ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Land use and sexual harassment: A geospatial analysis based on the volunteer HarassMap-Egypt
Tamer Ali Al-Sabbagh,
Yijing Li,
Yong Jei Lee,
Ahmed M. El Kenawy,
Corresponding Author
Tamer Ali Al-Sabbagh
Department of Geography, The High Institute for Literary Studies, Alexandria, Egypt
Correspondence
Tamer Ali Al-Sabbagh, Department of Geography, The High Institute for Literary Studies, King Mariout, Alexandria, Egypt.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYijing Li
CUSP London, Department of Informatics, King’s College London, London, UK
Search for more papers by this authorYong Jei Lee
Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAhmed M. El Kenawy
Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Zaragoza, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorTamer Ali Al-Sabbagh,
Yijing Li,
Yong Jei Lee,
Ahmed M. El Kenawy,
Corresponding Author
Tamer Ali Al-Sabbagh
Department of Geography, The High Institute for Literary Studies, Alexandria, Egypt
Correspondence
Tamer Ali Al-Sabbagh, Department of Geography, The High Institute for Literary Studies, King Mariout, Alexandria, Egypt.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYijing Li
CUSP London, Department of Informatics, King’s College London, London, UK
Search for more papers by this authorYong Jei Lee
Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, Florida, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAhmed M. El Kenawy
Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Zaragoza, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Sexual harassment and gang rape in Egypt have garnered attention from both traditional and digital media. This study employed a volunteer HarassMap to analyse sexual harassment crimes (SHCs) across Egypt from a spatial perspective. The specific aims were to apply the Hierarchical Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (HDBSCAN) algorithm to locate clusters of reported SHCs, and to assess their spatial dependence on land use types. To accomplish this task, ring buffers of 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 metres were established around each crime scene to determine which land use was mostly associated with the incidence of these SHCs. Local bivariate relationships were used to explore the associations between SHC and each land-use category. Results from the HDBSCAN algorithm revealed four crime clusters within the study domain, mainly located in Greater Cairo, Alexandria, and Behaira. Notably, commercial establishments and transit stations showed a significantly positive correlation with SHC. The study shows how land uses shape SHC and showed that it is possible to identify environmental risk factors for harassment. These risk factors can help policymakers, urban planners, and community stakeholders prevent and reduce sexual harassment and gender inequality, and promote just and inclusive societies.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: Land use data were extracted from OpenStreetMap (https://www.openstreetmap.org/), and Sexual Harassment cases were extracted from (https://harassmap.org/ar).
REFERENCES
- Al-Sabbagh, T. A. (2022). GIS location-allocation models in improving accessibility to primary schools in Mansura city-Egypt. GeoJournal, 87(2), 1009–1026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10290-5
- Bansal, T., Roychowdhury, P., Rawat, P., Choubey, A. N., & Hoda, M. N. (2021). Gender and smart city: Canvassing (in) security in Delhi. GeoJournal, 87, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10369-z
- Blackstone, A., Uggen, C., & McLaughlin, H. (2009). Legal consciousness and responses to sexual harassment. Law and Society Review, 43(3), 631–668. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2009.00384.x
- Bondestam, F., & Lundqvist, M. (2020). Sexual harassment in higher education–a systematic review. European Journal of Higher Education, 10(4), 397–419. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2020.1729833
10.1080/21568235.2020.1729833 Google Scholar
- Brimicombe, A. J. (2005, August). Cluster detection in point event data having tendency towards spatially repetitive events. In The 8th Intl. Conf. On GeoComputation. https://doi.org/10.4000/cybergeo.8462
- Burn, S. M. (2019). The psychology of sexual harassment. Teaching of Psychology, 46(1), 96–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628318816183
- Ceccato, V. (2014). The nature of rape places. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 40, 97–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.05.006
