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‘Silver is the new gold’ as Egyptians try to protect savings

‘Silver is the new gold’ as Egyptians try to protect savings

EGYPTIAN women traditionally receive a gold jewellery set, or "shabka", on their engagement. But as surging prices and a weakening currency have driven up demand for the precious metal, some are getting silver instead. The trend is a measure of an economic crisis in which inflation has been running at more than 30% and the central bank has allowed the currency to weaken 50% against the dollar, with more devaluation expected. "Silver is the new gold," said a salesman at a Cairo silver store who only gave his first name, Abanob. In the year to Jan. 30, the price of a gram…
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Egyptian women find help online to fight ‘sextortion’ threats

Egyptian women find help online to fight ‘sextortion’ threats

MENNA A. FAROUK RADWA, a 27-year-old Egyptian woman, said her blood ran cold when her ex-boyfriend threatened to send nude photographs of her to her parents in revenge for their break-up. In socially conservative Egypt, the sharing of intimate images can have dire consequences for victims - from public shame to being thrown out of their homes. "I was so terrified. I was slowly dying because of this," Radwa, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Cases of "sextortion" involving threats to share private pictures have been increasing around the world in recent…
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The plight of single Egyptian women

The plight of single Egyptian women

MAI SHAMS ELDIN NESMA Nasr once stayed a week without water in her Cairo apartment, afraid to call a plumber because of the scrutiny from neighbours she feared a male visitor would provoke. As a young woman living alone, she says she fears the kind of social control that became a talking point last month when a 35-year-old fell to her death from a balcony in Cairo after neighbours confronted her over suspected pre-marital relations. The death prompted an outpouring of anguish from women who say living independently in the conservative, Muslim-majority country is a daily struggle. Some posted photos…
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Fighting sex attacks and stereotypes, Egyptian style

Fighting sex attacks and stereotypes, Egyptian style

MENNA A. FAROUK  FOUR young Egyptian women, wearing headscarves, leggings and boxing gloves, punch and kick each other, encouraged by their female coach Samah Ahmed - founder of the Monsters Academy. Ahmed, known to everyone as Coach Samah, started learning Thai boxing, or Muay Thai, five years ago after being sexually harassed, and now teaches the martial art to about 40 people, mostly women and girls, at her own training camp. "Muay Thai turns every part of your body into a weapon: your elbows, your knees, your fists and even your chin," Ahmed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from her…
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Egyptian women oppose repressive bill

Egyptian women oppose repressive bill

MENNA A. FAROUK WOMEN’S rights could be rolled back 200 years in Egypt under a proposed law that would stop them signing their own marriage certificates, registering their child's birth or travelling abroad without a man's consent, rights activists say. The personal status bill, which was approved by the cabinet in January, would also give fathers priority in child custody - reversing the current law which favours mothers - and allow fathers to prevent mothers travelling with their children. "We completely reject this shocking draft law. It takes us back 200 years," said Nehad Abu El Komsan, head of the…
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