Religious authority saluted for condemning sexism

A statement by Egypt's highest religious authority denouncing sexual harassment could be a turning point in efforts to crack down on abuse against women. A report on the allAfrica site notes that Al-Azhar, which has huge influence over Egypt's mostly Muslim population and trains most of the country's imams, has denounced the practice of harassing women. ‘We hope this is a new beginning or a step, a decision, a political commitment to working on sexual harassment,’ said Lobna Darwish, gender and women's rights officer for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Cairo was named most dangerous megacity for women in an international perception poll carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation last year.