Monday 18 November 2013

POLL-Egypt is worst Arab state for women

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Egypt scored badly in almost all categories.
Women played a central role in the country's revolution but activists say the rising influence of Islamists, culminating in the election of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mursi as president, was a major setback for women's rights.
Mursi was toppled in a military takeover in July after mass protests against his rule, but hopes for greater freedoms have been tempered by the daily dangers facing women on the street, experts said.
A U.N. report on women in April said 99.3 percent of women and girls are subjected to sexual harassment in Egypt, which some analysts say reflects a general rise in violence in Egyptian society over the past half-decade.
Human Rights Watch reported that 91 women were raped or sexually assaulted in public in Tahrir Square in June as anti-Mursi protests heated up.
"The social acceptability of everyday sexual harassment affects every woman in Egypt regardless of age, professional or socio-economic background, marriage status, dress or behavior,� said Noora Flinkman, communications manager at HarassMap, a Cairo-based rights group that campaigns against harassment.
�It limits women�s participation in public life. It affects their safety and security, their sense of worth, self-confidence and health.�
Respondents also cited high rates of forced marriage and trafficking.
�There are whole villages on the outskirts of Cairo and elsewhere where the bulk of economic activity is based on trafficking in women and forced marriages,� said Zahra Radwan, Middle East and North Africa programme officer for the Global Fund for Women, a U.S.-based rights group.
Female genital mutilation is endemic in Egypt, where 91 percent of women and girls - 27.2 million in all - are subjected to cutting, according to UNICEF. Only Djibouti has a higher rate, with 93 percent of women and girls cut.
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