It is no secret that being a woman in Egypt is hard, let alone being a female journalist. In a country where women face cemented social stigmas and near-constant harassment on the streets, and where critical journalism is suppressed by official intimidation, aggression and imprisonment, being a female reporter is certainly a multi-layered challenge.

The latest rounds of Tahrir Square protests in November and December were marred by violent clashes between authorities and protesters. In November in particular, tear-gas laden fighting on Mohamed Mahmoud Street brought forth horrifying accounts of police brutality, leaving at least 38 people dead and over 3,000 injured. Last month, a sit-in at the Parliament building turned bloody, with numerous videos and images showing people in military uniforms brutally beating protesters, men and women of all ages.

November’s violence was also paired with numerous firsthand reports of sexual assaults against female journalists on the square — reports that were nearly unheard of during the early days of the revolution in January.

Egyptian-American Mona Eltahawy, an award-winning columnist on Arab and Muslim issues, was arrested while covering the clashes; during her arrest by riot police, she suffered a brutal sexual and physical assault that left her left hand and right arm broken.

After her release, she described the incident on Twitter: “Five or six surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count of how many hands tried to get into my trousers.”

French journalist Caroline Sinz, covering the protests for state television channel France 3, told the news service AFP that she had been violently beaten by a mob of young men in the square and sexually molested in a way that “would be considered rape.”

American-Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim was arrested while filming a ceasefire between military personnel, central security forces and protesters; she reported that she was released unharmed.

Among the more disturbing images from the December clashes included those of female protesters stripped of their clothing and being dragged through the streets by the hair.

These accounts of violence and intimidation of women and journalists are just part of the many unreported incidents that occur in Egypt while reporting, protesting or simply being a woman.

“What happened to Mona Eltahawy was really shocking in that Egyptian policemen or officers working in a police station could behave in such a way — regarding a human being, regarding a female, a citizen, a female journalist,” says Soazig Dollet from the Middle East and North Africa desk of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), adding, “but at that time for me she [was] a human being, not a journalist.”

After the assaults became public, RSF issued a statement that international news media should not send women reporters to Cairo, which was later retracted after the stance drew heavy criticism.

Other human rights and media freedom organizations condemned the events and demanded that authorities investigate these cases.

“That entire situation is aggravated by the fact that the authorities do not take these cases [of attacks on journalists] seriously and don’t investigate them in a way that would create a deterrent,” says Mohamed Abdel Dayem, head of the Middle East and North Africa program of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an organization promoting press freedom worldwide.

Abdel Dayem says it is very important to independently document and highlight these violations while calling on authorities to investigate them.

“It is very straightforward. There has to be an accounting for these acts regardless of who commits them,” he explains. “This issue ought not to be politicized […] it doesn’t matter who did it, what matters is that you hold anybody who violates the law in that [manner] accountable, and currently that is not happening.”

Abdel Dayem says that these types of attacks are not a post-revolution issue. “Sexual violence against female journalists — and, sadly, against women in general whether they are protestors or otherwise — has been used regularly and was documented by CPJ and others as a tool used by authorities to repress critical reporting,” he notes, adding that to view it out of context and cover it as a new phenomenon since 2011 does the issue a disservice.

These tactics were constantly used throughout the past decade by security forces, says Abdel Dayem, to silence journalists and especially female journalists.

On May 25, 2005, Egyptians who went out to protest amendments to Article 76 of the Constitution, governing presidential elections, were severely brutalized by police.

Women protesters were targeted for sexual assault by the authorities, with numerous reports of women in the crowd having their clothes ripped and stripped down to their underwear.

Dalia El Akkad, a reporter for the Arabic print daily Al-Shorouk, was just starting her journalism career at the time and was sent to observe the protests by the Journalists Syndicate.

She vividly recalls the mass harassment and violence of the demonstration.

 “We had two generals standing next to us, and we could see the thugs hired by the Interior Ministry starting to attack the demonstrators, and we were in the middle of the violence and beating and screaming,” she says. “One general was telling security not to help us and nobody wanted to help us. […] I was lucky that one of the security men took my hand and got me out of there. I was really lucky to get out of it, I just left and didn’t look behind.”

