The Mediterranean Youth Foundation for Development – MYF strongly urges the Ministry of Transport/ Transportation, the National Authority for Tunnels and National Council for Women to urgently revise the regulations related to the time limits on women’s-only carriages in the Cairo Metro system.  

The current reversal of women’s second compartment to co-ed uses after 9 pm does not provide the necessary coverage to ensure full protection for female commuters as there is a “security void” that creates an increased risk for women to encounter harassers and aggressors at late hours. We request the preservation of both women’s-only carriages until 12 am to provide women with security.  

Women’s Safety and Segregation Policies in Cairo Metro  

• The Cairo Metro is an important part of the everyday life of millions of women in Egypt because it provides an opportunity to travel quickly at an affordable price. Nonetheless, a woman’s commute does not only involve getting there but is also about finding a way to remain safe in public.  

• The institutional decision to reserve specific cars for women in the Cairo Metro dates back to 1989, just two years after the first subway line was commissioned. This policy was initially introduced as a response to massive road congestion and the need to manage the “new types of behavior” resulting from the introduction of a modern technological subway system. 

• While the measure is often associated today with preventing sexual harassment, in the late 1980s sexual harassment had not yet emerged as a public problem in Egypt. Instead, the separation was primarily intended to provide women with more “comfort” and safety amidst the great density of passengers. Furthermore, it served a “civilizing” dimension, aimed at modernizing urban behavior and ensuring the subway remained an international, “high-tech” symbol of urban civilization. 

• The current confusion within the Cairo Metro stems from operating two different types of women-only carriages simultaneously. The first type is permanently designated for women from the start of service until closing (approximately 12:00 – 1:00 AM), with men strictly prohibited at all times. The second type operates conditionally: it is reserved for women only until 9:00 PM, after which it converts into a mixed-use carriage.   

• The official justification for this time limit relies on operational logic: authorities argue that ‘rush hour’ ends by 9:00 PM. This conditional aspect creates a significant disjunction in the safety regime. When the second carriage reverts to mixed-use after 9:00 PM, this change in time is an opportunity for harassers and intruders to present an argument that they have lawful access to the women’s area. This compromises the entire intent and purpose of women-only areas, particularly during periods of least congestion at stations when it is most important for women to feel safe and secure.  

• This justification becomes even more questionable when compared with other public transportation systems in Egypt. In the Light Rail Transit (LRT), women-only carriages remain exclusively designated for women until the end of daily service without any time restriction, demonstrating that maintaining such safe spaces throughout all operating hours is both feasible and already implemented within Egypt’s modern transportation system 

Why Women’s Safety Cannot Be Time-Restricted 

• Recent reports outline an example of what has been termed “hours of horror,” The rush of men and their storming of the women’s carriages after 9 pm under the pretext that they have become mixed exposes women and girls to serious risks, including harassment, theft, and verbal and physical assaults. 

• According to the UN Habitat report, 90% of women consider the women-only carriages in the Cairo Metro essential for their safety. Furthermore, the report explicitly states that women face ‘higher levels of insecurity in the evening and at night’, which directly contradicts the decision to remove the women-only designation after 9:00 PM.  

• The frequent presence of male passengers in women-only carriages after 9:00 PM has prompted urgent parliamentary intervention. Marwa Borais has officially called on both the National Authority for Tunnels and the Ministry of Transport, in order to amend the regulations regarding the extension of the designation of women-only carriages, which would allow for the continuance of women-only carriages until the conclusion of daily operations; instead of ceasing 

• at 9 PM. Bouris stated that “the safety of women cannot be dependent on a certain time period”, and that permitting men to enter these carriages at a late hour ‘creates overcrowding and potential for harassment’ for women travelling home from work or study, and that “the Metro administration continues to have an ongoing obligation to provide for passenger safety, irrespective of time, and therefore exclusive safe spaces should remain exclusive at all times”. 

• Women also represent a significant proportion of Egyptian society. According to national demographic data, women constitute approximately 49% of Egypt’s population, compared to 51% men. this near parity highlights that women are not a minority group within public transportation systems. Ensuring adequate safe spaces for women in the metro is therefore not a special privilege, but a necessary measure to guarantee equitable and safe mobility for nearly half of the population.