ZAGAZIG, Egypt: Dressed in karate uniforms and track suits, the young Egyptian women break off in pairs and begin sparring, with one kicking and punching while the other tries to block the attacks.Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Olympia Brown, Helen Pitts...did it in and around 1919. So who is going to step up in Egypt?
The nearly two dozen women and girls in a small gymnasium in this city of one million, north of Cairo, are learning to fight off assailants - a rarity for women in the Arab world.
Such self-defense classes have popped up in the past year across Egypt, as this conservative Muslim country for the first time turns major attention to the issue of sexual harassment. Women, and even some men, have begun campaigns against sexual harassment around Cairo, using Facebook to raise awareness among the country's Internet-savvy youth.
To all the Egyptian men watching this happen...start practicing this simple phrase:
"Yes, Dear."
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