Topic: Workplace Sexual Harassment
Country: Egypt
Delegate Name: Isabella Grunwaldt
School: East Grand Rapids High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Egypt position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
In the last year or two, the trend of the #MeToo movement has influenced many women around the globe to come out with their stories and to hold their oppressors accountable for their actions. As many as 80% of women around the world are sexually harassed in the workplace. In the past, Egypt has not had many policies in place to protect women in the workplace. Egypt understands that it has met accusations of sexual harassment with silence, and hasty decision making by the courts. Egypt is still working on combating this silence, as it is a highly uncomfortable topic to begin with, and should be treated with careful precision. Egypt knows that mainly women are the ones harassed in cases of sexual harassment in the workplace, but Egypt doesn’t have a working system in place to prevent this treatment. A study done in 2013 shows that 99% of women in Egypt are subjected to harassment. When interviewed, 70% of women from Cairo said they were sexually harassed at work (Ezzat). Egypt acknowledges that this number is probably lower than the truth as the culture of silence pervades Egypts society. Many women who do report sexual harassment are often at the mercy of their attackers, their bosses, and coworkers. In some cases, the women who report sexual harassment end up in prison (Raghavan), which Egypt understands is not the right answer. Egypt acknowledges all of this and that the rest of the world seems to be moving toward reform in this area, but Egypt would move to keep Egypt out of any severe changes. Egypt doesn’t want to do any radical change making because Egypt wants to not inspire any more powerful societal divisions. Egypt would like to instead add more educational opportunities in schools and workplaces to try and change this cultural bias of silence. Egypt will not interfere with other countries if they promote surpluses of changes, but Egypt asks to stay out of it. Egypt can see the desire for change and the progress being made towards this social reform, but Egypt can not partake in the extreme changes other countries might want to take part in. Egypt will not support such changes as more laws protecting women from being unjustly thrown in prison when holding perpetrators accountable, as this could inspire uprisings two much for the country to handle at the moment.
Works Cited
Ezzat, Mona. "Egypt: Sexual harassment, a silent stalker at the workplace." Al Bawaba, 29 Sept. 2015, www.albawaba.com/business/egypt-sexual-harassment-silent-stalker-workplace-748642. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018. Raghavan, Sudarsan, and Heba F. Mahfouz. "In Egypt, a #MeToo complaint can land a woman in jail." Washington Post, 25 Oct. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-egypt-a-metoo-complaint-can-land-a-woman-in-jail/2018/10/24/3a2fe5a0-d6db-11e8-a10f-b51546b10756_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.dd14b63ad693. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