- Ceccato, V., & Paz, Y. (2017). Crime in São Paulo’s metro system: Sexual crimes against women. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 19, 211–226. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41300-017-0027-2
10.1057/s41300-017-0027-2 Google Scholar
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (2022). The World Factbook: Egypt. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/egypt/
- Chainey, S., & Dando, J. (2005). Methods and techniques for understanding crime hot spots. In Mapping crime: Understanding hot spots (pp. 15–34). Google Scholar. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118685181
- Chainey, S., & Ratcliffe, J. (2013). GIS and crime mapping. John Wiley & Sons. Google Scholar
- Cochrane, L., Zeid, Y., & Sharif, R. (2019). Mapping anti-sexual harassment and changing social norms in Egypt. ACME: an International Journal for Critical Geographies, 18(2), 394–420. Google Scholar
- Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44, 588–608. https://doi.org/10.2307/2094589
- Dean, K. E., & Swartout, K. (2022). Sexual Assault Perpetration. In Handbook of interpersonal violence and abuse across the lifespan: A project of the National Partnership to end interpersonal violence across the lifespan (NPEIV) (pp. 3533–3556). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_188
10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_188 Google Scholar
- Di Martino, F., Loia, V., & Sessa, S. (2007). Extended fuzzy c-means clustering in GIS environment for hot spot events. In Knowledge-based intelligent information and engineering systems: 11th international conference, KES 2007, XVII Italian workshop on neural networks, Vietri sul Mare, Italy, September 12–14, 2007. Proceedings, part I 11 (pp. 101–107). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74819-9_13
10.1007/978-3-540-74819-9_13 Google Scholar
- Eck, J., & Weisburd, D. L. (2015). Crime places in crime theory. In Crime and place: Crime prevention studies (Vol. 4). Google Scholar
- Fahmy, A., Abdelmonem, A., Hamdy, E., Badr, A., Hassan, R., Rizzo, H., … Mansour, S. (2014). Towards A Safer City. In Sexual harassment in greater Cairo: Effectiveness of crowdsourced data. HarassMap. Google Scholar
- Felson, M., & Boivin, R. (2015). Daily crime flows within a city. Crime Science, 4(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-015-0039-0
10.1186/s40163-015-0039-0 Google Scholar
- Fitzgerald, L. F., Shullman, S. L., Bailey, N., Richards, M., Swecker, J., Gold, Y., Ormerod, M., & Weitzman, L. (1988). The incidence and dimensions of sexual harassment in academia and the workplace. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 32(2), 152–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(88)90012-7
- Fontes, K. B., Alarcão, A. C. J., Nihei, O. K., Pelloso, S. M., Andrade, L., & de Barros Carvalho, M. D. (2018). Regional disparities in the intimate partner sexual violence rate against women in Paraná state, Brazil, 2009-2014: An ecological study. BMJ Open, 8(2), e018437. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018437
- Foote, W. E. (2016). Sexual harassment: What forensic clinical psychologists need from social scientists. Psychological Injury and Law, 9, 253–264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-016-9266-2
10.1007/s12207-016-9266-2 Google Scholar
- Garfias Royo, M., Parikh, P., & Belur, J. (2020). Using heat maps to identify areas prone to violence against women in the public sphere. Crime Science, 9(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-020-00125-6
- Gerell, M. (2021). Does the association between flows of people and crime differ across crime types in Sweden? European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 27(3), 433–449. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-021-09478-3
- Gordon, A. D. (1999). Classification. CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780367805302
- Grove, N. S. (2015). The cartographic ambiguities of HarassMap: Crowdmapping security and sexual violence in Egypt. Security Dialogue, 46(4), 345–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010615583039
- Guo, D. (2010). Local entropy map: A nonparametric approach to detecting spatially varying multivariate relationships. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 24(9), 1367–1389. https://doi.org/10.1080/13658811003619143
- Hayes, C. (2014). Tackling gender-based violence with technology. Retrieved September 20, 2021, from https://www.genderit.org/resources/tackling-gender-based-violence-technology-case-studies-mobile-and-internet-technology. Google Scholar
- Hewitt, A. N., Beauregard, E., Andresen, M. A., & Brantingham, P. L. (2018). Identifying the nature of risky places for sexual crime: The applicability of crime pattern and social disorganization theories in a Canadian context. Journal of Criminal Justice, 57, 35–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.03.003
