Women in Egypt are often subject to violence not only from family members and community members, but also by institutions of the state. ِAdditionally, women are constantly subjected to violence in the form of sexual harassment and abuse on the street, and approximately 97% of Egyptian women are the victims of female genital mutilation (FGM). Violence against women (VAW) is thus a structural issue in Egypt that deprives women of equal participation in the public and political life, as well as a chance to change the conditions that perpetuate this situation.

The Woman and Development association has therefore chosen, through the realization of a diagnosis, to analyze women’s awareness of the violence they suffer from, what mechanisms of protection are available to them, and men’s involvement in combatting VAW. The diagnosis will be conducted in 3 districts of the Alexandria Governorate (Montazah, East, and West). The targeted area has been chosen because of its population density, the many cases of VAW that have been reported to these districts legal departments, the spread and the growing influence of an extremist religious discourse that targets women specifically. Entities such as the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Faculty of Social Service in the University of Alexandria, two media, one religious authority, one local authority and one association will be consulted to elaborate the diagnosis. These entities will constitute the nucleus of the local cluster of gender equality actors© mobilized by Woman and Development to implement the diagnosis.

Several activities are planned in the first semester of 2018, such as a number of open discussion meetings in order to obtain inputs and ideas on the level of women’s awareness of violence, the analysis of the collected data and recordings, and the holding of a conference to announce the results of the diagnosis.

The Woman and Development association was selected following a call for applications launched by the Foundation in 2017 to mobilize the actors of gender equality at a local level (3rd edition) in 2018. The diagnosis on protection mechanisms and men’s involvement in combatting VAW in Alexandria will be published in the documentary center of the platform and widely disseminated at a Euro-Mediterranean level. Woman and Development’s action is part of the project "Strengthening the capacity of equality actors" funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and coordinated by the IEMed in synergy with the FFEM.

This action also falls under the framework of the project "Developing women’s empowerment", labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean.

For more information on the local clusters of gender equality actors set up by the Foundation, click here.