ダンス動画が原因で離婚・免職…女性の権利めぐって論争　エジプト

【カイロＡＦＰ＝時事】エジプトで、３人の子を持つ既婚女性がダンスに興じている動画がネットで拡散され、その結果、夫に離婚され、免職処分を受けたことから、女性の権利をめぐって激しい論争が起きている。（写真は資料写真）
　小学校教師のアヤ・ユセフさん（３０）は、ナイル川を下るクルーズ船の上で、ヘッドスカーフ姿で笑顔を見せながら同僚たちと踊っている様子を携帯電話で撮影された。今月初め、この短い動画がソーシャルメディアに投稿されると、多くの人にシェアされ、賛否両論を呼んだ。
　エジプトでは近年、ソーシャルメディア上で女性が中傷される事例が相次ぎ、責任を問う声が上がっている。
　人権団体の指摘によると、保守化が進むエジプトで特に自由への締め付けが強くなってきたのは、２０１４年にアブデルファタハ・シシ政権が発足してからだ。
　ユセフさん自身は民放テレビのインタビューで、あの時は旅行中で「楽しかった」ので「思わず」踊ってしまったのだと話す一方で、自分だけではなく「みんなで踊っていた」と説明している。
　この動画がネットに投稿されると、ツイッターには「恥ずべきだ」という意見や、「既婚女性がこんなふしだらな踊りをするなんて理解できない」という書き込みが見られた。
　一方で、ユセフさんへの同情も集まった。研究ネットワーク「アラブ・バロメーター」が２０２０年に発表した調査結果によれば、エジプトではセクシュアルハラスメント（性的嫌がらせ）を受けたことがあると答えた女性は、１８～３９歳で約９０％に上っている。

■男性は許されても女性は許されないダブルスタンダード
　動画が拡散された後、ユセフさんが勤務していたマンスーラ市があるダカリーヤ県の教育局は問題を懲戒委員会に委ね、ユセフさんに免職処分を下した。しかしその後、抗議の声が広がると、１月中旬に復職を認めた。
　ユセフさんの夫が動画を見て離婚したことを受け、エジプト人の人気女優、スマヤ・ハシャブさんは、男性と女性とでダブルスタンダード（二重基準）があると指摘。
　「夫が刑務所に入っても支える女性は大勢いる。夫が悪い状況に置かれても、多くの妻は見捨てないのに」と非難した。
　ユセフさんは、誰が動画をネットに投稿したかは分からないが、誹謗（ひぼう）中傷して家庭を壊した人々には法的措置を取ることを考えているとアルワタン紙に話した。
　エジプトで、ネット上のさらし行為に怒りの声が広がったのは今回が初めてではない。
　今月、１７歳の女子生徒のデジタル加工した写真をネットにさらして辱め、自殺に追い込んだとして、少年２人が身柄を拘束された。
　２０２０年には、「社会のモラルに悪影響を及ぼした」として、ソーシャルメディアのインフルエンサーが逮捕される事例が相次いだ。
　世論は変化している。エジプトは昔からベリーダンスの発祥地とされてきたが、ここ数年、ベリーダンサーやポップ歌手の何人かは、オンラインコンテンツが際どいとして、標的にされてきた。
　エジプト生まれのベリーダンサーは減ってきている。主な原因は、この５０年で社会の保守化が進み、ダンサーという職業へのイメージが低下し、自由に対する締め付けが強まっていることだ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/26-12:14）

A video of an Egyptian mother-of-three dancing that went viral online prompting her husband to divorce her and her employers to sack her has reignited fierce debates over women's rights.
The brief mobile phone video of Aya Youssef, a 30-year-old primary school teacher, shows her wearing a headscarf, trousers and a long-sleeved top as she dances alongside colleagues, smiling as she enjoys a river cruise on the Nile.
But the video, which has been shared widely on social media since it was posted earlier this month, has split opinion.
Some critics accuse her of breaching the conservative values of a largely Muslim society -- while others stand firmly with her in solidarity.
In recent years, Egypt has witnessed several cases in which women have been subjected to defamation campaigns on social media, stirring angry demands for those responsible to be held to account.
It comes as rights groups warn of a broadening crackdown on freedom in the increasingly conservative North African nation ever since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office in 2014.
Youssef, in a recent interview with a private TV channel, said she had been happy on the trip and that her moves were spontaneous.
Other colleagues were dancing alongside her on the boat in the sunshine, some waving their hands in the air. All of us were dancing, she said.
- Sacked, then reinstated -
But after the video was shared online, some who watched provided scathing comments on what they saw as unbecoming behaviour.
One Twitter user, Jihad al-Qalyubi, said the teacher's actions were shameful.
Another, Ahmed al-Beheiry, said he couldn't fathom how a married woman would dance in this lewd way.
But -- in a country where 90 percent of women aged between 18 and 39 reported having been harassed in 2019, according to a survey by the Arab Barometer research network -- others were supportive.
After the video went viral, Egypt's education ministry in Dakahlia region -- northeast of Cairo -- referred the teacher to a disciplinary committee, where she was sacked from her job in the city of Mansoura.
Amid a subsequent outcry, she was this week reinstated.
Nihad Abu al-Qumsan, head of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights, defended the teacher and offered her a job.
We will ask the court about the correct dance rules -- so that all women would conform to the right rules if they dance in their brother's or their son's weddings, or at birthdays, Qumsan said sarcastically.
The fact that Youssef's husband also divorced her after watching the video prompted an angry reaction from popular Egyptian actress Sumaya al-Khashab, saying it showed double standards.
Why don't men take their wives back? Khashab asked.
There are so many women who stand by their men when they even go to prison, for example, or don't abandon their husbands when their conditions deteriorate, she added.
- 'Defamed and ruined her' -
Youssef told Egypt's Al-Watan newspaper that she did not know who had published the video online, but vowed legal action gainst those who defamed and ruined her home.
It is not the first such case of online shaming to have triggered anger in Egypt.
Two young men were arrested this week after a 17-year-old schoolgirl committed suicide last month.
She swallowed poison after she was allegedly blackmailed with digitally altered photos after she reportedly refused to have an affair with them.
And in July 2021, a Cairo court sentenced two women to six and 10 years in prison for breaching public morals after they had published videos on the social media channel TikTok.
They were among a dozen social media influencers arrested in 2020 for attacking society's values in Egypt.
Opinions are shifting; Egypt has long been regarded as the birthplace of belly dancing, but several belly dancers and pop singers have been targeted in recent years over online content deemed too racy or suggestive.
Egypt has seen its community of homegrown dancers shrink, largely due to the profession's increasing notoriety as the country has become more conservative over the past half-century -- and to a broadening crackdown on freedoms.