Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013 Vol.

Asia Journal of Public Health

Journal homepage:http://www.ASIAPH.org

Original Articles

Awareness and Experience of Sexual Harassment

among Menoufiya University Students

Dalia El-Sayed Desouky* Hala Marawan*

*Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine,

Menoufiya University, Egypt

ABSTRACT
ARTICLE INFO
Keywords: Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess university
Sexual harrassment student’s awareness and experience of different forms of sexual
University students harassment. Material and Methods: Multistage cluster
Egypt sampling methodology was done, and a cross-sectional study
was carried out on a sample of university students in Monufia
governorate. A total sample of 968 university students was
Corresponding Author: surveyed between the first of March 2012 till the end of May
El-Sayed Desouky D, 2012. The study tool was a pre-designed questionnaire
Department of Public Health and containing questions on knowledge and past exposure to 20
Community Medicine, items covering three forms of sexual harassment (physical,
Faculty of Medicine, verbal and visual). Questions on appearance of the victim,
Menoufiya University, occupation and age of the harasser, place and time of
Egypt. harassment, and who to blame for harassment were added.
Email: dalia_desouky@yahoo.com Results: The female participants had better knowledge about
different forms of sexual harassment than males. All of females
were exposed to different forms of harassment even though
95.5% of them were wearing the “hijab”. Most of harassment
cases took place in streets, at all times, and most of the
harassers were university students with an age ranging from
19-24 years. For males, 38.3% committed the harassing
behavior before. Conclusion: the study calls for holding anti-
harassment awareness campaigns to raise the awareness of
females on definition, forms and laws of sexual harassment in
Asia J Public Health 2013; 4: 16-26
Egypt.

