against women and girls by combating harassment, promoting legislative reforms, and improving support mechanisms for victims.”

In 2015, Egypt adopted a five-year national strategy to combat violence against women which seeks to coordinate efforts by the Government, the National Council for Women, the National Committee on the Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation, and civil society. The strategy included initiatives to develop the procedures to communicate cases of violence as well as a mechanism for collecting data on acts of violence.

There’s been a lot going on since — legislation-wise at least: Egypt introduced tougher penalties for committing FGM, stipulating that a minimum five-year jail term will be handed to individuals found guilty of committing or facilitating the act. While this is technically a step in the right direction, activists were quick to pipe up and question whether the government would actually be able to enforce it. A tougher stance was also taken on harassment with offenders now subject to receive a minimum five-year prison sentence and fines worth EGP 200k-300k. Women’s rights have warned that the penalties won’t mean much unless they are enforced. The matter was also addressed through changes to the criminal code designed to protect the personal data of victims of [redacted] harassment and assault also received a preliminary nod from the House this year. Lastly, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi issued an order to finally bring women into Maglis El Dawla and the Supreme Judicial Council and 98 women judges were sworn into office in October. There has been no activity or statistics released about domestic violence this year.

While this is good and dandy, we hope to see actual change taking place on the ground.