A new campaign in Egypt for raising awareness on domestic violence has been launched by UN Women. Billboards have been put up in key locations to shed light on the issue that affects many Egyptian women, especially in rural areas.
Billboards in Cairo are part of an advertising and social media campaign that looks to end domestic violence. Launched by the United Nations, the initiative is dubbed ‘Mateskotosh’ ‘meaning speak up…as part of the campaign, the this television commercial shows a woman beaten by her husband choosing to keep silent. Residents of Cairo are already making conversation around the campaign.
“Many women are facing this. Through personal experience I know many women who are facing this issue. This issue has increased divorce rates greatly in Egypt.” Heba Badr El Din, Pedestrian
The biggest problem the campaign has encountered is that many women are still not aware that this kind of treatment is considered to be abusive. According to Amnesty International and the United Nations, over 30 percent of women have faced physical, including sexual, spousal violence over their lifetime. This campaign aims to highlight the fact that despite recurring violent episodes for some women, many stay silent and refuse to report it.
“We have spent the last three years understanding the situation and working with partners who I clarified. The more you work on the issue the more you know that the issue has to be publicised extensively, not only through workshops or meetings. The issue has to be publicised so that people know that it exists so that we start figuring out what the solutions are and who can provide them, how we can work and co-ordinate together to solve this problem.” Noha Saad, UN Women Representative
In a study conducted in 2013 by the UN more than 99 percent of women and girls in the country reported being subjected to sexual harassment with the number of sexual assaults in public continuously soaring.