INTRODUCTION suggestive overtones), visual (e.g. showing

The concept of sexual harassment (SH) is
relatively new, although sexual harassment
existed prior to the sixties1. The official
definition of SH is unwelcome sexual
advances, requests for sexual favors, and other
verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature2.
Forms of SH include: Verbal harassment (e.g.
offensive or suggestive remarks), non-verbal
or gestural (e.g. leering or ogling with
pornographic materials), psychological (e.g.
unwanted social invitations) and physical
harassment (e.g. inappropriate touching)3,4.
Sexual harassment has been recognized for
many years as being a problem in the
workplace, university campuses, and the
military5, educational institutions, workplaces,
on streets and on public transport4,6. In the
USA, every 2 minutes someone is sexually
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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013
harassed7. In the Arab region, little is known
about the extent to which harassment is
experienced by young people, but the data
suggest that it is taking place8. In Egypt the
public harassment of women was a fairly
uncommon phenomenon until the 1970s. It
was not until the late 1980s and the 1990s,
when street harassment became a common
activity among males in public space9. Now
street harassment is a widespread phenomenon
that women from a variety of backgrounds,
circumstances and social settings experience
on an almost a daily basis in Egypt10. That is
why Egypt is now ranked second in the world
regarding sexual harassment after
11
Afghanistan . Local Egyptian feminist
organizations such as the Egyptian Centre for
Women’s Rights (ECWR) and the United
Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women are creating
campaigns to eradicate SH12,13. In 2008 the
ECWR carried out a survey of more than a
thousand women in Cairo, Giza, and Qalubiya
and found that 83% of Egyptian females have
experienced SH in their lifetime, and 46%
reported SH on a daily basis12. In 2013, results
from a report issued by the second
organization showed that 99.3% of Egyptian
women have experienced some form of SH13.
The aim of this study was to assess the
awareness of Menoufiya university students of
different forms of SH, and to assess their
previous experience with harassment and the
forms of SH they experienced.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Design
A cross-sectional study on a sample of
university students in Monufia governorate
was carried out during the period from the first
of March 2012 till the end of May 2012.
Sampling Methodology
Multistage cluster sampling methodology
was carried out to select the study sample. In
the first stage, Menoufiya University was
chosen from aomong all the Egyptian
universities by simple random sampling
methodology, and from all colleges of this
university, one college (the college of
education) was selected by the same method.
From the four grades of that college, one grade
was chosen by simple random sampling
methodology. The sampling frame constituted
all students registered in that grade in the
academic year 2011/2012, where the students’
names were derived from the college’s offices
Vol.4
of student affairs. The total number of students
in the selected grade was 1112 students. The
response rate was 88.6% and a total of 986
university students were the respondents of the
study.
Study Tool
In this study data were collected through
the use of a pre-designed questionnaire as a
research tool. Two surveys were carried out,
the first on a sample of female university
students, and the second on a sample of male
university students. The questionnaire focused
on knowledge (for males and females), and
past exposure (for females only) to the three
categories of SH, (1) physical harassment that
included: looking up and down at you
(elevator eyes), staring inappropriately at your
body, making facial expressions such as
(winking, throwing kisses, or licking lips),
stalking or following, inappropriate touching,
taking off, or trying to take off part of your
clothes, standing close or lean over you, make
sexual gestures with hands or through body
movements, attempted sexual assault or
sexually assaulting you. (2) Verbal harassment
that included: noises (including whistling,
hissing noises, kissing sounds), sexual
comments on physical appearance (of the
body), saying dirty jokes, sexual jokes or
stories that have more than one meaning,
asking for dates or asking for sexual relations.
(3) Visual harassment that included: indecent
exposure of private parts (of harasser’s body)
to you, jokes via phone, e-mail, SMS, showing
sexual photographs or sexual photographs
displayed in a public place. Items of SH
categories were derived from previous
studies12-14.
The aim of the study was explained to the
participants in detail, and after taking their
verbal consent, all of the participant students
were asked to complete the questionnaire.
After the final survey was conducted, the
completed questionnaires were collected and
the data were tabulated and analyzed. For all
participants, questions to assess knowledge of
the three types of SH (physical, verbal and
visual) consisted of 20-items (10 for forms of
physical harassment, 6 for verbal and 4 for
visual harassment). It covered a broad
spectrum of situations potentially considered
harassment. These 20 items were derived from
three other studies12-14. For female participants,
a statement saying “if you know that all the
previous 20 items are forms of SH” was
added, and a question on their past experience
of any of the previously mentioned 20 items of
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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013
physical, verbal and visual harassment was
present to assess their past exposure. A
question on the appearance of the victim was
added, where six figures were provided to the
participants to choose, in addition to questions
on the occupation and age of the harasser,
place and time of harassment.
For male participants, questions on
harassing a female before, and the reasons
behind the harassing behavior were added. All
participants were asked questions on “who to
blame for harassment” and “why to blame
women” for this phenomenon. The answers
Figure 1-6 The figures that provided to the participants
Ethical Approval
Official approvals were obtained from the
ethics committee of the faculty of medicine of
Menoufiya university (ethical acceptance
certificate number 762), and from the deanship
of the College of Education where the study
was carried out. Verbal consent was assumed
for all of the respondent students who
completed their questionnaire.
Statistical Analysis
Data were analyzed with SPSS version
16.0. Quantitative data were expressed as
mean and standard deviation. Qualitative data
were expressed as number and percentage, and
analyzed by applying Chi-square and Fischer-
exact tests. The level of significance is set as
p<0.05.
RESULTS
Table 1 shows that the assessment of
university students’ awareness and exposure to
different forms of sexual harassment was
carried out by 986 university students. 54% of
the participants were females with a mean age
of 20.9±1.5 years, and 46% were males with a
mean age of 20.6±1.8 years. All the
participants were unmarried.
Vol.4
choices of the awareness of forms of
harassment were (true and false), where a
score of 0 was given to the wrong answer and
a score of 2 was given to the right one. The
total score of awareness questions ranged from
0-40, and it was graded as follows: poor
knowledge with a score ranging from 0-<20
(less than 50%) and good score ranging from
20-40 (50% and above). Questions on the
effect of sexual harassment on the victim were
derived from other three studies on sexual
1,12,13
harassment .
Table 1 Distribution of the studied sample
according to their Socio-demographic data
Female Male
Parameter
(n=532) (n=454)
Age: (Mean ± SD) 20.88±1.55 20.65±1.84
Residence
-Urban 268(50.3%) 362(79.7%)
-Rural 246(49.7%) 92(20.3%)
Marital status
-Single 532(100%) 454(100%)
-Married 0 0
Table 2 shows that in assessing the
awareness of different forms of physical and
verbal harassment, both male and female
participants had knowledge scores judged to
be good (100%). A significant difference was
present between males and females according
to their knowledge scores of visual harassment
as 83% of females had good knowledge scores
compared 54.2% of males. A significant
difference was also found between male and
female participants according to their
knowledge sources of different types of
harassment, as the media was the source of
knowledge in 99.1% of males compared to
69.5% of females, while the other 30.5% of
females said actual exposure to harassment
was the source of knowledge.
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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013 Vol.4