- Kaufman, L., & Rousseeuw, P. J. (2009). Finding groups in data: An introduction to cluster analysis. John Wiley & Sons. Google Scholar
- Khairy, M., Mahmoud, T. M., Abd-El-Hafeez, T., & Mahfouz, A. (2021). User Awareness of Privacy, Reporting System and Cyberbullying on Facebook. In Advanced machine learning technologies and applications: Proceedings of AMLTA 2021 (pp. 613–625). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69717-4_58
10.1007/978-3-030-69717-4_58 Google Scholar
- Lacks, M., Lamson, A., & Goodman, J. (2022). Biological, psychological, social, and spiritual health of active duty women: An exploratory study. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, 8(1), 90–101. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0008
10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0008 Google Scholar
- Letourneau, E. J., Schaeffer, C. M., Bradshaw, C. P., & Feder, K. A. (2017). Preventing the onset of child sexual abuse by targeting young adolescents with universal prevention programming. Child Maltreatment, 22(2), 100–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559517692439
- Li, L., Jiang, Z., Duan, N., Dong, W., Hu, K., & Sun, W. (2012). An approach to optimize police patrol activities based on the spatial pattern of crime hotspots. Service Science, Management, and Engineering: Elsevier, 141–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-397037-4.00008-9
10.1016/B978-0-12-397037-4.00008-9 Google Scholar
- Lundgren, R., & Amin, A. (2015). Addressing intimate partner violence and sexual violence among adolescents: Emerging evidence of effectiveness. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(1), S42–S50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.08.012
- Manazir, S. H., Govind, M., &
Rubina. (2019). My Safetipin Mobile phone application: Case study of E-participation platform for women safety in India. Journal of Scientific Research, 8(1), 47–53. https://doi.org/10.5530/jscires.8.1.7
10.5530/jscires.8.1.7 Google Scholar
- Marzouk, A., & Vanderveen, G. (2022). Fighting sexual violence in Egypt on social media: A visual essay on assault police. Global Public Health, 17(10), 2329–2341. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2021.1991972
- Masa, A., et al. (2012). A year of impunity: Violations committed against women human rights defenders in Egypt from august to December 2011, Nazra for feminist studies. Retrieved from: One Year of Impunity: Violations against Women Human Rights Defenders in Egypt from August to December 2011.
- McInnes, L., Healy, J., & Astels, S. (2017). Hdbscan: Hierarchical density based clustering. The Journal of Open Source Software, 2(11), 205. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.00205
10.21105/joss.00205 Google Scholar
- Minnery, J. R., & Lim, B. (2005). Measuring crime prevention through environmental design. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 330–341. Google Scholar
- Mohamed, A., & Van Nes, A. (2017). Towards safer greater Cairo: An investigation of space and sexual harassment. In Proceedings of the 11th Space Syntax Symposium (pp. 3–7).
- Mohamed, A. A., & Stanek, D. (2019). Street networks, pedestrian movement patterns and sexual harassment. Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 3(1), 7–28. https://doi.org/10.1332/239868019x15475690989380
10.1332/239868019X15475690989380 Google Scholar
- Mohamed, A. A., & Stanek, D. (2020). The influence of street network configuration on sexual harassment patterns in Cairo. Cities, 98, 102583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102583
- Pryor, J. B., LaVite, C. M., & Stoller, L. M. (1993). A social psychological analysis of sexual harassment: The person/situation interaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 42(1), 68–83. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1993.1005
- Radwan, N. (2011). How Egyptian women took Back the street between two ‘Black Wednesdays’: A first person account. Jadaliyya. February, 20. Google Scholar
- Russnák, J., Ondrejka, P., Herman, L., Kubíček, P., & Mertel, A. (2016). Visualization and spatial analysis of police open data as a part of community policing in the city of Pardubice (Czech Republic). Annals of GIS, 22(3), 187–201. Google Scholar
- Saleh, M. (2018). The role of online and social media in combating sexual harassment in Egypt. Google Scholar
- Schubert, E., Sander, J., Ester, M., Kriegel, H. P., & Xu, X. (2017). DBSCAN revisited, revisited: Why and how you should (still) use DBSCAN. ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS), 42(3), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3068335
