The BBC looks at the joys of being a woman in Cairo.
Said Sadek, a sociologist from the American University in Cairo, says that the problem is deeply rooted in Egyptian society: a mixture of what he calls increasing Islamic conservatism, on the rise since the late 1960s, and old patriarchal attitudes.
“Religious fundamentalism arose, and they began to target women. They want women to go back to the home and not work.
“Male patriarchal culture does not accept that women are higher than men, because some women had education and got to work, and some men lagged behind and so one way to equalise status is to shock women and force a sexual situation on them anywhere.”
In other words, it’s hostile, and meant to suppress and subordinate.
For women – like Nancy, who lives in central Cairo – it is a question of freedom.
“I want to walk safely and like a human being. Nobody should touch or harass me – that’s it.”
That is, indeed, exactly it.