Video

Soraya Bahgat: Learning On The Go - On women’s rights and activism

Soraya Bahgat shared her journey as an “accidental activist” and social entrepreneur. While working as Head of HR for a leading Egyptian real estate developer, she founded a volunteer movement to combat the pandemic mob-sexual assaults that had plagued Tahrir Square during the 2011 revolution.

The movement intervened in over 100 cases and brought the pandemic to local and international media attention. This contributed to Egypt passing a landmark sexual harassment law in 2014.

After protests in Tahrir Square have ended, she shifted her attention to other forms of violence and discrimination against women, including female genital mutilation and is a committed and passionate advocate for women and girls. In her talk, she shared what she has learned about launching grassroots movements, leadership and issues pertaining to gender equality. She gave a briefing on women’s rights in Egypt and the Arab World and shared insights on women in the workplace. She also shared what she has learned from pursuing less productive activism, setbacks and failure.

Soraya Bahgat is a career woman, consultant, advocate for women’s rights, and campaigner for tolerance in Egypt. She started Tahrir Bodyguard, a movement of uniformed volunteers intervening to stop the brutal mob-sexual assaults on women in Tahrir Square in the wake of Egypt’s 2011 revolution. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy, and Graduate Diplomas in Comparative Politics and Human Resource Management from the American University in Cairo.

A lecture was held on 12/11/2019 at the Reshape Intensive Cluj.

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