HARASSmap

HARASSmap
Formation 2005
Founder Rebecca Chiao
Founded at Egypt
Type Non-profit
Purpose To try to reduce the social acceptability of sexual harassment throughout Egypt

HARASSmap is a mobile and online technology non-profit that uses interactive mapping to try to reduce the social acceptability of sexual harassment throughout Egypt.[1]

History

As of 2005, HARASSmap co-founder Rebecca Chiao began investigating the prevalence of sexual harassment in the daily life of Egyptian women and eventually, with the help of friends and volunteers, launched a campaign that would eventually be adopted by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights.[2] While these efforts were aimed towards changing sexual harassment legislation within the Egyptian government to better criminalize offences, there was a push for more urgent action. In a 2008 study conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, researchers found that out of the 1,010 women they surveyed, 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women in Egypt said they had experienced sexual harassment.[3] Deciding it was time for some on-the-ground action, Chiao and HARASSmap co-founder Engy Ghozlan decided to harness the power of a mobile friendly population and linked FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi to create the technological basis for HARASSmap.[4][5]

Founders

HARASSmap was co-founded in 2010 by Rebecca Chiao (Project Leader), Engy Ghozlan, Amel Fahmy (Principal investigator of Research Unit) and Sawsan Gad.[6]

Mission

As a volunteer-based initiative, HARASSmap aims to end the social acceptability of sexual harassment and assault in Egypt.[7] In addition to its interactive mapping service and community outreach service, HARASSmap offers self-defence classes and community education for both men and women.[8]

How it works

When someone experiences or is a witness to an incidence of sexual harassment, they can fill out an online report or send the report via SMS, e-mail, Twitter or Facebook[9] including the details of the incident as well as address, street name and public points of interest.[10] HARASSmap then verifies the reports and places them on a Google map of Egypt, which localises sexual harassment hotspots.[11] The map will show red dots where incidences of sexual harassment have taken place.

HARASSmap volunteers visit the areas where incidences have occurred to raise awareness about what constitutes sexual harassment and to work towards ending it.[12][13] By meeting with local shop owners, police officers, doormen and other public venues, the HARASSmap team is working to mobilize them to make their neighbourhoods "harassment-free zones".[14]

By autumn 2014, HarassMap had expanded to 18 governorates and was supported by 1,000 volunteers. HarassMap also worked with schools and universities on putting a stop to sexual harassment.[15]

Awards and grants

HARASSmap won the 2011 World Summit Youth Award[16] and the 2012 Deutsche Welle Best of the Blogs Award for 'Best Use of Technology for Social Good'[17] and is now an incubated social enterprise at Nahdey El Mahrousa.[18] Since HARASSmap's inception, they have been approached by activists from 25 countries for help adopting similar initiatives. In 2012, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada offered HARASSmap a grant to continue study sexual harassment in Egypt based on reports submitted by participants and gather information on the methodological issues in the collection and use of crowd sourced data.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Who we are". HARASSmap. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Who we are and why we began". HARASSmap. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  3. ↑ ""Clouds in Egypt's Sky" Sexual Harassment: from Verbal Harassment to Rape A Sociological Study". Egyptian Center for Women's Rights. United Nations Population Fund. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "How and why we began". HARASSmap. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  5. ↑ Ansari, Hina P. (February 11, 2013). "Could Mobile Technology Combat Sexual Harassment?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Our core team". HARASSmap. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "Who we are". HARASSmap. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  8. ↑ Yuce, Serpil T.; Nitin Agarwal; Rolf T. Wigand; Rebecca Robinson (May 7, 2013). "Cooperative Networks in Interorganizational Settings: Analyzing Cyber-Collective Action" (PDF). Proceedings of the Workshop on Multiagent Interaction Networks: 4. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Report Harassment". HARASSmap. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  10. ↑ Ansari, Hina P. (February 11, 2013). "Could Mobile Technology Combat Sexual Harassment?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  11. ↑ Lee, Kermeliotis, Ian, Teo (December 21, 2012). "'Harassment map' helps Egyptian women stand up for their rights". CNN. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Lee, Kermeliotis, Ian, Teo (December 21, 2012). "'Harassment map' helps Egyptian women stand up for their rights". CNN. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  13. ↑ Ansari, Hina P. (February 11, 2013). "Could Mobile Technology Combat Sexual Harassment?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  14. ↑ "Community action". HARASSmap. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "HarassMap:Safer with just one click". Tea after Twelve. Retrieved December 2014.
  16. ↑ "HARASSmap: Youth Award Winner". World Summit Youth Award. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "Best Use of Technology for Social Good". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  18. ↑ "Incubated social enterprises". Nahdet el Mahrousa. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  19. ↑ "HarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data in the Social Sciences". IDRC. Retrieved 29 October 2013.

External links

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