In a place of sport in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo, three veiled young women are learning how to defend yourself. Their teacher is a large man wearing a long loose tunic with a white shirt. He shows off moves of Aikido, Japanese martial arts. One young woman is Dawlat Sami. The 21-year-old woman is studying to become a female bodyguard. "Initially, my father objected," said Sami told CNN. "But then dad went with me and see what we lalukan. And he changed his mind."
When the women were not practicing Aikido or weight lifting in the presence of old black and white pictorial poster Arnold Schwarzenegger, they learn in class. Lessons emphasize on how to stay alert, be professional and not too berakrab ria with the client.
Profession as a guardian of a woman who seemed not to have a place in Egypt, recently become a promising new business fields. At least for the employer in the Sami Falcon, a security services company in Egypt. In the last three years, the Falcon, which is one prominent security company in Egypt, has trained more than 300 female guards. Market demand will continue to increase female bodyguards, according to Khalid Sharif, director of Falcon. "In our society, women do not want his bag searched or examined by a man," he said. Falcon, a subsidiary of the Egyptian bank CIB, employs 3800 security officers. The company provides services ranging from personal protection, escort remittances, to the manufacture of security systems. In 2008, the Falcons managed to record a net profit of 2.3 million dollars. Falcon regularly advertise in the newspapers of Egypt, they are looking candidate guards aged between 20 to 35 years. Requirement is in addition to having completed high school, must also have skills in martial arts. In addition to pass the medical test, applicants must also pass the skills test test address. English language skills get better value. "If a woman client will go abroad, we must provide a female bodyguard who has all those skills are," said Muhammad Salah, one of the managers are always in touch with the customer. Falcon customers consist of movie stars, pop music diva, the princess royal, the women entrepreneurs from the oil-rich country, foreign visitors and other famous people, called Khalid as "elite woman." The women guards were not armed. The way they protect the client, first by diplomatic stance. But if the subtle ways fail, then they can paralyze opponents. The women were taught to be able to think fast and agile. "Physical issues are not too important," said Khalid. "What is important (for the female bodyguard) is able to recognize suspicious people and react quickly. Because of security problems, if you are just a little late, then the worse the consequences." The women who worked for the Falcon was very aware, that their martial arts skills are also useful when it is outside the task. "If there is a problem, or someone bothers me, now I know how to defend themselves," said Amani Mahmoud.
Sexual Harassment
According to the opinion survey conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR), as much as 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women who visit the country are sexually abused. Egypt seeks to overcome it, for example, punishing a man sentenced to prison for three years in prison for disturbing a woman on the street, as happened in 2008. But the effort was still considered less, because often the Egyptian police, whose wages are small and often are not trained properly, protests by women.
So do not be surprised if some women decided to step in overcoming it.
"It's also a proof," said Randa Mohammed, one of his female bodyguards.
"People said women could not work as a bodyguard, but I want to change such a view. I wanted to show that women can defend themselves, while protecting other people," said Randa.
Falcon is not the first in the Middle East using the woman as a bodyguard. Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi had for years known as the female guards are swiftly and sternly.
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