Egypt 'Worst Arab Country' For Women's Rights

Male control of women, and fear of women's sexuality, is present in all societies to one degree or another.

But nowhere in the modern world is it so prevalent as in the Arab countries, according to a shocking new poll from the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Apologists for this behaviour - or those simply too cowardly to admit their embarrassment about this state of affairs - will be furious with the survey but the facts are overwhelming, and the details disturbing.

Thomson Reuters Foundation surveyed 336 gender experts in the 22 states of the Arab League.

Women are still not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia

The poll found that Egypt is the worst for women's rights, that female genital mutilation is endemic, and that there has been a surge in sexual violence since the Arab uprisings of 2011. 

Women have been the biggest losers of the misnamed "Arab Spring".

As some analysts argued from the beginning, one of the dangers of "revolution" would be to unleash the darker forces of Islamism previously kept in check by the brutality of the dictators.

Neither side is a winner in Syria with widespread abuses against women

Reuters quotes the Egyptian columnist Mona Eltahawy as saying: "As the miserable poll results show, we women need a double revolution, one against the various dictators who've ruined our countries and the other against a toxic mix of culture and religion that ruin our lives as women."

Many correspondents who have worked in Egypt have been troubled by the rampant sexism and sexual violence against women.

Cairo has long been considered the sexual harassment capital of the Arab world by female correspondents, some of whom will only work there with male guards.

Egypt appears a massively sexually frustrated society.

Suzanne Mubarak was trying to eliminate female genital mutilation

This writer - a man - has been groped by men in Tahrir Square several times during demonstrations, and it is far worse for women.

All of my female Egyptian friends acknowledge that harassment is part of the everyday life and they will only go out if accompanied by male friends.

Human Rights Watch reports that 91 women were raped or sexually assaulted in public in Tahrir Square in June alone during the anti-Morsi demonstrations.

Groups have had to form protection squads to allow women to demonstrate, circling them so that gangs of men cannot drag them off to the darker parts of the square.

The "Arab Spring" has brought more pain to women

The survey quotes a UN report from April which said 99.3% of women and girls are subjected to sexual harassment in Egypt. 

Unicef says female genital mutilation is endemic with 91% of women and girls subject to cutting. Only Djibouti has a higher rate - 93%.

During the Mubarak dictatorship, his wife, Suzanne, oversaw a programme to try to eliminate the practice.

Funding for this has fallen since he was overthrown.

Iraq is considered the second worst place to be a woman in the Arab world.

Domestic abuse and prostitution rates have soared as a consequence of the upheavals wrought by war.

Saudi Arabia continues to be the only Arab state where women are not allowed to drive, but the poll suggests cautious reforms are having an effect on society.

Women still need a man's permission in order to work, open a bank account, or travel abroad, but more women are studying and working.

The overthrow of the dictatorship in Tunisia has not resulted in advances for women although the country remains one of the more relatively liberal states.

Some 27% of seats in parliament are held by women, contraception is legal, but polygamy is spreading and inheritance laws continue to favour males.

The war in Syria has had a catastrophic effect on everyone but women have been especially affected by the use of rape as a weapon.

The top five places where it is best to be a woman in the Arab world are Comoros, followed by Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar.

Egypt is 22nd out of 22.

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