Table 2 Distribution of the studied sample according to their knowledge scores and knowledge
sources of different forms of physical, verbal and visual sexual harassment

Female Male *Chi square

Knowledge Score P-value
(n=532) (n=454) ( χ2)
Physical harassment
- Good 532(100%) 454(100%) 1** 0.05
-Bad 0(0.00%) 0(0.00%)
Verbal harassment
-Good 532(100%) 454(100%) 1** 0.05
-Bad 0(0.0%) 0(0.0%)
Visual harassment
-Good 442 (83.0%) 246 (54.2%) 96.99* 0.05
-Bad 90 (17%) 208 (45.8%)
Knowledge source
-Media 370 (69.5%) 450 (99.1%) 152.97* 0.05
-Actual exposure 162 (30.5%) 4 (0.9%)
*Chi square ( χ2) **Fischer-exact test

Circumstances of the sexual harassment mail or SMS, 60 (11.3%) experienced being

(1) Types of harassment: Female
participants noted physical harassment of the
following nature: 414 (77.8%) experienced
looking up and down, 354 (66.5%)
experienced staring inappropriately at their
bodies and 226 (42.5%) said that the harasser
stood close or leaned over them. 182 (34.2%)
were exposed to inappropriate touching, 228
(42.8%) were exposed to stalking or
following, 150 (28.1%) were exposed to facial
expressions by the harasser such as winking,
throwing kisses, or licking lips, 58 (10.9%)
were exposed to a trial to take off part of their
clothes and 102 (19.2%) were exposed to
sexual gestures made with hands or through
body movements of the harasser. No-one
reported exposure to any attempt of sexual
assault. Regarding past exposure to different
forms of verbal harassment; 422 (79.3%) of
the participants reported exposure to noises
including whistling, hissing noises, kissing
sounds, 130 (24.4%) were exposed to sexual
comments on physical appearance their
bodies, 110 (20.7%) were exposed to dirty
jokes told by the harasser, 78 (14.7%)
experienced sexual jokes or stories that have
more than one meaning, 150 (28.2%)
experienced asking for dates and 54 (10.2%)
of the participants reported that the harasser
asked them for sexual relations.
As regards exposure of the participants to
forms of visual harassment; 98 (18.4%)
reported exposure to sexy jokes via phone, e-
shown sexual photographs by the
harasser, and no one was exposed to seeing
private parts of a harasser’s body or to seeing
sexual photographs displayed in a public
place.
(2) The appearance of the female victim:
348 (65.4%) of the female participants said
that they were dressed as in Figure 1 i.e.
wearing a blouse, long skirt and veil, 76
(14.3%) were dressed as in Figure 3 wearing a
longer blouse, pants, and veil, 58 (10.9%)
were dressed as in Figure 6, 26 (4.9%) dressed
as in Figure 5, 24 (4.5%) dressed as in Figure
4, and no one was dressed as in Figure 2.
Figure 7 Appearance of female victims
(3) Place of harassment: Figure 8 shows
that, 260 (48.9%) of the female victims were
harassed in the streets, while for 190 (35.7%)
of victims harassment took place in public
transports, 48 (9%) in shops, 24 (4.5%) in

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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013 Vol.4

educational institutions and 10 (1.9%) in parks
& coffees.
(6) Age of the harasser: Figure 11 shows
that, 288 (54.1%) of the victims said that the
harasser was in the age ranging from 19-24
years, 162 (30.4%) said that he was in an age
ranging from 25-40 years, 70 (13.1%) in an
age less than 18 years, and for 12 (2.2%) of
victims the harasser was in an age more than
40 years.

