Tess Woodcraft writes:  Women were actively involved in the Arab Spring in Egypt in 2011, standing alongside men in Tahrir Square, central participants in their country’s revolution. [See interview with Nawal el Sadawi].

Two years later, there is a concerted effort from some quarters, to frighten them off the streets and back into the home.  A growing number of women in Tahrir Square have been sexually harassed and even raped. Surrounded by groups of men, they have been insulted, touched and attacked.

Nevertheless, women still go regularly to the Square to express their views.  Before, it was to protest at the Mubarak regime, now it is to challenge the direction of the government of Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood (or Freedom and Justice Party as it is called).  I have recently been in Cairo and talked to women activists there. [Tahrir women activists]

There is a general agreement that the attacks are endorsed, and might even be initiated by the government of Mohamed Morsi, many of whose supporters believe that women should not be involved in political activity, that their voices should not be heard:

The Human Rights Committee of Egypt’s Shuria Council has said it is the female protesters who are to blame because they put themselves in this situation.  This judgement has effectively closed the door on any sort of legal redress for the victims of sexual assault in Tahrir Square.

But if they think this will deter Egyptian women from participating, it looks as if they are wrong. There appears to have been no fall in the number of women taking part in the protests, and a women’s march in January saw many women take to the streets for the first time

Demonstrations calling for women to have the freedom of the streets have attracted thousands, in the square itself people take action to protect each other and stay safe.  And women still ask their sisters to be part of making the new Egypt.

Pod Academy will be keeping you posted on developments in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East (see, for example, Tanjil Rashid’s interview with Michael Binyon about Syria).