Browsing by Subject "islam -- fundamentalismi"

The goal of this thesis was to examine women’s sexual harassment as an expression of moral turmoil in contemporary Egypt. The wide-spread sexual harassment of women in Cairo has roused considerable national and international attention and it has recently been named 'the phenomenon' and the 'social cancer'. Six semi-structured ethnographic street interviews were carried out in Downtown Cairo to investigate the moral turmoil and the phenomenon of sexual harassment, as well as the associations between them. A total of 8 interviewees, 4 women and 4 men, varying in age from twenties to seventies were contacted on the streets of Cairo. The interview themes were slightly different for women and for men. Women’s interviews focused on the experience of walking on the streets and possible experiences of harassment and on moral changes they had observed. Men’s interviews focused on their opinions of changes of moral values and on their personal opinions on sexual harassment. As the Egyptian society is of a traditional nature, the interview questions needed to be flexible and tailored to the interviewed persons. The interviews supported the idea that moral turmoil is taking place and that of the vulnerability of women in the public space. The entire sample agreed that specific factors can be held responsible for the negative moral change, including poverty, deterioration of public education, and the lack of moral education. Logically, the amelioration of economic standards covers a great side of the solution to the problem, however, education and moral education seemed of immense importance. A brief comparison made between Piaget and Durkheim’s moral education models has been reflected on the philosophy adopted by the Egyptian Ministry of Education. It appeared that the public education scheme has similarities to Durkheim’s model, pushing moral education into the schooling experience, delivering norms and traditions constructed from religion-in the Egyptian case-to children. That was an expected result; however, this research suggests that since pushing moral education in the child education will happen enviably –considering the difficulty of changing a traditional society- the role of the educator in moral education should be more of a guiding task, leaving children the space for value and moral responsibility development. That should come hand in hand with the alleviation of public education as well as the educator from the desperate circumstances they are suffering. With the rising movements of fundamental Islam, reflections on the representations women in the public space are of concern. It has been shown that there are dangers on the position of women in society, that they are getting excluded from the functional core of society. Sexual harassment was proved not to be only a hazard for their safety and comfort, but also, an endangering factor for gender dynamics, and women efficiency in society.