A DAILY STRUGGLE
The debate on whether international news organizations should send foreign female journalists to report in Egypt actually accentuates the challenges of being a local female journalist reporting here.

These women must overcome not only the same obstacles facing their male colleagues, but many more issues related to their gender.

“These women are reporting in an environment that has already very aggressively pursued journalists who crossed perceived red lines, […] then on top of that, they are women and they are subjected to an additional level of violence, specifically sexual violence, harassment or sexual assault in the really bad cases,” says Abdel Dayem. “So obviously it’s already a bad situation.”

 Dollet from RSF notes that, generally speaking, local reporters have been targeted by authorities more than other journalists reporting in Egypt, and the pressure is worse for local women.

“Egyptian female reporters, of course, are more exposed [to pressure] than males, at least in public spaces I would say. In the streets it is true that a female will be exposed but it is not because they are journalists, it is because they are female,” she says.

Even still, she adds, “That doesn’t mean that female journalists shouldn’t go to Egypt and carry out investigation during the revolution.

Female journalists should play a big role in Egypt today and in the future […] they have a key role to play in the coming democracy in Egypt, so carry on with your work.”

The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) says that men’s perceptions about women are another challenge. “Women journalists face specific challenges that their male colleagues don’t face when working in volatile or high conflict areas, because they are perceived as more vulnerable and as intruders in an arena dominated by men,” says executive director Liza Gross, who also notes that violence against female journalists is unfortunately not a new development.

Local female journalists tend to focus on the general challenges of being a reporter but are also aware of the problems they face as women. Manar Ammar, a reporter with the news website Bikya Masr says a big issue is getting easy access to information and to politicians.

“It is still uneasy to ask many questions as a woman or take pictures in the street,” Ammar adds.

“Sexual harassment is a huge issue on the street, journalist or not. As a woman you are guaranteed to face different degrees of harassment, either alone or with others.”

Abeer Saady, vice chairman of the Journalists Syndicate, also points out that all local journalists face problems in the field, regardless of their gender. She notes that 43% of members are female and predicts that percentage will get larger. “We are not a minority,” she says.

“They are equal and sometimes have an even better resistance in covering some issues.”

THE SOCIAL STIGMA
Challenges might come with the job but nevertheless, female journalists have to overcome the societal stereotypes about women.

Lara El Gibaly, a former Egypt Today intern and now a freelance journalist working with news outlets such The New York Times and Al Jazeera English, says there is definitely a patriarchal stereotype that women can’t do a job exactly as men can.

She does note, however, that not every person treats her that way and thus far she has never sensed she was genuinely at risk while reporting. In fact, being female has sometimes worked to her advantage as she often finds that people try to help her and offer protection.

Nevertheless, El Gibaly has had awkward encounters.

She recalls a day when she had to report from the rooftop of a Downtown building. She was the only female present, and people asked her to cover her hair with the hood of her jacket so as not to offend the more religiously conservative men on the roof. “In those situations, I just feel like I am just here to do my job as a human being, not in my capacity as woman. I am not a representative of the gender,” she says. “It is almost like being a woman is automatically a taboo. It makes me uncomfortable but I realized that is something that comes with the job.”

 For Omnia El Dessouki, a journalist with the English-language Daily News Egypt, the social challenges and harassment are expected in an “environment that barely believes in women’s capabilities to do their job.” She points out that journalists are called upon to do things that many people feel a single woman should not do, such as going to places unescorted, going home late at night or commuting to cities outside of Cairo.

El Dessouki says the most important challenge is to find people willing to talk to her. “I was once reporting from Alexandria, and a man who was a bit conservative was leading a mob to throw me out of the area. It has happened a lot that people would not be interested to talk to me because I am female. […] I was told a number of times to go and marry instead of working,” she says, adding that these comments are discouraging for any person trying to do their job.

The IWMF’s Gross notes that female journalists in more conservative societies face rejection from their families or spouses who disapprove of the woman engaging in what is considered “a masculine occupation.”

Al Shorouk’s El Akkad is a case in point, and the reporter recalls how her parents initially thought that being a journalist gives an Egyptian woman a bad reputation.

