More Women on Motorcycles and Scooters Are Hitting the Roads in Egypt
New Age Islam News Bureau
14
Aug 2020
•
Ghani Forms A ‘Women Council’ In Palace To ’Empower’ Women
•
US Firm to Train Saudi Female Graduates on Cybersecurity
•
US Embassy Sets Up Academy for UAE Women Entrepreneurs
•
Legislative Women’s Caucus to Involve Religious Groups in Bid to Pass Sexual
Violence Bill
•
Conflicting Tan Lines: The Burkini Raises Debate In Egypt
•
Bereaved Women March against Violence in Israel’s Arab Communities
•
Tunisian Women's Day: "Gender Equality, An Essential Condition for
Democracy"
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/more-women-motorcycles-scooters-hitting/d/122625
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More Women on Motorcycles and Scooters Are Hitting the Roads in Egypt
August
13, 2020
Dosy
has taught hundreds of women how to ride motor scooters and bicycles since it
launched last year.
-----
(CNN)On
the congested streets of Cairo, Egypt's capital city, rider Dina Wassef is
mounting a motorcycle, presenting a rare sight.
With
a population of 104 million, Egypt is a conservative country where it is
uncommon for women to be spotted on motorcycles.
Wassef
learned to ride bikes in 2008, challenging the trend in the North African
country that excluded women from doing certain things like publicly riding motorcycles
and bicycles.
She
was among the first women in Egypt to publicly ride a motorbike, according to a
report in the Women of Egypt Mag.
The
35-year-old told CNN that her inspiration to get a motorcycle was as a result
of landing a sales job with Harley-Davidson, an American-owned motorcycle
manufacturer.
"When
I started at Harley-Davidson in Egypt, I was very intrigued about the
motorcycles I was supposed to be selling. I kept wondering, how can I convince
people to buy the motorcycle if I am not riding it?" she said.
"I
decided to start training on how to ride with the house trainer. I took lessons
after work, and during my break time. I purchased my first motorcycle in 2009
and I customized it," she added.
In
2010, Wassef started riding publicly. She said it was so unusual to see a woman
riding a bike at the time that many people stopped to take photos with her.
"In
the streets, people were surprised to see me riding. Every time I wore the
helmet and turned on the engine I knew the show was about to begin. I used to
enjoy watching people's faces smiling and waving at me," she said.
Motorbike
riding groups emerge
But
compared to when Wassef first started riding bikes, there are now more women
riders on the streets of Egypt, and groups teaching and encouraging them to
ride various kinds of motorbikes.
Let's
Scoot, a scooter movement for women in Alexandria, was created in 2014 and is
teaching them to ride motor scooters.
A
motor scooter is like a regular motorcycle but with smaller wheels and engine.
Similarly,
the Egyptian Women Riders club, which Wassef is a part of, is an all-female
motorcycle club that encourages women across the country to take trips on
motorcycles.
Maggie
Mamdouh, a scooter training instructor based in Cairo, says one of the primary reasons
women are now hitting the roads with motorcycles and scooters is to manage the
city's chaotic traffic.
"Motorbikes
and scooters are a fast and affordable way to reach your destination because
Egypt is a bit crowded," she told CNN.
According
to a report by the World Bank, traffic volumes are in the range of 3,000 to
7,000 vehicles per hour on major corridors in cities like Cairo, Giza, and
Qalyub.
The
report adds that as a result of poor traffic management and poor road networks,
road trips in the country can take more than double the expected time.
Mamdouh
told CNN that women like her are leaning toward scooters and bicycles as they
can easily maneuver small spaces in traffic, reaching their destination faster
compared to cars.
"With
my scooter, I can reach my destination half an hour before cars if the road is
crowded and if it is rush hour," she explained.
The
26-year-old is an instructor with Dosy, a bicycle and scooter training
platform. She learned to ride scooters in 2017 from a friend and is now
teaching other women to do the same.
