Uber drivers in Egypt to get anti-sexual harassment training

Uber says it will be teaming up with an online social initiative to counter Egypt's biggest social issue

US-based ride company Uber is rolling out a scheme that will train drivers in Egypt's capital to take steps against sexual harassment in an effort to counter one of the country's biggest social issues.

The private car service announced it would be teaming up with an online social initiative which employs an SMS system for reporting incidences of sexual harassment in Egypt – Harassmap -- to educate and train its drivers against the social issue.



“Sexual harassment is a known problem in Cairo especially on public transport so as a technology company working in the transport space, we wanted to be proactive against the issue,” regional Uber spokesperson Shaden Abdellatif said.

“We thought that we could train our partner drivers, who are already getting weekly training to use the app, against sexual harassment,” she said, adding as a result of the training, drivers will know how to recognise, prevent, and take positive action against harassment.

Egypt has been described as the worst country in the Arab world to be a woman in, a Reuters survey stated. A separate report by the United Nations published earlier this year, showed that a staggering 99.3% of Egyptian women and girls had been subjected to sexual harassment.

Under the new project, all trained drivers will receive a certificate of recognition and will have a sticker placed in their car pledging to take positive action against sexual harassment.

Termed a positive step by human rights groups, a Cairo-based UN official May el-Sheikh said, "The Uber initiative will lead to a behaviour change in the society, which can really help combat sexual harassment," adding that "sexual harassment is just one form of violence against women."



“For even better results, we must develop a common belief that women have the right to live free from violence but also raise awareness, inform the public and educate them against the issue,” Sheikh said.

Earlier during the year, Egypt rolled out a new law which punishes offenders with at least six months in jail or fines of at least $370.

Many took to Twitter to laud the efforts of the new initiative:

Safety news: Uber Egypt Teams Up W HarassMap 2Take Positive Action Against Sexual Harassment https://t.co/V5Nfr8ahOG pic.twitter.com/91zNou8Xgq

— Margot Grabie (@MEGra18) November 5, 2015

. @Uber_Cairo partners with @harassmap to change #Egyptian streets for women https://t.co/9kS3XxktTJ

— Step Feed 🤳 (@StepFeed) November 3, 2015

Uber partners with @HarassMap in #Egypt sexual harassment initiative https://t.co/XUx6v6gbP5 via @StepFeed

— Nina O. Awad (@NinaAwad) November 4, 2015

Uber and @harassmap partner up in Cairo to train Uber drivers abt sexual harassment https://t.co/z6CjDRgBPF

— Carrie/Caroline T. Schroeder (@ctschroeder) November 5, 2015

https://twitter.com/agnespk/status/662937616535437312

“A 2014 Harassmap study found that at least 95% of women in Egypt had been sexually harasse” https://t.co/ixD6lGhoIk #awarenessispower

— The RAP Project (@rapprojectuk) November 8, 2015

Uber To Mandate Sexual Harassment Training For Cairo Drivers: https://t.co/erno7pRtvy #Uber #drivers #sexualharassment #Cairo #HarassMap #US

— Michael P. Williams (@PhillyComptonMW) November 10, 2015

Uber in Egypt to teach drivers how not to sexually harass women https://t.co/edbxueRf3w by @maishams in @Guardian/@MadaMasr on @harassmap

— سلطان سعود القاسمي (@SultanAlQassemi) November 4, 2015

This article originally appeared on Al Arabiya