Figure 8 Place of the harassment

(4) Time of harassment: Figure 9 shows

that, 328 (61.6%) of the female victims said
that harassment took place in all times, 106
(19.9%) said it was in noon and evening, 42
(7.9%) at night, 30 (5.6%) after midnight, 18
(3.9%) in the early morning, and only 8 (1.5%)
were harassed in the midnight.
Figure 9 Time of harassment
(5) Occupation of the harasser: Figure 10
shows that, 232 (43.6%) of the female victims
were subjected to harassment by university
students, while for 148 (27.8%) the harassers
were microbus and taxi drivers, for 94 (17.7%)
the harassers were school children, and 58
(10.9%) were harassed by others.
Figure 11 Age of harasser
Table 3 shows that the physical impacts of
harassment on the harassed females were: loss
of appetite in 168 (31.6%) of victims,
headache in 72 (13.5%), weight loss in 70
(13.1%), difficulty of sleeping in 56 (10.5%),
GIT disorders in 56 (10.5%), and bad dreams
in 30 (5.6%) of them, while for 80 (15.2%),
harassment had no effect. According to the
emotional impacts, 150 (28.2%) suffered
angry, 66 (12.4%) suffered anxiety, 46 (8.6%)
loss of self-esteem, 44 (8.3%) had feeling of
humiliation, 44 (8.3%) were afraid, 40 (7.5%)
felt guilty, 34 (6.4%) felt shame, 32 (6%)
hoped to have someone to talk, 28 (5.3%)
were confused, 26 (4.9%) were depressed and
22 (4.1%) felt hopelessness. And for the social
effects, 216 (40.6%) suffered effects on
studying, 214 (40.2%) suffered lack of
security, 60 (11.3%) suffered lack of
confidence in dealing with opposite sex, and
42 (7.9%) suffered lack of trust on others.
Table 3 Impact of sexual harassment on the
female victims

Effects No. %
Physical effects
-Headache 72 13.5
- sleeping difficulty 56 10.5
-Bad dreams 30 5.6
-Loss of appetite 168 31.6
-GIT disorders 56 10.5
-Weight loss 70 13.1
-No effect 80 15.2
Figure 10 Occupation of harasser
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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013 Vol.4

Table 3 Impact of sexual harassment on the

female victims (cont.)

Effects No. %
Emotional effects
-Angry 150 28.2
-Afraid 44 8.3
-Guilty 40 7.5
-Shame 34 6.4
-Confusion 28 5.3
Figure 12 Distribution of the studied male sample
-Anxiety 66 12.4
according to being a harasser before
-Depression 26 4.9
-Loss of self esteem 46 8.6
-Feeling of humiliation 44 8.3
-Feeling of hopelessness 22 4.1
-Hope to have someone 32 6
to talk
Social effects
-Effects on studying 216 40.6
-Lack of security 214 42.2
-Lack of trust on others 42 7.9
-Lack of confidence in 60 11.3 Figure 13 Distribution of the studied male
harassers according to the reason for committing
dealing with opposite sex
harassment

Figure 12 shows that, for the male
participants, 38.3% of them committed the
harassing behavior before. According to the
reasons for the harassing behavior, 35.1% of
the studied harassers committed it to feel more
masculine, 28.1% did it to satisfy their sexual
desire, 27% did it to pass time, and for 9.8% of
them, it was to increase their self-confidence
(Figure 13).
Table 4 shows that a significant difference
was found between the studied males and
females according to “who to blame for
harassment”, as 87.9% of the studied females
blamed men for this crime, compared to 60.8%
of men who blamed men. According to “the
reason for blaming women for harassment”,
83% of females and 75.2% of males claimed
harassment to the way of female dressing

Table 4 Distribution of the studied sample according to (who to blame for sexual harassment
and why to blame women)

Chi- square
Parameter Female Male P- value
( χ2)
Who to blame for harassment
-Women 118(22.1%) 178(39.2%) 16.9 0.001
-Men 414(87.9%) 276(60.8%)
Why to blame women
-Dressing 98(83%) 134(75.2%) 1.26 0.17
-Behavior 20(17%) 44(24.8%)

