The sexual and gender-based violence epidemic meets the COVID-19 pandemic: survivors’ and advocates’ narratives in Egypt

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research traces activism over the last 30 years against sexual and gender-based violence with a focus on survivors’ and advocates’ narratives in Egypt. We argue that several focusing events in Egypt and the support of transnational advocacy networks over the last decades have galvanised the efforts of activists and citizens of good will to mobilise around these issues. Egyptian feminist mobilisation during the pandemic brought to the public sphere the untold stories of the forms of violence that occurred through online and social media platforms. While social media and other online tools hold the promise of becoming “a new public sphere” for social movements, the current political atmosphere still has low tolerance for dissent both offline and online. However, the new generation of feminist activists have showed strength in facing difficult social and political challenges which gives hope for future social movement mobilisation on the horizon.