- From the cover of the study – Egyptian Institute for Studies
The entry of the female element represents the most prominent developments in the phenomenon of bullying in Egypt, and if cinema reflects reality, then the closest example of the spread of the phenomenon of female bullying in Arab society in general, and Egyptian society in particular, is what was embodied by actress Nisreen Amin in the film released on April 1, 2015, entitled “Zanaqat Women”, in the character of “Samiha Al-Aw”, in which she embodies the life of “thugs” who are feared by men, and who leads her gang in acts of robbery and theft. The phenomenon of women entering the world of bullying in Egypt was the title of a distinguished study conducted by researcher Amira Abdel Azim, issued by the Egyptian Institute for Studies, on January 11, entitled (The phenomenon of female bullying in Egypt, basic introductions). According to the study, crimes of violence and bullying have recently spread widely and dangerously, and the phenomenon of bullying in Egyptian society has recently become a topic of conversation, and its severity has escalated and poses dangers to individuals and, at the same time, undermines the security and prestige of the state. But what is striking, according to the study, is that bullying is no longer limited to men only. Rather, there are female thugs who practice the same profession, are known for terrifying names, and are requested for special missions. The price of each of them ranges according to the name she bears and indicates her strength and physical and psychological capabilities.
Political feminist bullying
The study says that since 2014, “female bullying” has expanded and spread in the political field. It also revealed that women have entered this field with remarkable force, and all of them are registered as a danger in police records, especially in slum areas. The market for female bullying flourishes during election times, as they protect the candidate’s banners and conferences, beat the competing candidate, attack his supporters, create quarrels to prevent his conferences, cut up his pictures, and spread rumors with the aim of bringing him down. Sometimes they collect dues or debts from weak people who are unable to do so. There is female bullying specific to businessmen, especially real estate owners, to evict residents, others specific to marital problems, inheritance problems, and the last one specific to personal disputes. The study also confirmed that the phenomenon of female bullying has evolved from individual action to the formation of organized criminal groups in which organizational standards are available, such as division of labor, and values and standards that represent the control mechanisms followed by female members of the group. Thus, women have been able to achieve equality with men in the world of bullying, not only equality, but they have been able to outperform men when they have been able to maintain the survival of their group and the continuity of their criminal work. They have also been able to establish relationships with other criminal groups on their own terms based on the principle of benefit, and have succeeded in achieving the status of It is prominent among criminal groups through its practice of acts of bullying on behalf of groups of community leaders who hold power. There are random places in Egypt that are famous for harboring these organized criminal women’s groups, including, for example, the “Al-Duwayqa” area in the Manshiyet Nasser neighborhood, west of Cairo.
Justifications for the study
This study deals with the phenomenon of female bullying as a group characterized by deviant professional behavior carried out by a deviant group of women, and then this study seeks to try to understand this deviant group that has a fundamental impact on its members, and because it is the link between beginners in crime and hardened criminals, and it is the one that nullifies the effect of the social controls carried out by normal social bodies, and it is the medium in which the methods of crime are learned. The deviant group also represents the field of interaction of members, and determines the patterns of interaction between it and other groups. The duties, responsibilities and rights of each member of the group are determined and distributed, and the division of work results in defining a set of roles whose specifications are precisely defined, and each role reflects a distinct social status within the group. The importance of the study is due to the development of the phenomenon of bullying into gangs, and its transformation – from a crime of a masculine, individual, and spontaneous “unorganized” nature – into an organized crime that has the capabilities and capabilities that may qualify it to confront the state, and perhaps to overcome it, and this development may move the conflict between the thugs and the state to a more complex level. These groups no longer seek to impose their control only on the street, but also on the state itself, and the thugs may become a major actor in society and in the political process, in a way that may lead them to become opponents of the state itself.
Study methodology
This study is considered an exploratory descriptive study that aims to identify the subculture of the female bullying group in terms of the social control mechanisms that govern the members of this culture, and the rules of dealing between the members of this culture as a group and other groups. It is before and after that an analytical vision that attempts to analyze the emergence of the phenomenon of female bullying. This study relied on the case study method to analyze a feminist group that practices bullying.