- See, L., Mooney, P., Foody, G., Bastin, L., Comber, A., Estima, J., Fritz, S., Kerle, N., Jiang, B., Laakso, M., Liu, H. Y., Milčinski, G., Nikšič, M., Painho, M., Pődör, A., Olteanu-Raimond, A. M., & Rutzinger, M. (2016). Crowdsourcing, citizen science or volunteered geographic information? The current state of crowdsourced geographic information. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 5(5), 55. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi5050055
- Sherman, L. W., Gartin, P. R., & Buerger, M. E. (1989). Hot spots of predatory crime: Routine activities and the criminology of place. Criminology, 27(1), 27–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1989.tb00862.x
- Shoukry, A. (2008). ‘Clouds in Egypt’s sky’: Sexual harassment: From verbal harassment to rape: A sociological study. Google Scholar
- Sil, A., Chowdhury, S., & Thoreau, R. (2023). Moving towards an inclusive public transport system for women in the South and Southeast Asian region. Transport Reviews, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2023.2200983
- Soliman, H. H., Abdelmonem, A. A., & Koran, J. (2020). Adolescents’ perception of the threat of sexual harassment: The development of an index. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 29(5), 570–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2019.1667469
- Stefanidis, A., Crooks, A., & Radzikowski, J. (2013). Harvesting ambient geospatial information from social media feeds. GeoJournal, 78, 319–338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-011-9438-2
10.1007/s10708-011-9438-2 Google Scholar
- Stewart, G., & Al-Khassaweneh, M. (2022). An implementation of the HDBSCAN* clustering algorithm. Applied Sciences, 12(5), 2405. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12052405
- Stucky, T. D., & Ottensmann, J. R. (2009). Land use and violent crime. Criminology, 47(4), 1223–1264. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2009.00174.x
- Stucky, T. D., & Smith, S. L. (2017). Exploring the conditional effects of bus stops on crime. Security Journal, 30, 290–309. https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2014.16
- United Nations Development Program (UNDP). (2021). Human development indicators: Egypt. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/indicators/137506
- United Nations Women. (2013). Study on ways and methods to eliminate sexual harassment in Egypt. Retrieved from 2172-UN-Women-2013-Study-on-Ways-and-Methods-to-Eliminate-Sexual-Harassment-in-Egypt.pdf (gisf.ngo)
- United Nations Women. ST/SGB/2008/5. (2008). Prohibition of discrimination, harassment, including sexual harassment, and abuse of authority: retrieved from UN Women | UN System Coordination - Anti-harassment
- van Sleeuwen, S. E., Ruiter, S., & Steenbeek, W. (2021). Right place, right time? Making crime pattern theory time-specific. Crime Science, 10(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-021-00139-8
- Williams, S., & Coupe, T. (2017). Frequency vs. length of hot spots patrols: A randomised controlled trial. Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing, 1, 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41887-017-0003-1
10.1007/s41887-017-0003-1 Google Scholar
- Willness, C. R., Steel, P., & Lee, K. (2007). A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of workplace sexual harassment. Personnel Psychology, 60(1), 127–162. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00067.x
- World Bank. (2021). Egypt Overview. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/egypt/overview
- Yie, C. E., & Ping, N. T. S. (2021). Sexual harassment in workplace: A literature review. The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 9(8). https://doi.org/10.24940/theijhss/2021/v9/i8/HS2108-023
10.24940/theijhss/2021/v9/i8/HS2108-023 Google Scholar
- Yilma, A. D. (2019). Volunteer geographic information in Africa. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 42, 1615–1620. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-xlii-2-w13-1615-2019
10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W13-1615-2019 Google Scholar
- Yirmibesoglu, F., & Ergun, N. (2007). Property and personal crime in Istanbul. European Planning Studies, 15(3), 339–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310601017067
- Zagloul, N. M., Farghaly, R. M., ELKhatib, H., Issa, S. Y., & El-Zoghby, S. M. (2022). Technology facilitated sexual violence: A comparative study between working and non-working females in Egypt before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 12(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41935-022-00278-2
