Discrimination in Egypt

Discrimination in Egypt Why is there always the need to label people? Why aren’t people judged by who they are, rather than being judged based on their race, skin color, gender, nationality or religion? Discrimination is the act of treating people differently without a justified reason. It’s looking down on people who don’t look, dress, act like you or even have your same beliefs. Seeing them as inferiors without even getting to know them. “People are always afraid of anything different. They are afraid of change," says Sensai. "It is the same everywhere.” ― Sandy Fussell, Shaolin Tiger Egyptians have taken discrimination to a whole new level. When someone doesn’t agree with your opinion, he/she is automatically treated differently.First of all there’s the political discrimination.People have to be following the same parties in order for them to get along. In case you belong to a different party, you will be treated like a complete idiot. It’s as if you are less human. In addition to political discrimination, there’s gender discrimination. 68% of women believe that sex discrimination exists in the workplace in 2010. In spite of all the talk in Egypt about women being equal to men , the truth is they never were and never will be. These are just useless words. Women are treated as inferiors to men at work, on the streets and even at home. There are still some positions which can’t be taken by women because they’re not even allowed. The percentage of women working as ministers in Egypt or taking part in writing Egyptian constitution or even having a place in the Egyptian parliament is disgraceful. On the streets women are seen as bad drivers. The moment an accident happens, it is directly assumed that it’s a woman’s fault. Women are not equal to men at home as well.They’re always expected to cook , raise the children and leave the house spotless, while men aren’t expected to do so, just because they’re men. I for one, consider that as major discrimination. Furthermore, there’s discrimination against people belonging to different social or financial class. That’s widely spreading between Egyptians in particular. Not only are the poor treated awfully and without any humanity, the upper class receives an awful lot of judgments in return. The lower class is treated with no dignity whatsoever , they receive none of their rights as human beings. The level of education provided for them leaves them ignorant in most cases. The hospitals they go to don’t treat them, and might even infect them with a new disease. The streets they live in are never cleaned and they’re living with garbage surrounding them. Even their homes are ready to break down any moment. They sleep hungry, and wake up hungry. Along with all that, they are treated as if they’re slaves by most of the higher classes. Ordered and pushed around almost all the time. They always get looks of disgust because they even can’t afford cleaning their clothes or buying new clothes when theirs are torn. The government doesn’t provide for them bread, nor freedom, nor social equality. Which are in some cases provided for those in the higher classes. There’s no doubt that there are a big amount of upper class people who are perfectly considerate and caring but they are treated as if they are tyrants by the poor. The poor assume that all rich people are jerks without even giving them the chance to prove the opposite. Moreover, there’s religion discrimination especially between Christians and Muslims in Egypt. Nearly 50 percent of countries increased their religious discrimination between 2009 and 2010, and only 32 percent saw decreases. Christians are treated as if they are disgusting creatures although they are in most cases really respectable people. Some Muslims think of themselves as better than Christians and assume that Christians are liars and traitors and can’t deal with them. This is complete nonsense. Some Muslims for example from the Muslim brotherhood believe that they are better than other muslims so they treat anyone else unfairly. No one has the right to say who is closer to God, because no one knows that. The cause of all this spreading of discrimination in Egypt is the ignorance amongst the people. Some people have no idea what is discrimination. No one has ever acted upon it and tried solving this huge problem in this country. However, it is impossible to completely diminish it but an effort must be exerted in order to start. As Carl knight states in his article ‘the injustice of discrimination’, Discrimination might be considered unjust on account of the comparative disadvantage it imposes, the absolute advantage it imposes, the disrespect it shows, or the prejudice it shows. Much research has shown that experiences of discrimination are negatively related to mental health. A study done in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; December 2006, found that while discrimination both increased individuals' psychological dysfunction and reduced the positive aspects of psychological functioning, rel`igious involvement was able to buffer the effects of discrimination only for negative affect. This buffering effect should not be discounted, though, because religion helped protect individuals from what is arguably one of the more pernicious effects of discrimination on mental health, the ability of discrimination to make people feel sad and hopeless. In countries other than Egypt, A few people barely succeeded in solving this problem but didn’t completely get to the bottom of it because millions stood against them depriving them of the fundamental and social support they needed throughout their path. Some of these people are Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. , Malcom X-and Nelson Mandela . The best solution would be starting by education, dedicating an hour every week in schools to raise awareness about discrimination among children. What’s better than starting off from the roots of the society? It is very affordable yet very effective. A media campaign telling people that it’s best not to ignore being discriminated against is another solution. People should stand up for their rights of being equal. The Egyptian government should take drastic measures to prevent any sorts of discrimination by making severe punishments against this kind of behavior. Every problem has a solution once you do something about it !