“A lot of people do think this way, but I was able to convince [my parents] that this was wrong. It was a challenge and they accepted it. After I graduated from university, they realized that being a full-time journalist would make me travel and go home late at night […] and they didn’t appreciate it,” she says adding that her parents now understand how important her job is.

El Akkad also says sexist attitudes in the newsroom mean many men are favored to do the job, especially for higher positions.

“There is also this conception among most Egyptian editors or managers that a woman won’t be able to work like a man, but we proved them wrong,” she says, recalling the many days where female reporters reported from amid the protests in and around Tahrir Square just as effectively as their male colleagues.

The press syndicate’s Saady says women have yet to find opportunities for women to be editor-in-chief of national newspapers.

Nevertheless, she says, “These women pledged to work anywhere and insist on working. I don’t think gender can prevent them for doing their job [as journalists].”

Saady notes that being a female journalist can be an advantage in Egypt, especially when it comes to getting stories in Upper Egypt or Sinai where there are communities that men cannot access.

Dollet from RSF also believes that female and male journalists are complementary. “There are many things that a female journalist can do and a man will never be able to do,” she says. “So keep women on the ground and on the field. There is a clear added value of being a female journalist.”

RISKY BUSINESS
Many international news organizations arrange safety and survival training for journalists heading off to report in war zones and other dangerous or hostile environments. In Egypt, however, that type of training is almost nonexistent.
   
Al Shorouk’s El Akkad and Daily News Egypt’s El Dessouki say they have both taken safety training. Al Akkad sought out the training herself at an organization that trains journalists.

El Dessouki, who took her course in October as part of a fellowship with the Global Post, says the best training is firsthand experience, something she has amassed plenty of while covering protests this year.

Freelancers, however, have not had access to safety training. Ammar says that although she didn’t receive guidance she has taken advice from friends who were put in dangerous situations. A recent graduate from the American University in Cairo, El Gibaly has also not received any security training, noting that nobody anticipated what was going to happen in Tahrir Square.

Acknowledging the changing media environment in Egypt, Saady says that the press syndicate has launched training for Egyptian reporters so that they know how to report in risky situations.

The syndicate is helping news organizations provide staff with safety equipment such as flak jackets.

“Women should fight to get training, if they want to be able to direct investigations on the ground, to be able to go to dangerous zones,” says Dollet from RSF who has signed up to attend training offered by the French Army in France. “If female journalists want to report in Egypt, they should be able to do it and get training.”

While the CPJ’s Abdel Dayem thinks it is always a good idea to have security training for journalists, he thinks it is up to the journalist to decide on where to report. He notes that you cannot generalize about how dangerous a location might be for reporting.

He cites the example of Tahrir Square where the risk is not constant. Protests there often go days or weeks without incident, then flare up unexpectedly.

“It’s a dangerous job as we all know, that’s why organizations like mine exist to make it a little bit less dangerous for […] every journalist,” he says, adding that journalists have to make decisions about their own safety on a daily basis even if they might not be aware of it. “The idea of developing a security protocol is a good one, and one that ought to be encouraged, but it needs to always happen within the framework of having the journalist and the news organization be the sole arbiter of what is and what isn’t an acceptable level of risk.”

The interest in security training is a new development based on recent events, with several reporters noting that no one predicted the violent outbreaks of the revolution.

“The important point we ought to focus on,” Abdel Dayem says, “is that, yes, unfortunately female journalists in a place like Egypt, especially [during the latest violent clashes] when there were a lot of attacks on journalists, face an additional layer of danger.”

Despite these possible risks, women journalists in Egypt have not had their final say on the subject — or any other topic worth covering, for that matter.

El Akkad says women journalists have to challenge the image people have of them and not allow themselves to be pigeon-holed into working on only certain stories.

“They have to show that there won’t be any difference,” she says. “[I]f you keep thinking you are a woman so can’t do this or that then you are adding to the bad image men have of you.”

 El Gibaly points out that there are a lot of women who report in much worse situations than Tahrir Square. “People have to keep doing their job,” she says. “It is a trade-off in your mind. You need to be aware of the risk, but that doesn’t mean it should scare you into staying at home.” et