Pinpointing the Problem

“Pst, pst. Mashy lewahdak leh, ya gameel? Matigit awasalak, ya aasal.”(Why are you walking alone? Let me give you a ride, honey.) Catcalls are bad enough, but it could be worse: The guy may try get in a quick grope as he passes.How many women out there have suffered from situations like these?

Enter HarassMap.org. Officially launched in December, the website HarrassMap.org offers a venue for people to report specific incidents of sexual harassment by sending text messages, on Twitter or directly on the website.Each report is documented on a map of Egypt, which shows the areas where harassment incidents are concentrated.

“The main goal is to bring back public involvement because we believe that this is where social change really happens,” says Rebecca Chiao, the director and one of the founders of Harassmap.

At press time, the website — translated into Arabic, English and French — had posted more than 150 reports since the site went live.Harassment hotspots include Downtown near Tahrir Square, Mohandessin near the Shooting Club, and Nasr City in Abbas El Akkad Street. The project is nationwide, with reports posted from cities including Mahalla, Dahab, Qena, Luxor and Alexandria.Many of these reports; however, refer to incidents that occurred before the site launched.

The idea for Harassmap started with volunteers who had been working closely with the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) on its campaign against sexual harassment.Chiao designed, launched and managed ECWR’s campaign Against Sexual Harassment between 2005-2007. Noting the nation’s growing mobile market, she and other volunteers felt that technology could really take their cause to streets.

The founding team includes Engy Ghozlan, an Egyptian activist who is a member of the Sexual Harassment NGO Task Force and the 2007-2008 manager of ECWR’s campaign Against Sexual Harassment from 2007-2008; Amel Fahmy, the program officer for sexual harassment and FGM at the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) in Cairo; and Sawsan Gad, a freelance researcher.

“What really drove us to do this is the decline of public involvement in the last years,” Chiao explains. “Most of the NGOs are working on advocacy but no one is really working on public involvement.”

The activists cooperated with Nijel, a software company that has developed SMS and GIS mapping applications for social projects in Kenya and other countries.

Those reporting an incident to Harassmap by text message are asked to describe the location and what happened. Users are charged LE 1 per SMS; 30 piasters go to help fund the Harassmap project and the remainder goes to the phone company.Alternately, you can submit a report by entering the location and details directly on the website itself.

Project volunteers review each report to weed out pranks, fake incidents and generic comments about harassment.Chiao says that they do not post reports missing locations or details.The volunteers also categorize each incident by the type of harassment, including ogling, catcalls, indecent exposure and touching, among others; one report can involve multiple types of harassment.

“When you read the reports and see the comments from people,” Chiao says, “it [Sexual harassment] starts to be less abstract and more real.”

Critics say that the map is just stating the obvious, as the reports are concentrated in areas already known to be trouble spots for women.There is also the possible unintended consequence that after the scope of harassment becomes apparent, women are encouraged to avoid going out at all, rather than empowered to be active in their communities.

Chiao responds that Harassmap is not only a tool for mapping and raising awareness about sexual harassment across the country but also a tool for action.

“One of the things that frustrates me the most when I get harassed is that I feel that there is nothing I can do,” says Chiao, an American who has lived in Egypt for six years.“I am foreign so when I speak Arabic they laugh.”

When a person reports an incident via text message, he or she receives a response with tips on how to report to the authorities.The website blog also lists contact information for the ECWR and other women’s organizations that provide legal aid, psychological counseling and information on how to make a police report with lawyers.

Chiao says that geographic data collected on Harassmap will provide the backbone of an outreach program where volunteers will go door-to-door in problem areas to raise awareness of the harassment incidents reported and encourage people to take action.

“We can help make safe spaces for women,” says Chiao, adding that they talk to neighborhood shop owners and residents.

In addition to the blog, organizers say that the website will soon feature a forum where women can exchange ideas, as well as videos of self-defense techniques for women.Chiao says that Harassmap plans to eventually go global by including other Arab countries and even the United States.

Locally, Harassmap has joined forces with a number of other organizations such as the National Council for Women, and the producers of 678, a film released in December about sexual harassment.

“We are going to stay independent but we want to encourage the government and companies to get involved,” says Chiao, adding that they also wish to cooperate with the security. Ideally, Harassmap could share data about trouble spots, and officials could provide extra security so people being harassed can seek help on the spot.

Awareness is growing not just among women but men as well: Chiao says that about half of the website’s 50 volunteers are men.She says that the site has even received a report about men being harassed on the street.“I see a change in how the issue is being talked about — not a change in harassment in the street but at least it is an issue that has a name now and people can talk about it.”

Chiao acknowledges that some people still wish the issue were not being talked about, noting that Harassmap has been criticized for making the country look bad.“If I have a problem I don’t just ignore it and let it go because I am embarrassed,” she says. “We are trying to recognize that we have a situation where people who live here are not happy.”