Hanaa Hisham

Egyptian activist driving social change through anti-sexual harassment advocacy.

Hanaa Hisham is an Egyptian journalist and activist who catalyzed national dialogue on sexual harassment through her 2016 viral essay. Born in 1985, Hisham's "I Was Raped on a Bus in Cairo" article, published in Mada Masr, exposed systemic gender violence in Egypt after a Tahrir Square protest incident. This sparked the No to Sexual Harassment movement, which led to landmark 2018 amendments to Egypt's penal code. Hisham's 2017 "Silent No More" campaign trained 500 volunteers to document harassment cases, resulting in over 10,000 reported incidents. She co-founded 19718, a crisis hotline named after Egypt's sexual harassment law, which has assisted 15,000 survivors. Hisham's advocacy inspired BBC's 2018 documentary "Egypt's Sexual Harassment Crisis". In 2020, she launched the "Safe Streets" initiative with UN Women, installing emergency call boxes in Cairo's most dangerous areas. Her work was recognized by Time Magazine's 2021 list of most influential people, and she advises the UN's HeForShe campaign. Hisham's memoir "Voices in the Dark" (2022) details her journey, with proceeds funding survivor shelters. Her 2023 partnership with Google.org created an AI-powered reporting tool for harassment cases.