Study population
The study was applied within the “registered square” area in the village of Al-Duwayqa, Manshiyet Nasser neighborhood, one of the highly slum neighborhoods in Cairo, with a population of (296,380) individuals, representing 3.3% of the population of Cairo, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics issued in 2014. According to the study, Al-Duwayqa is known for being an isolated community that includes “wild people” who have fled from justice, contraband dealers, and subcontractors. However, the Al-Duwayqa area includes different groups of residents. On the road leading to Al-Duwayqa, there are shelter homes known as Al-Wahayed, Al-Etnainat, and Al-Talatat, which are housing built by the government to house the people in 1984. There is also another area called the People’s Housing, which are housing built by the people on squatted land. The highest area in Al-Duwayqa in terms of height is the craftsmen’s housing, which was established by the government in the 1980s to house small craftsmen and youth. These housing units are characterized by being large residential blocks that have running water, electricity, and sewage, unlike the Al-Duwayqa area, which does not have running water or sewage. Below the blocks there is a group of workshops and shops established by the government in each block. It is noteworthy that these workshops and shops are not occupied, which indicates that the craftsmen did not exploit these workshops to carry out any economic activities. These residences also include some shelter families that were damaged in the Cairo earthquake on 10/12/1992 in Old Cairo neighborhoods such as Sayyeda Zeinab, Al-Gamaleya, Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, and Al-Qalaa. There are no services in the Al-Duwayqa area except for two public markets, Saad Al-Masry and Al-Herfiyen. There is no system for collecting garbage, so it is thrown into the mountain. Residential homes that do not have running water rely on buying water sold in jerry cans carried by jeeps and passed through the beards once every morning. Marginalized people in general, and in Al-Duwayqa as a slum area, feel misery, frustration, poverty, and neglect. As another aspect of poverty in terms of quality of life, there are societies that live in alienation and cultural inferiority to the surrounding areas, which creates a world different from their neighbourhood, in addition to the class gap between them and their civilized neighbor who does not appreciate the conditions of the neighboring society. Most of those displaced to slums, especially Al-Duwayqa, suffer from unemployment, and live in an unfavorable environment that preserves rural deposits in a different surrounding. All of this creates a different social system and cultural backwardness that affects the original culture, which prevents social adaptation and rejection of others, according to a report by the National Council for Social Services and Development issued in 2013.
The status of women in the Al-Duwayqa region
The percentage of families headed by women rises to about 30%, and in general, women’s suffering from poverty exceeds that of men, given that they are less fortunate in terms of education, preparation, qualification, training, and job opportunities. Women work in large numbers in the unorganized and informal labor sector, in unskilled work that they usually do in small establishments, at home, on the sidewalk, or roaming the streets. Women in Al-Duwayqa live under multiple forms of suffering, expressed in difficult economic and environmental conditions, and the inability to control their children. They also suffer from a lack of knowledge of their rights and duties, and the services they can obtain or enjoy. They often do not have the necessary official papers to obtain these services, which sometimes amount to just having a birth certificate, and this is reflected in their children, as they either refrain from education or drop out of it, and spend their time on the streets or in craft work. Due to the sudden and forced movement of residents of slum areas, especially the “Al-Duwayqa” area, to their new environments, the spread of acts of bullying and violence in the new environment, and their feeling of insecurity, they have a feeling of oppression, accepting the injustice inflicted upon them by their neighbors, not reporting some crimes, accepting a peaceful settlement, and forcibly forgiving those affected for fear of the oppression that may befall them if they report. According to the study, bullying means spreading fear and terror among people with the intention of coercing them and usurping their rights, property, and sometimes their belongings. Bullying does not recognize the law. Its law is force and the use of violence, power, influence, and authority. Rather, it is exploiting loopholes in the law and disrupting it to manage the goals of its influential and powerful practitioners. Bullying includes activities that violate the law, such as theft, looting, and attacks on public and private property. It also includes acts accompanied by the intentional use of violence and physical harm to others, which aim to achieve goals and objectives specific to the thug himself or to others, in exchange for a financial return paid to him. The thug differs from murderers and thieves, whether they are organized or not, in that the thug uses violence as a means and not as an end. He rents himself to someone who pays him to practice this violence against others to achieve specific goals, or he himself exploits this violence as a means of obtaining material gains. The thug’s resort to violence is inevitable, and not circumstantial, as is the case with thieves. The study concludes that women’s involvement in the profession of bullying and their success in forming organized criminal groups The fact that some areas are known for the presence of these groups and the fact that many people resort to them, is something that reflects the extent of the deviation that has afflicted society, and that this group of women is the most dangerous to the security of society at the present time due to the seriousness of the criminal roles they play in secret.
