Engy Ghozlan
| Engy Ghozlan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1985 (age 31–32) Cairo, Egypt |
| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Alma mater | Cairo University |
| Occupation | Social activist and journalist |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Known for | Action against sexual harassment of women in Egypt |
Engy Ayman Ghozlan (Arabic: إنجي أيمن غزلان ; born 1985) is a social activist and journalist who highlights problems of sexual harassment of women in the streets of Egypt. Starting in 2005, she was a project manager at the NGO known as the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR) and actively pursued efforts to make Egypt safe for women. She is known as the "voice and face" of efforts to eradicate sexual harassment of women in Egypt.
Ghozlan is also the co-founder of HarassMap, established in 2010, a voluntary organization that uses digital and online technology to report incidents of sexual harassment of women in Egypt. After the initial launch of HarassMap through ECWR, Ghozlan and her co-founder, Rebecca Chiao, left ECWR to run HarassMap independently.
Engy Ghozlan was born in Cairo in 1985. She attended Cairo University, earning a bachelor's degree in mass communication in 2007. She personally underwent the trauma of sexual harassment silently, but then took action to address the issue. She then joined the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, which was spearheading the campaign against sexual harassment of women.
In 2005 the ECWR piloted a study to collect data on the scope of the issue. The survey, which covered 2,800 women in Cairo and in five other Egyptian governates (provinces), revealed that 33% of women faced sexual harassment on a daily basis which they did not report, as they feared the societal values in Egypt would not support them. The survey also showed that some women blamed themselves for such harassment. Sexual harassment was defined as "inappropriate touching" (40% of respondents) and "verbal taunts" (30% of all respondents). A follow-up survey of men showed that two-thirds of respondents "admitted to routinely harassing women". ECWR has pursued the passage of anti-harassment laws, but HarassMap was of the opinion that existing laws were not implemented properly.
During 2008 Ghozlan engaged in a widespread media campaign called "Making Egypt's Streets Safe for All". She gave interviews online, on television, and in newspapers to bring awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment to the Egyptian public, as the country lacks a "clear, legal definition" of the term. She is known for her forthrightness, as she replied to a Middle East Online interviewer who quoted the Ministry of Interior statistic that 20,000 women are raped annually in Egypt that the figure was more likely 200,000, as most attacks are not reported.
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