'Women
should do whatever they want'
Menna
Farouk, co-founder of Dosy, told CNN that women who are eager to learn how to
ride are in large numbers in Egypt.
She
said she created her startup in 2019 with her sister Nouran after the duo
realized there weren't enough female instructors to teach these women.
"We
wanted to learn to ride scooters but we didn't find any nearby instructors in
Cairo. That was when we realized that there is a low supply of instructors and
a high demand for people willing to learn how to ride. So, we decided to launch
this platform to hire women as scooter instructors to fill the gap,"
Farouk said.
With
15 instructors in Alexandria and Cairo, the startup now offers a variety of
lessons for fees ranging from 300 Egyptian pounds (about $18) to 1,800 Egyptian
pounds (about $112).
According
to Farouk, in the first month that Dosy started 300 women showed interest in
learning how to ride bicycles and scooters. And since then, the team has trained
1,000 women.
Even
though more women are taking interest in riding bicycles and scooters, it is
still considered unusual in Egypt, Farouk said.
Through
startups like hers, the 27-year-old is hoping such cliches are no longer held
as the norm.
"One
of our aims is to smash these stereotypes about women riding scooters and
bicycles. And convince society that women should do whatever they want,
including riding bicycles," she said.
Wassef
who has been riding a motorcycle for about 12 years now, says women interested
in learning should do so regardless of societal stereotypes.
She
added that people will eventually get used to seeing them hitting the roads
with bikes.
"Every
woman who has the idea in mind should make it happen. Go get your bike, life is
too short."
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/africa/egypt-women-bike-riders/index.html
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Ghani
Forms A ‘Women Council’ In Palace To ’Empower’ Women
13
Aug 2020
President
Ghani ordered the establishment of a high council dedicated to women
------
President
Ghani ordered the establishment of a high council dedicated to women, ARG
announced in a decree signed by the President on Thursday.
The
order to form a women high council with the collaboration of domestic and
international partners in a belief to empower them was signed by the president,
Palace said in a statement.
According
to the decree signed by Ghani, the Ministry of Women Affairs together with the
Administrative Office of the President will take forward the secretariat
affairs of the council.
Members
of this council will be the provincial women deputies, women rights defenders, civil
society members and female representatives from governmental and
non-governmental organizations.
https://www.khaama.com/ghani-signed-a-decree-for-establishing-a-women-council-876876/
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US
Firm to Train Saudi Female Graduates On Cybersecurity
August
5, 2020
Saudi
cybersecurity graduates
------
THUWAL,
Saudi Arabia — King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has roped in
RSA, an American computer and network security company with a focus on
encryption and encryption standards, to train Saudi female graduates on
cybersecurity as it seeks to promote gender diversity in Saudi cybersecurity
sector and arm participants with the skills and knowledge required to obtain
careers in the local market.
As
part of KAUST’s Early Career Accelerator Program, female students will be
trained by RSA about security, governance, risk, and compliance.
“Historically,
there have been limited opportunities available to women in the cybersecurity
workforce in the Middle East; it’s time for this to change,” said Samer Samman,
chief human resources officer at KAUST.
“The
initiative launched by the Saudi National Cybersecurity Agency at the Global
Cybersecurity Forum earlier this year, to support women participating in the
cybersecurity field, is one of many initiatives that demonstrate the Kingdom’s
commitment to increase female participation in the workforce as part of Vision
2030. We stand beside the NCA as a pioneer for this kind of program in Saudi
Arabia and hope that our ECAP for women in cybersecurity inspires and
complements many other similar initiatives.”
The
inaugural program has seen four female graduates from Prince Mugrin University
(PMU) in Madinah complete formal training in integrated risk management Over
the next 12-18 months, the graduates will continue to receive ongoing mentoring
and on-the-job support, from both KAUST and RSA, as they put their training
into practice to help protect the university from a range of digital risks.
