An Egyptian man can take out a divorce whenever he wants, while an Egyptian woman must prove in court that she has been badly treated in the marriage.

Rosângela

“I was a victim, but I’m not a victim now.”


Name:
Rosângela
Age: 42


Luciana

“The police didn’t come, even though I rang several times.”


Name:
Luciana
Age:
44


Nur

Nur

“He beat me so hard that I left home many times. The police used to pick me up and make me go home again.”


Name:
Nur
Age: 17

Almost a year had passed since my mother died. She had divorced my father because he was violent, but she died of a heart disease. That’s why I was living with my father.


Bushra, Rihana, Parveen and Mary

“We woke up in a room filled with flames and smoke.”


Name:
Bushra, Rihana, Parveen and Mary
Age:
16-23


Mariana

“When I was nine years old he made a woman of me.”


Name
: Mariana
Age: 32 


Gulnaz

“The man who threw the acid over me only spent six months in prison.”


Name:
Gulnaz
Age: 43


Vanessa

“Singing was associated with the suffering, the violence and the fear.”


Name: Vanessa
Age: 33

When he disappeared from my life, so did my great joy: music. I had been singing more or less professionally since I was five years old. My boyfriend and I had performed together, singing and playing in bars and at weddings. Outwardly, we were that perfect, sweet couple who made a living from their music.


Maryam

“It’s better to bring the girls up properly than to put them through that. And now my own mother feels the same way!”


Name: 
Maryam Saiid
Age: 32

The midwife had a razor. I bled for a whole week afterwards.
I never talked to my mother about what had happened. It was a forbidden topic of conversation.

I still don’t enjoy sex.


Love

“I became a child soldier to avenge my father’s death.” 


Name:
Love
Age:
22


Nicole

“My abusers will win if I don’t make something of my life.”


Name:
Nicole
Age:
63


Elena

“It turned out that the medical certificate had disappeared. I expect his father bribed someone.”


Name:
Elena
Age: 24