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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013
DISCUSSION
Knowledge of forms of sexual harassment
This study showed that both males and
females had good knowledge scores (99.5%
and 100%). However female participants had
better knowledge scores compared to males
according to different forms of verbal and
visual harassment (Table 2). Higher
knowledge scores among females students
were also found in another study15. The better
knowledge of the female participants could be
attributed to their actual exposure.
Knowledge sources
The media was the source of knowledge in
99.1% of males compared to 69.5% of
females, and the actual exposure was the
source of knowledge in more than one third of
females (Table 2). This result is consistent
with results revealed from the ECWR’s
study12, where the actual exposure to
harassment was the source of knowledge in
31% of female participants and media was the
source of knowledge of the majority of male
participants (61.1%).
General prevalence of SH
Harassment against women in Egypt is
endemic, as women cannot simply walk in the
streets in peace10. The present work revealed
that all of female participants had a past
experience of SH. These results are higher
than that revealed from the ECWR’s study
done in 2008, and from a report done by the
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and
the Empowerment of Women in 2013 where
83% and 99.3% of females studied reported
exposure to harassment respectively12,13.
It is also higher than results from other
foreign countries as Pakistan, India, Turkey,
New York City, Poland, Canada and London
city, where the prevalence rate was 96%, 95%,
93%, 86, 85%, 80% and 43% respectively16-22.
And it is higher than that revealed from a
study from Yemen, where the prevalence rate
was 90%23. This observed high prevalence of
SH is going on with a study revealing that
single women are more likely to be exposed to
all types of harassment24.
Past exposure to physical harassment
In Egypt, although touching women in
public may carry the same punishment as
sodomy25, the present work revealed a high
prevalence of different forms of physical
harassment which was also revealed from the
ECWR’s study12. As regards the prevalence of
inappropriate touch (34.2%) as a form of
physical harassment, it is consistent with that
revealed from a study issued by the National
Vol.4
Council for Women, where 31.8% of women
nationwide were subjected to it. In the same
time, it is lower than results from a study done
in Gharbya governorate (53.4%)26, and another
recent Egyptian study, where 96.5% of women
were exposed to it13.
In comparison to foreign countries, the
prevalence of different forms of physical
harassment in our study is lower than that
revealed from a study done in Pennsylvania,
where 95% of the studied women reported
being targets of leering, 82 % reported being
the target of vulgar gestures, and 57 %
reported being touched or grabbed in a sexual
way27. A higher prevalence of inappropriate
touch was also revealed from a study done in
Istanbul, where 46% of female participants
were exposed to sexual touches18. The absence
of reporting of sexual assault or rape by the
studied females could be attributed to being a
conservative community, as females may feel
shame of reporting such crimes, in addition to
blaming and stigmatization of victims28,29. This
is in consistent with other studies which
showed that sexual assault is one of the most
under reported crimes30,31.
Past exposure to verbal harassment
As for verbal harassment, our results are in
consistence with those from the ECWR’s
study, where different forms of verbal
harassment were recurrent types of verbal
harassment performed daily12. However, these
results are lower than that found in Port Said
governorate in another study, where verbal
harassment was reported as the highest
percentage (81.6%) among all Egyptian
governorates26. It was also lower than that
reported in a recent Egyptian study, where
verbal sexual harassment was experienced by
95.5% of women13. In comparison to other
countries, the prevalence of different forms of
verbal harassment in the present work is
higher than that found in other countries as
Turkey and Pakistan16,18.
Appearance of the victim
Surprisingly, despite the high prevalence of
sexual harassment among the studied females,
95.5% of them were modestly dressed women
wearing the Islamic headscarves (Hijab)
(Figure 7). The same result was revealed from
the ECWR’s study, where the majority of the
harassed females were wearing the Islamic
headscarves12, and from another recent
Egyptian study, where 75.7 % of the harassed
women were wearing conservative clothes
without putting any make up13. However, these
results are in contrast to those found in an
Iranian study, where experiencing sexual
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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013
harassment was significantly correlated with
the kind of women’s dressing and make up32.
Place of harassment
In Egypt, street harassment became a
common activity among males in public
space26,33. In the present study, the majority of
all harassment cases took place in streets and
public transports (Figure 8). These results are
in consistence with those found in two
previous Egyptian studies, where more than
80% of women faced sexual harassment on the
street and public transportation12,13. It is also in
agreement with results found in studies done
in other countries, where most of cases of
sexual harassment took place in streets, public
places and public transports17-21,23,26,31,34-36.
Time of harassment
Most of the female victims (61.6%) said
