On one half of the world, women are being condemned and even banned from covering their hair, on the other half, women are being assaulted for not covering their hair. In both instances, the question remains the same – is another person your damn business?
In Egypt, women have been found to be cutting the hair off of women who do not wear the hijab. The assaults have been taking place in public areas, particularly crowded metro stations where women have been targeting other women whom they do not know. The majority of these women are not caught or prosecuted.
As reported by Vice Arabia, last month, one of the victims, Nancy Magdy, boarded a train in Cairo where she had to stand due to a lack of free seating. Two stops into her journey, Nancy noticed two women wearing niqab board the train. In a fleeting moment, the women grabbed Nancy’s hair and cut it before yelling at her that their actions should encourage her to cover herself.
According to multiple reports over seven years, these incidents follow a pattern in which the women have an escape-route planned, use busy transport and the same assault weapon – this is carefully planned. Egyptian journalist, Rahma Samy also incurred a similar incident in 2017, where she detailed on Facebook how she was approached on the metro by a woman who attempted to cut her hair.
The incidents speak to a narrative in which many Egyptians feel as though the predominantly Muslim country (94 per cent) is being tarnished by Christian ideals (5 per cent.) The act has been publicly condemned by Egypt’s Women’s Rights Centre.