Egypt’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) denied rumors spread on social media over the past couple of days on the UK accepting Egyptian women discriminated against for their sex to immigrate.
In their facts report released on Friday, the IDSC explained that they have contacted the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who denied the rumors completely, stressing that Britain did not release any documents to announce this decision nor did it inform the Egyptian government or embassy.
It added that the rumors are completely incorrect.
The ministry concluded by requesting all media outlets bear caution when publishing rumors, especially ones that would cause outrage among citizens.
Acting as the Egyptian Cabinet Think Tank, the IDSC aims to support government decisions as well as deny rumors in a periodically released facts report.
Regardless, women in Egypt do struggle with gender discrimination. In 2017, a study conducted by the International Men and Gender Equality Survey found that the majority of men in the Middle East (particularly Egypt, Morocco, Palestine and Lebanon) believed a woman’s place to be at home as reported by the Guardian.
The men showed sexist attitudes throughout the survey including beliefs that it was more important to educate boys than girls and that women are not fit to be in leadership positions.
More than half the men surveyed agreed that “there are times where women deserve to be beaten.”
In 2016, Thompson Reuters Foundation published a report naming Cairo “the most dangerous city for women.”
“In a survey of experts looking at how well women are protected from sexual violence, harmful cultural practices, access to healthcare and financial independence, Cairo came in last of 19 mega-cities behind Delhi, Karachi and Kinshasa,” read the France 24 Article introducing the report.