“I
believe Saudi women have a vital role to play in both meeting Vision 2030 and
defending our country against cyber-attacks,” commented Baheyah Al Akhdhar, a
program participant.
“To
anyone considering applying to take part in the KAUST ECAP for Women in
Cybersecurity, or other similar initiatives around the Kingdom, I would say
that cybersecurity is an industry where you can quickly make a positive impact
on your organization, society, and country.”
The
ECAP is anticipated to be an ongoing initiative, with each program running for
two years and between four to eight female graduates taking part in each
intake. The aim is to give participants exposure to different areas of
information security risk management, which will help them go on to secure
roles in local organizations’ cybersecurity, compliance, or risk teams.
Participants
will also receive fully-funded training from RSA on the tools, which are used
by the KAUST CGAR team to manage governance, risk and compliance (GRC)
processes.
“We
believe it is essential that cybersecurity companies such as RSA support
initiatives that bridge the cyber skills gap, to set an example for the wider
technology industry,” said Gennaro Scalo, EMEA director of GRC at RSA Security.
“I
am proud to be part of a team within RSA with equal male and female
representation and delighted to see these young Saudi women paving a way for
this to become an industry norm, not an outlier.”
Ayad
Sleiman, head of information security at KAUST adds: “Having led a team without
any female representation for many years, I am personally thrilled to have had
a hand in launching this program and welcome the four graduates to my team.
Initiatives such as this mark an important milestone in the journey to both
empower Saudi women and increase the human capital in cybersecurity.”
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/596283/SAUDI-ARABIA/KAUST-ropes-in-US-firm-to-train-female-graduates-on-cybersecurity
--------
US
Embassy sets up academy for UAE women entrepreneurs
August
13, 2020
Dubai:
The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi is bringing its Academy of Women Entrepreneurs
(AWE) programme to the UAE through a partnership with startAD and Zayed
University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre.
AWE
UAE aims to work with women entrepreneurs to develop their business resilience
and then offer them the opportunity to grow. It is designed to be fully virtual
and fit the schedules of business owners. Taking place in two phases, with 21
virtual sessions over six months, participants will be trained to recreate
value for their companies, build innovation capabilities, create customized
business continuity plans to update ventures for the new market conditions, and
reset paths to profitability.
In
addition, entrepreneurs will receive support from talented interns and benefit
from mentorship and connections to fuel their economic potential. The programme
will conclude on International Women’s Day 2021, where participants will
showcase business concepts to potential partners and investors.
A
virtual information session for interested applicants will be held on September
16, while applications are open for female entrepreneurs aged 28 to 55 years
and based in the UAE until October 3.
https://gulfnews.com/business/company-releases/us-embassy-sets-up-academy-for-uae-women-entrepreneurs-1.1597310109410
--------
Legislative
Women’s Caucus to Involve Religious Groups In Bid To Pass Sexual Violence Bill
August
14, 2020
The
Legislative Women’s Caucus (KPP-RI) plans to engage religious organizations as
campaigners in an effort to push the House of Representatives to pass the
long-awaited sexual violence eradication bill into law.
"They
can come from any religion, be it Islam or not Islam. It's time for religious
organizations to take a part in the struggle," KPP-RI general-secretary
Luluk Nur Hamidah said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.
The
KPP-RI is currently preparing strategies to include the bill in next year's
National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) priority list, after being excluded
from the 2020 list at the instigation of conservative elements in the House.
In
addition to involving religious group members in the fight to endorse the bill,
the KPP-RI also plans to lobby leaders of various political parties to support
the deliberation of the bill next year.
Luluk
said it aimed to gather five members of each political party faction at the
House to join in proposing that the bill be included in next year's Prolegnas.
She is hopeful that a number of factions will join in the efforts.
Lawmakers
excluded the bill from the 2020 priority list during a meeting of the House
Legislation Body (Baleg) in late May, claiming the deliberation of the bill was
"complicated". Activists bristled at the excuse, describing it as
lazy and ignorant, as data showed high rates of sexual violence persisted in
the country.
