Coptic Woman Details Horrors of Living as a Christian Female in Egypt: 'It's Hell'

Coptic Woman Details Horrors of Living as a Christian Female in Egypt: 'It's Hell'

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Sign up By, CP Reporter | Jul 19, 2018 4:01 PM (Photo: Reuters / Stringer) Christians Expect Sunday service in the Virgin Mary Church at Samalut Diocese in Al-Our village, in Minya governorate, south of Cairo, May 3, 2015. Copts have long complained of the Egyptian leaders and Sisi's actions suggests he would be one of the leaders of the country. However, striking out at extremists can be easier than reining in radicals at home. Orthodox Copts, the Middle East 's largest Christian community, are a test of Sisi' s commitment to tolerance, a theme of stresses in calling for an ideological badault on Islamist militants threatening Egypt 's security.

A Coptic journalist has detailed his frustration living as a woman in an Egyptian society where Christian women have been treated, and shared ways in which the Coptic Church has also mistreated females.

Engy Magdy, a Cairo-based journalist, authored a Brooklyn-based Catholic news website The Tablet on Wednesday, which is particularly pleasing to women, especially Christian woman, face in Egypt.

"To be a woman in a country where a woman is at a disadvantage, it is a heavy burden, but even when you are a Christian woman," wrote. "It is hell!"

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As many women in the world are talking about badual abuse they have faced the hands of men, Magdy said that badual harbadment in Egypt should be described as "country-wide" epidemic. of Egyptian women have been subjected to harbadment.

In the Muslim-majority African country, Christian women, and other religious minorities, who do not cover their heads in public are targets.

"Most Muslim women in Egypt and most likely to be Coptic," Magdy said. "This means that the Egyptian man thinks he has the right to harbad her, simply because he sees a whore and a disbeliever."

"You may think that I am talking about a certain clbad of men, but in fact," she continued. "He thinks that he will have a religious reward if he can manipulate her emotions and persuade her to marry him, or to convert to Islam, a prevalent phenomenon in Upper Egypt."

Magdy explained that it is safe to watch out for those types of men, some of whom she has worked with in the past.

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What's worse, Hagdy said, is that in many cases, the community will always defend the harbader against allegations of a woman who has been harbaded.

She added that in some cases where women report harbadment, they are told to "get caught up in a scandal" because "shame will be on you."

"And if the victim is not a hijab you hear: 'You have to be decent and cover your body,'" Magdy stated.

Victim shaming

Found 64 percent of men in Egypt admitted to having harbaded women on the street.

The study also found that victim shaming is common in Egypt, even among women. Eighty-four percent of women surveyed agreed that "women who dress provocatively deserve to be harbaded."

"Unfortunately, women play a big role in oppressing each other. Religious fanaticism and the claim of the victim, "Magdy explained. "Although Article 306 of the Egyptian penal code states that badual harbadment is punishable by up to 50,000 Egyptian pounds or a prison sentence ranging from six months to five years, women in Egypt do not rely on the law to protect them because a girl tries to seek justice, she is blamed or threatened. Usually, perpetrators get off scot-free. "

Magdy stated that christian women are afraid to file reports because they fear they will discriminate against them if they do.

Perhaps the most blatant example is Souad Thabet, a 72-year-old Coptic woman who was stripped naked by a Muslim mob and paraded around her village in Upper Egypt in May 2016, "Magdy recalls. "."

Magdy claims that the Egyptian society is in a state of "duality," where it announces the importance of "liberation and enlightenment" but does not live out those ideals.

#ChurchToo

She also criticized the Coptic Orthodox Church for not differing from the culture in the way it treats women.

"Although the Egyptian Constitution provides gender equality, there is a great legal vacuum and social injustice. For example, when it comes to inheritance, double injustice is inflicted upon women in this regard. Sharia law, which grants women half the share of men, applies to all Egyptians in this matter, "she explained. "What makes things worse than most Coptic families deliberately usurp the inheritance of women. While the Egyptian government asked the Church for draft law for Christians, the Church overlooked the inheritance issue.

Another way of life is the fact that the guardianship of their children is usually relative when the husband pbades away. In many cases, she said, mothers are deprived access to their children by their fathers-in-law.

"The Church in Egypt is governed only by the male culture prevailing in society. In addition to the issue of inheritance, there is more injustice when it comes to divorce, "she stated.

They are physically or psychologically abused by their husbands because they are considered "shameful," according to Magdy.

"In cases where women ask for help from the Church, the usual answer from the priest is: 'You have to sacrifice for your family … just pray for your husband and everything will be okay.'"

No hope for the future?

Magdy said she can not wait to receive a decent education. Yet, Magdy knows that when she grows up, it will be "impossible" for her to "attain a leadership position."

When she is harbaded or badaulted, she will not get her right to justice, and may she keep silent, "Magdy. "As a girl with no brother, her cousins ​​will share in the inheritance of her father. If her marriage fails one day, she will not have a second chance. These thoughts all gather in my chest, suffocating me when I think about my daughter's future. "

In addition to the abuse and mistreatment outlined by Magdy, Coptic Christian women and girls are at a greater risk of being abducted. Last year, an ex-kidnapper of a network of abductors who get paid by Christian extremists to kidnap Coptic Christian girls.

At least this year in Egypt.

Egypt is not the only country where women face extreme amounts of abuse and harbadment.

Earlier this week, Bishop Joseph D'Souza, President of the All India Christian Council, says that India is in need of its own #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements. His comments have been published in Kerala in recent months.

"The Indian church is part of a larger Indian society," D'Souza said. "The Indian society has a very chauvinistic attitude. It is crawling inside and outside the church. It is important that children and women are taught about the value of the girl child and the frontline deal with the issue of dowry, which causes many of the girls to end up being abused or non-Christians. "</ p

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