27 December 2008
Wafiqa Al Dakheel, supervisor of HRC’s women’s wing, explained that the campaign is aimed at enlightening women of their rights as part of its responsibility to Saudi society.
According to press information, the campaign comes in the wake of the growing number of cases of domestic violence across the kingdom. Nearly 230 such cases were reported in
Enaam Raboue, president of the Association for Family Protection in Jeddah, said her organisation received more than 250 family violence cases in the last five months.
She added that mental illness, drug abuse, alcoholism, poverty, unemployment and a lack of religious commitment and education were some of the reasons for family violence. The Council of Ministers last month reiterated the government’s resolve to protect the rights of women. It also called for more efforts to increase awareness among women about their rights.
Abdullah Saaty of the
Abdul Razak Al Zahrani of Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University said a committee of experts should be formed to look into family violence cases. “Newly married couples must be given guidance on how to avoid conflicts in family life,” he said, and added that mosques, schools and the media have their roles to play.
Al Dakheel stressed the need to provide legal and social assistance to women who are victims of family violence. “The campaign will highlight the importance of devising an effective plan to stop violence against women and establish centres to treat the victims of such violence,” she added.
The campaign also aims to educate men on the need to improve their treatment of women.
The campaign includes seminars on the rights of divorced women, special needs women and Saudi women married to foreigners.
There will be a competition for the best article highlighting violence against women. Articles published between
According to a study conducted by Khaled Al Radihan, an assistant professor of anthropology at
In his questionnaire, Al Radihan classified violence into eight categories — physical, verbal, sexual, social, psychological, health-related, economic and violence in the form of negligence and deprivation — and gave examples illustrating each type of violence.
He categorised the 267 women into married and single. Results showed that married women are abused mainly by their husbands; single women are abused by their male siblings more frequently than their fathers.
He said that economic abuse is when the husband forcefully takes his wife’s money or when he applies for a bank loan under her name without her
consent.
The results of his research showed that 67 per cent of women suffer from economic abuse. “Economically abusing a woman also includes depriving her of her inheritance, which is very common here,” he added.
According to Al Radihan, there are many reasons for violence against women. She could be really stubborn and difficult to deal with, she might have unbearable financial demands and she might not obey her male guardian.
“The majority of men who abuse their women violently do so because of ‘male honour and female infidelity,’ which damages a man’s reputation that he believes, can be partially restored through the use of violence,” he added.
Moreover, women are subjected to violence because of a lack of solid safeguards. It is difficult for victims to reach out for help because of the bureaucracy of security organisations, and lack of family guidance centres.
“It’s still a taboo for women to talk about these issues to people outside their family. We need to spread awareness among these women and educate them about their rights. We need to provide enough support and assistance while maintaining confidentiality to encourage women to seek help when they need it,” Al Radihan said.