Perpetrators
of sexual violence are usually charged under the Criminal Code (KUHP), which is
the product of colonial legislation, which activists claim is insufficient to
accommodate the needs of citizens for security and freedom from various forms
of sexual violence.
The
sexual violence eradication bill, if passed, would add forms of admissible
evidence, such as victim statements, psychological reports, electronic
information and other documents that provide an opportunity for the victim to
meet evidentiary requirements – all of which are absent from the prevailing
KUHP.
While
a number of Islamic organizations, including Nahdlatul Ulama's (NU) women wing,
Fatayat NU, voicing support for the bill, some more conservative Muslim groups,
such as the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction at the House, have
apparently expressed their opposition to the bill.
Those
who oppose it argue that the main problem of the bill is that it fails to
include adultery as a sexual crime and therefore the bill, by omission, allows
consensual sex outside of marriage and at the same time potentially
criminalizes a husband who has sex with his wife without her consent.
The
National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), which helped
in the drafting of the bill, has rejected these criticisms and says that the
bill is merely aimed at eradicating sexual violence.
The
bill was first proposed in 2016 after the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old
girl in Bengkulu. (vny)
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/08/14/female-lawmakers-to-involve-religious-groups-in-bid-to-pass-sexual-violence-bill.html
--------
Conflicting
tan lines: The burkini raises debate in Egypt
14
Aug 2020
CAIRO
(AP) — The woman accosted Yasmeen Samir as she swam with her family at a pool
in a resort on the North Coast, a stretch of Mediterranean beaches reserved for
Egypt’s upper echelons. The reason: Samir was wearing a burkini, a swimsuit
worn by conservative Muslims to cover the entire body.
Soon
other women joined in berating Samir and demanding she leave. It’s an
“eyesore,” one woman barked.
It
was supposed to be a dip in a pool to cool off from Egypt’s summer heat. But
the incident last month turned into a national debate over what women can wear
— and where — and highlighted the complicated and often contradictory pressures
of class, society and religion in the conservative, Muslim-majority country.
“I
initially panicked,” Samir told The Associated Press, but she decided to not
back down. Video of the confrontation went viral, showing Samir and her husband
standing in the pool and arguing with the women.
The
majority of women in Egypt wear a head covering and religious authorities urge
women to do so. But women who wear headscarves or the burkini face
discrimination and scorn among some upper-class circles where such dress is
seen as backwards and low-class.
Most
bars and clubs don’t allow entrance to women in headscarves, called “hijab,”
treating their presence and the serving of alcohol as mutually exclusive. In
many of the private beach communities that have spread over Egypt’s coasts,
burkinis are viewed with derision. Many private pools have a strict policy
barring swimming in clothes, which is then extended to full-body swimsuits even
if made from Lycra.
The
flip side of the divide is also fraught. At Egypt’s few public beaches, which
are frequented by lower classes, most women swim in headscarves and full-length
robes, and a woman wearing a one-piece bathing suit or a bikini would face
stares and harassment. A woman appearing on social media in a bathing suit can
face a storm of shaming insults.
Many
in the crowd that accosted Samir insisted the material of her swimsuit was
unsanitary. But she says it was obvious they were merely displeased with her
appearance.
In
the video taken by a bystander, Samir and her husband Mostafa Hassan fend off
one detractor after another. Their baby daughter was with them. Hassan later
posted the video on Facebook, where it racked up over a million views and
18,000 shares, with many users voicing support of Samir. The video was also a
subject of discussion on the country’s largest pro-government talk shows, which
came down on Samir’s side.
Samir
said she had received an outpouring of support from women online who say she’s
given them courage to swim in their own burkinis.
Doaa
Mohamed, who has worn the hijab for a decade, was once turned away from a bar
in Cairo’s posh Zamalek neighborhood. She said that often, the ban on head
coverings is thinly veiled economic discrimination.
