Daily Times

Egypt’s highest Sunni religious authority has said there can be no justification for sexual harassment, in a country where many people often blame women themselves for the widespread problems they face.

In a statement Al Azhar blasted all forms of harassment as “a forbidden act and deviant behaviour” and said “the one who carries it out is a sinner”. “Criminalising sexual harassment must be absolute and free from any condition or context,” the statement released Monday said. “Justifying sexual harassment with the behaviour or clothing of the woman is a misunderstanding, for sexual harassment is an assault on the woman and her freedom and dignity,” it said.

Some 60% of women in Egypt said they had been victims of some form of sexual harassment during their lifetimes in a 2017 report from UN Women and Promundo.

Three-quarters of men and 84% of women polled said that women who “dress provocatively deserve to be harassed”.

The divisions have been highlighted by a recent debate over a video posted on the internet by an Egyptian woman showing a man making unwanted advances on her in a Cairo street. The footage of the man parking his car and approaching a woman to go for a coffee went viral and drew wide-ranging reactions online.

Published in Daily Times, August 29^th 2018.