that harassment took place in all times (Figure
9). This is in agreement with results from the
other two Egyptian studies12.13, and results
from other countries20.
Occupation of the harasser
43.6% of the female victims were harassed
by university students, followed by microbus
and taxi drivers (27.8%) (Figure 10). This
result was found in another Egyptian study13,
where 61.9% of women were subjected to
harassment by schools or university students,
followed by drivers. However, different results
were found in the ECWR’s study, as most of
the harassers were drivers, followed by
students12.
Age of the harasser
More than one half of the harassed females
(54.1%) said that the harasser was in an age
ranging from 19-24 years (Figure 11). Similar
results were found in the ECWR’S study12.
However in a previously mentioned Egyptian
study, women were exposed to harassment by
harassers in all ages followed by an age
ranging from 19-24 years13.
Impact of SH on the victim
Women’s fear of violence in the form of
sexual harassment restricts their movement,
limits their use of public spaces and as a result
their full enjoyment of a range of human
rights37,38. The physical impacts on the
harassed females as headaches, difficulty
sleeping, and bad dreams was also found in the
ECWR’s study12. The reported psychological
impacts in the previous study12 (deep sense of
anger, fear, pain, embarrassment, shame,
confusion and depression), in addition to the
reported social effects were also experienced
by our females participants. These bad effects
on victims were also revealed from different
studies all over the world. For example, in
Vol.4
USA where (90 to 95%) of sexually harassed
women suffer from anxiety, depression,
headaches, sleep disorders, weight loss or
gain, nausea and lowered self-esteem28.
Another study from New York city showed
that the harassed victims suffered extreme
feelings of fear, anger, shame, embarrassment
and helplessness39. In a Pakistani study, most
of the harassed girls suffered bad feeling,
angry, inability to move freely in the open
besides experiencing disturbances in their
educational career16. And in a Turkish study,
the harassed victims reported feelings of
annoyance, angry, disgusting and fear and
negative effects on the daily activities, social
interactions, and public life18.
Males as harassers
In a recent Egyptian study, more than half
of the male participants indicated that
harassment is considered more than before the
25th January Revolution due to the lack of
security prevailing now in Egypt13. In the
present work, more than one third of the
studied males (38.3%) admitted harassing a
females before. Despite this high percent, this
result is lower than that observed in the
ECWR’S study, where the majority of males
(62.4%) surveyed perpetrated one or more
forms of harassment12. This big difference
between results of the two studies could be
attributed to conducting the ECWR’s study on
men from all age groups.
Reasons behind the harassment behavior
In Egypt, harassment functions as an outlet
because of the growing frustration and sexual
repression caused by delaying marriage10,39.
Most of the reasons behind the harassing
behavior in the present work were to feel more
masculine, followed by satisfying sexual
desire, to pass time and to increase the self-
confidence. These results are in contrast to
results revealed from the ECWR”S study,
where the majority of harassers committed
harassment to satisfy their sexual desires, then
to feel more masculine and more confident12.
It is also in contrast to results from another
Egyptian study13, where 67.1% of the studied
harassers committed harassment to fulfill the
sexual need. This contrast could be attributed
to conducting the previous two studies on
males from all age groups, while the present
work was done on younger male students in an
age that they need to feel their manhood.
Who to blame for harassment
This study showed that despite that the vast
majority of the studied females (95.5%) were
modestly dressed and wearing Islamic
headscarves, 83% of females and 75.2% of
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Asia Journal of Public Health, January-December 2013
males claimed harassment to the way of
female dressing. The same result was observed
in the ECWR’S where men blame women, not
themselves, for her inappropriate appearance12.
All these results disprove the belief that sexual
harassment is linked to women who are
dressed “indecently” or are not veiled.
Conclusion and recommendations
This study showed shocking results of a
high prevalence of all forms of sexual
harassment among the studied female
university students. This calls for holding anti-
harassment awareness campaigns to raise the
awareness of females on definition, forms and
laws of sexual harassment. The research
centers should have a role to encourage studies
on forms, causes, solutions of this problem,
and its impacts on the individual and the
society. In addition, the government should
have a role to increase the sense of security in
the streets and public places which was lost
after the 25th revolution. This can be done by
the usual presence of police officers and
detectives in public places. The most
important approach is raising the religious
awareness through mosques and churches to
treat females on all public places with the
same respect as mothers or sisters.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the support
provided by Menoufiya University and the
College of Education for facilitating the
administrative requirements during the course
of the research. All thanks to participants for
their co-operation in providing information.
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