“To
establishments, women who wear the headscarf are from low or middle classes
that (they) don’t want to serve,” Mohamed said.
An
employee from Stella Sidi Abdel Rahman resort, where the burkini incident took
place, said the resort does not have any policy against the burkini, as long as
it is made from swimwear material. Egypt’s Tourism Ministry said women who face
trouble because of their burkini should file a complaint to the ministry.
In
2017, Dina Eissa was in the pool of a resort compound in the Red Sea beach town
of Ain Sokhna, when she was asked to leave for wearing a burkini. Her family
didn’t want to make a scene, so they also told Eissa to get out of the water.
Eissa’s
entire family was gathered for the Muslim Eid holiday. “I had the right to be
in the water with my family,” she said.
Infuriated,
she went back to the pool later, sparking another uproar, but this time she
refused to leave. She wrote a widely shared post about her experience on
Facebook.
Today,
Eissa lives in Ohio where she goes for a 2,000 meter swim every week. No one
there has ever asked her to leave because of her swimwear, she says.
Class
and morality intersect in complicated and often contradictory ways in Egypt.
The lower and middle classes are expected to be more conservative, so women who
break that mold can face social condemnation — or worse.
Recently,
nine women were arrested and several were sentenced to prison terms for
damaging “family values” and “debauchery” for posting videos of themselves on
the app TikTok though none of their videos would have raised eyebrows among
upper class Egyptians.
For
women who want to wear a bathing suit, the upper-class private beach
communities — which have swallowed up most of the Mediterranean coast — are
often the only option. Some compounds are known to be more accepting of
burkinis, while others scorn them or see them as the thin edge of a wedge of
conservativism that will be intolerant of those in bathing suits.
Yet
the often cliquish and moralizing society in the compounds can also be
condemning of a woman in a bikini.
Youssra
Mohammed Hamouda, a teaching assistant at the American University of Cairo,
said she’s gotten aggressive stares at North Coast resorts when she wore a
bikini, and harassing messages when she posted a picture of herself in it on
social media. An ex-boyfriend was admonished by her relatives for letting her
wear a two-piece.
She
attributes the attitude to deeply ingrained misogynism and classism, rather
than religion.
“There
is a paternalistic class system in Egyptian society, which judges the woman on
the basis of which class she belongs to,” said Hamouda, who describes herself
as coming from a middle-class background.
In
her hijab, Doaa Mohamed has gone to clubs in several cities including
Copenhagen. No one stopped her. And in her burkini, she has gone swimming in
Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
“We
should learn to live and let live in Egypt,” she says. “I don’t really get what
this fuss is about.”
https://apnews.com/35a9e0f21bec07d343d32434880762e9
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Bereaved
Women March against Violence in Israel’s Arab Communities
MOHAMMAD
AL-KASSIM
08/13/2020
People
are ‘killed for the slightest reason,’ says Watfa Jabali, whose son was slain
before his baby daughter was old enough to speak
Arab-Israeli
women whose family members have been killed in an epidemic of violence are
walking 200 kilometers, about 125 miles, to Jerusalem in a bid to attract
attention to their communities’ plight.
Muna
Khalil, from Haifa’s Halisa neighborhood, came up with the idea for the
“Mothers for Life” march. One of the women joining her is Watfa Jabali of
Taibeh.
Knesset
Member Ayman Odeh, who heads the Joint List coalition of small Arab parties in
Israel’s parliament, is accompanying the women on their five-day journey, which
began in Haifa and is winding through towns and villages where violence is
prevalent.
Khalil’s
only son, 28-year-old Khalil, was shot and killed in June. She calls on the
police to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“The
march is to demand justice for the children of those who were murdered and to
demand that the Israeli government fulfill its legal responsibilities to pursue
criminals,” she tells The Media Line as she walks with her seven-year-old
grandson, Mohammad, Khalil’s nephew.
