“Etaman.” A workshop for the Women’s Support and Anti-Violence Unit at the Faculty of Al-Alsun

The Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs Sector at the Faculty of Al-Alsun, at Ain Shams University, in cooperation with the Women’s Support and Anti-Violence Unit at the university, organized a workshop entitled “Reassure”, under the patronage of Prof. Ghada Farouk, Acting President of the University, Prof. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President of the University for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, and supervised by Prof. Youmna Safwat, Vice Dean of the Faculty for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs, Prof. Hind Al-Hilali, Unit Manager.

Prof. Youmna Safwat, the Faculty’s dean for community service and environmental development, confirmed during her opening speech that violence against women is one of the most dangerous phenomena that negatively affects the family. Moreover, violence against women and girls has psychological consequences, which prevents them from fully participating in society.

Prof. Hind Al-Hilali, Director of the Unit, during the workshop, explained the nature of the Unit, its goals, activities, mechanisms and strategies for working within it, and how cases of harassment, violence and bullying are transformed by specialists in colleges, units and centers at the university into it and the role it plays, in addition to the services it provides.

Prof. Hind Al-Hilali, indicated to the university’s role in taking all measures and how to deal with cases that have been subjected to violence, bullying, or harassment from the psychological and social aspect, and how to transfer those cases to the unit to take the necessary legal measures through the Legal Committee and the Psychological Support Committee, as well as the Training and Capacity Development Committee and the Social Committee, and entrepreneurship.

She reviewed the unit’s most important achievements and how it works inside and outside the university campus, as the first unit at the level of Egyptian universities, based on scientific foundations to combat all forms of violence directed against women within the university, and submits its reports directly to the university president to take deterrent measures against any student or professor who has taken an inappropriate behavior on campus, This step represents the strength and support provided by the university, after presenting it to consultants and writing the report, in addition to working to calm the girl and confront her problem.

In some cases of verbal harassment, it is also possible to file an informal complaint through the coordinator of the anti-violence unit at the faculty, and the student against whom the complaint is directed is summoned and referred to a disciplinary committee, noting that social media and the openness of cultures, whether locally, regionally or globally, have led to an increase in anger because of the difference in cultures, which in turn leads to violence.

And Mrs. Amani Abdel-Al, a clinical psychologist and art therapist, presented a workshop for college students explaining the types of responses to freeze, fight, or flight situations, and that we can develop the freeze response through knowledge of self-defense permissions and increasing our self-confidence.

She continued her speech by pointing out that the harasser or bully is psychologically weak from within, and derives his dominance over the situation through the weakness of the victim. Therefore, the ability to object to the act or the ability to defend oneself in any way will make him lose his false self-confidence and reveal a personal weakness in the situation.

The workshop included many reactions that must be taken in the event of exposure or witnessing situations of harassment, bullying, or general harm, whether to oneself or others. The workshop witnessed great interaction on the part of the students.