Cairo: To curb sexual harassment, which is rampant in Egyptian megacities, a moderate Islamist party launched an initiative called “Transportation that respects women”.
While the party’s idea is still in the experimental phase, the system has started on a small scale in two places.
In front of Cairo University, where hundreds of students spill out into the streets after finishing their lectures, and on the corner of Abbas Al Aqqad Street, in the upper-middle class neighbourhood of Nasr City, driver’s assistants call out loudly “Women only”, while expertly hanging out the door of a microbus.
As they repeat the call, women start piling up to board the microbus, labelled with a bright orange banner reading: “Transportation for women only, by the Strong Egypt Party.”
Female commuters have a very tough time travelling safely, says Fatma Badr, the mastermind behind the initiative and one of the party’s founders.
“We have to squeeze our way through a crowd, particularly in rush hour,” Fatma said. “Otherwise, we’d be waiting around for hours trying to find vacant seats.”
“Women-only microbuses offer an alternative to a public transport system that is failing to provide a basic, respectable method of transport which meets women’s needs,” she said.
According to a government study at Cairo and Monufiya universities, female passengers constitute a vulnerable segment of the population, with 68 percent of the women questioned saying they had been subjected to either verbal or physical harassment.
Egypt’s first women-only taxi service started officially in the coastal cities in July, 2011. The Local Development Minister, Mohamed Attia, said that a private company has been assigned to implement this important project, to offer female-only clients a reliable taxi services.
However, the project has triggered controversy among women. While, some women welcome the ‘female taxis’ as a harassment-free mode of transport, others say it fuels discrimination against women and perpetuates their status as second-class citizens.
Raniya Megahid, a women’s rights activist has chided Minister Attia for delaying the taxi project for exclusively serving the fairer sex, saying that the new service will further protect women.
“The project means more protection and security for women,” she said, adding that she approves the project, which proved to be a success in a number of Arab countries such as Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Lebanon.
Raniya argued that a female taxi service provides safe transport for women, who may have concerns about using traditional private hire or taxi services.
She said that female taxi services are operated by female drivers, who have a policy of carrying female passengers only.
Rasha Madbouli, a university student, said that she welcomed the project because it would offer a form of protection for women who face sexual harassment on public transport.
“This project is the best way to protect women against harassment. It could provide safety and security for Egyptian women,” Rasha said.
Some rights and women’s groups, however, have criticized the idea of women-only transport, citing concerns about gender segregation.
Nehad Aboul Komsan, head of the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, strongly criticizes the segregated transport plan, describing it as “moving cages for women.”
“The women-only transport concept paves the way for the marginalisation of women in society and is detrimental to the recent progress Egyptian women have been striving to achieve,” Nehad said.
The rights advocate and lawyer points out that a short-sighted implementation of women-only public transport ultimately creates a deepening, long-term social issue.
“The exclusion of men from public transport cars provides a superficial solution and does not address the fundamental problem we are confronting,” Nehad explained.
On all Cairo metro trains, the middle two cars — the fourth and the fifth — are allocated to women, as a way of confronting sexual harassment. However, women still have the right to share other train cars with men.
The Egyptian Railway Authority followed in the footsteps of the metro last February by providing women-only train cars. It enforced women’s-only train cars on several popular routes to and from the capital. Three Trains connecting Cairo with Alexandria, Zagazig and Al Qanater Al Khaireyah boasted the first exclusive cars for women. However, the policy failed due to a lack of control and monitoring.
In 2008, a court dismissed a lawsuit filed by two lawyers demanding the cancellation of women-only cars on the grounds that such segregation constituted a violation of gender equality.
The court ruled that reserving cars for women did not fall under its jurisdiction, adding that Islamic law puts an emphasis on respecting women, which obligates the state to secure them.
- Ayman Sharaf is a journalist based in Cairo
