Raping Women in Egypt Is Raping the Egyptian Revolution

Islamic law equates in many respects between men and women.  Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, encouraged women to offer counsel at his councils.  Article 4 of the Egyptian Constitution of December 2012 provides for: "Equality before the law and equal opportunities for all citizens, men and women, without discrimination or nepotism, especially in the areas of education, employment, political rights..."  The majority of the drafters of that historic document were Islamists.

Women have spearheaded the revolution of January 25, 2011.  They were in Tahrir Square and in field hospitals.  They were the cheerleaders for the rebellion against Mubarak; the attackers of the security forces.  Some of them were martyred, while other women became graffiti artists.  In their long robes, and in western attire, women stood for hours to cast their votes enthusiastically.

In the early days of the revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis stayed on the sidelines for 3 crucial days.  It was only on January 28, 2011, that advance elements of the Islamists, seeing these millions in every public square in Egypt clamoring for the Dictator's downfall, joined in.  The occasion was the infamous "Battle of the Camels" when Mubarak's thugs thought that fear was a winning tactic.  It backfired, and a few days later, Mubarak was history.

While in Cairo last December observing the process by which the Egyptian Constitution was approved, I interviewed women revolutionaries. These included young women pilots who fly for Egyptair.  What a jump in the status of women in the new Egypt.  No longer are women "half the sky"; they seem to be destined to be "most of the sky."

There is even a "Voice of Egyptian Women," an informal advocacy group that, to quote from their petition to Egyptian President Morsi and to the Cabinet of Dr. Qandeel, "wishes to promote and safeguard the rights and interests of Egyptian women."

Then suddenly, the new Egypt seems, especially as of 2013, to speak about the status of women through two uncoordinated voices.  At a panel organized in early February in connection with the 44th Cairo International Book Fair, veiled women, representing the Islamists, insisted that "the status of women in the new Egypt was better than before."  But the non-veiled participants, representing the secularists, the liberals and the Copts, countered that "the new regime has taken Egyptian women back to the dark ages."

These contradictory statements were followed by pointed accusations by the liberals that women have become the targets of sexual harassment aiming at preventing them from participating in demonstrations and other activities of political involvement.

The door to an ugly deterioration in gender equality and to the enhancement of women's role in Egypt's political life was suddenly flung open -the rise of rape and sexual assaults.  The clarion was sounded on Egyptian TV by Ms. Hania Moheeb.  It was a first in the Arab world for a rape victim to appear for all to see describing in details her ordeal.  That defiance of social taboos was made the more historic by the appearance of Ms. Moheeb's husband next to her to lend support.  "She did nothing wrong!!," he declared in defense of his spouse.

Hania detailed to the entire Arab world how a group of men attacked her during a public protest.  The Egyptian National Council of Women declared that by its count, there were 18 such cases which were tallied by other human rights groups.  Ms. Moheeb, 42 years of age and a journalist, made of her ordeal a cause celebre in order to graphically describe the breakdown of social order in generally conservative Egypt.

Hurriedly, the Morsi government embarked upon drafting legislation to criminalize sexual harassment.  Whether that measure shall cure the problem remains to be seen. But what Hania Moheeb has done by going public with the full backing of her husband is akin to an earthquake which collapsed the wall of silence.  At a recent women demonstration, the marchers held long knives above their heads and chanted: "Don't worry about us.  We are armed."  Raping women in the new Egypt is tantamount to raping the Egyptian Revolution.