Between the video of an Egyptian TV reporter allegedly being groped in the middle of a town square and the international “bra incident” of a popular female TV anchor, the month of June brought Egypt’s sexual harassment struggles international attention. Every New York attorney was regularly checking for updates and optimistically following the latest legal developments in the region. Egypt has not sat back idly. A number of new laws were passed in an attempt to finally protect the women of the country.
A recent report from the United Nations reports that up to “99.3% of Egyptian women have suffered sexual harassment at some point in their lives.” Worse yet, a culture of blaming the victim still pervades the Egyptian way of life. The Egyptian TV reporter who was suspended after her bra strap slipped down has gone on record as saying that “we must stop allowing perpetrators to get away with their actions, and we must vilify them instead of the victims.”
The question on the minds of women all over the world is when Egypt will decide that enough is enough. How much sexual harassment is too much? At what point will the country look at what’s happening and create effective law enforcement to solve the problem? New York City sexual harassment lawyers a are following the events closely and hope Egypt changes the tide sooner rather than later.
There have been some signs of significant improvements in Egypt. The alleged sexual assault of a Egyptian woman at President Sisi’s inauguration resulted in the arrest of 13 men. Furthermore, sexual harassment was official made a crime in the country this month. These events have sparked hope in the hearts of women and human rights activists internationally.
Stayed tuned for updates on further developments.
The Derek Smith Law Group, PLLC handles a multitude of cases that involve sexual harassment in Manhattan and the greater New York City area. For further information, please feel free to call us at 212-587-0760 or toll-free at or email at dtslaws@msn.com
