A Revolution Deferred: Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Egypt

Egypt’s Jan 25th revolution in 2011 set a new precedent for women’s activism in the public sphere. Large numbers of women engaged in revolutionary protests alongside their male counterparts in ways that defied traditional and cultural norms. Their contributions, however, did not come without a cost. Sexual violence against women and girls emerged as one of the biggest impediments threatening their activism. Women from all walks of life were subject to brutal, ubiquitous and, indiscriminate form of various forms of sexual violence ranging from mob attacks to direct sexual assaults perpetrated by security forces during the revolution and its aftermath. The ways in which sexual violence was navigated, framed, resisted and remonstrated therefore played a critical role in influencing the process and outcome of women’s activism during the revolution. This chapter examines how pervasive forms of sexual violence influenced women’s contributions and activism in the Jan 25th revolution. It argues that sexual violence served as both an obstacle and an opportunity that enabled women to reap sociopolitical gains central to resolving deep-rooted gender inequalities,Egyptian women’s activismgender inequalities, deep-rooted nature of which otherwise may have been lost in the revolutionary backdrop.