One in four married women in Syria is a victim of domestic violence, noted a report released recently by the state-run Syrian General Union of Women (SGUW).
According to the study, funded by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, 22% of married women were assaulted either verbally or physically, with 50% of these citing verbal abuse and 48% saying they were beaten. The 60-page report also noted that 72% of assaulted women were beaten by a male family member, such as a husband, father or brother.
The study, which surveyed nearly 1 900 families, pointed out that women were beaten for reasons ranging from neglecting household duties to “bombarding husbands with too many questions”.
Researcher and women’s activist Maya al-Rahbi said the statistics on domestic violence were “expected” and called for “efforts through many channels to combat the phenomenon”.
Civil rights activist Rudaina Haider, while suggesting the figures were inaccurately high, conceded that violence against woman was fairly common. “We’re in need of a culture that promotes awareness of social issues,” she said. “We also need to change some of the laws that discriminate against women.” Rudaina linked the problem to “men’s fear that women could usurp their positions”, pointing out that Syrian women have often occupied important political positions.
In recent decades, the number of women appointed to political postings has increased considerably. In 2003, for example, women occupied 30 seats of the 250-seat People’s Assembly — the highest figure ever. In the judiciary branch, meanwhile, almost 20% of lawyers are women, while there are also some 150 female judges. Most recently, Najah Attar, a writer and former culture minister, was appointed assistant vice-president in March, making her one of the highest-ranking female government officials in the Arab world.
The SGUW study was published in the ruling Ba’ath Party newspaper, the first time the sensitive issue was tackled in the public press. Bassam Qadi, who supervises a website devoted to women’s issues, praised the report, calling it “the first official acknowledgement” of the phenomenon.
Until recently, noted Qadi, “discussion of domestic violence against women in the official press was taboo”. He went on to explain that a recent openness to discussion of the topic had yielded a “National Plan to Defend Women” as a starting point for addressing the problem. The national plan aims to educate women about their rights, establish associations mandated with defending women’s rights and lower female unemployment rates.
According to al-Rahbi, the problem must also be dealt with on a legal level, by “working out laws which would prevent violence against women”. Secondly, traditions that justify or encourage violence against woman must be challenged. Finally, she said, women must be adequately educated so as to be both aware of their rights and in order to get and maintain jobs.
On a legal level, lawyer Saeed Omar pointed out that Syrian law does not recognise crimes committed by family members against daughters, particularly if they marry outside their ethnic or religious communities. Omar demanded amendments to the penal code guaranteeing adequate punishments to men who kill female relatives to preserve family honour.
Hanaa Qaddourah of the SGUW pointed out that violence against women was most frequent in the countryside, where “men are not well-educated and a mentality of machismo is common”. She added that in isolated rural areas, local tradition tends to supersede the tenets of national law.
Hanaa agreed that the root of the problem was a lack of knowledge among women, even educated ones, about the law. “That’s why the SGUW has taken on the responsibility of educating women on their rights,” she said.
Nevertheless, Hanaa stressed: “Beating doesn’t feature highly in the study — rebuking and scolding represent the most common form of violence against women”. — Irin