The
government, she adds, must “stop this illegal arms chaos and rampant crime in
the Arab communities.”
She
complains that the authorities are not doing enough.
“I
won’t stay silent. I decided to challenge the status quo and insist that the
police find out who killed my son,” she states.
Mohammad
tells The Media Line he was close to his uncle.
“He
used to teach me horseback riding. I miss him so much,” he says.
Jabali
lost her son Saad in November 2018. She tells The Media Line she is taking part
in the march so other mothers will not have to suffer.
“No
mother should have to experience what I went through,” she says. “We demand
that the police take responsibility and get the guns off the streets in order
to prevent another round of victims.”
She
fights back tears remembering her son and thinking about his three-month-old
daughter Sara.
“He
never got to hear his daughter call him daddy. He went too soon,” she laments.
“Illegal
guns are very easy to obtain in our society for both the young and the old,
[and people] are killed for the slightest reason,” she notes.
Diana
Qassem Nassar, a pharmacist and owner of the Zahr Al-Lawz children’s restaurant
in the town of Tira, hosts the marchers for lunch at her eatery.
“Mothers
going out… in this heat to deliver their message is a heroic act,” she says.
Nassar
adds that her two daughters frequently wake up to the sounds of gunfire.
“They
wake up terrified,” she says. “They wonder what’s happening. Instead of our
children falling asleep to a lullaby, they go to sleep to the sound of
bullets.”
Nassar
says she wants “a better and more generous future, society and life” for her
children.
“We
all have a stake in this,” she says.
“Violence
is increasing and there are no serious steps to stop it. That’s why we must
unite and support these mothers in their endeavor,” she says. “This is
terrorism.”
Odeh,
the parliamentarian, tells The Media Line that the violence is a serious
problem for Israel’s Arab citizens.
“These
women represent thousands of cases in Arab communities,” he states.
“There
are tens of thousands of unlicensed weapons in our villages, towns and cities.
This is organized crime,” he says, adding that the police need to do their job.
“If
they want to,” he says, “they can.”
The
Israel Police said in a recent statement that it is using all its resources to
solve these crimes, adding that members of the force do not differentiate between
violence in Arab and Jewish communities.
Odeh
acknowledges that police are not solely to blame.
“A
culture of violence is rampant in our [Arab] society, which suffers from
marginalization and is mired in poverty and high unemployment,” he says.
The
marchers will arrive in Jerusalem on Sunday to meet with President Reuven
Rivlin at his residence.
https://themedialine.org/people/bereaved-women-march-against-violence-in-israels-arab-communities/
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Tunisian
Women's Day: "Gender equality, an essential condition for democracy"
13
AUGUST 2020
"With
the promulgation of the Personal Status Code in Tunisia on 13 August 1956, the
principle of equality between men and women was established in the area of
citizenship. Since then, Tunisia has made considerable progress, particularly
in recent years, by adopting concrete measures to strengthen the role of women
and their active participation in society, especially at local level,"
welcomed Constance de Pelichy (France, EPP/CCE), South-Mediterranean Spokesperson
of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Mayor of La Ferté
St-Aubin, on the occasion of Tunisian Women's Day, on 13 August 2020.
The
Congress Spokesperson mentioned in particular the electoral law amended in 2017
and its obligations of horizontal and vertical parity which has led to 47% of
women in municipal councils and 20% of women Presidents of Councils, including
the Mayor of Tunis. "Today, Tunisia stands out as a leader in the field of
gender equality, particularly in the Arab world," she said, while calling
for continued efforts.
"The
achievement of gender equality is a sine qua non condition, not only for a true
democracy, but also for social justice and economic development of our
countries. This fight is far from being won, in Tunisia as elsewhere," the
spokesperson said, stressing the many barriers that remain against the full and
complete involvement of women in society.
https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/tunisian-women-s-day-gender-equality-an-essential-condition-for-democracy-
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/more-women-motorcycles-scooters-hitting/d/122625