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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The word is out
By Mariz Tadros
How do we explain the fact that one in three women in Egypt are exposed to domestic violence at least once in their life? Why don't women file reports against their offenders? And what are we to make of the institutionalised forms of violence to which some women are subjected? These were some of the questions discussed at a recent workshop on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), organised by the German development agency Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung.Discussing women's exposure to violence in the Egyptian context is still a relatively new idea -- and one that arouses heated responses. Some scoff at the thought of even holding a conference to discuss such a matter: don't we have more important social issues to tackle? Denial is another common response: "That kind of thing does not happen in our country." Others are cautious: "we shouldn't be discussing such personal issues publicly, it doesn't do good to anyone" But this was not just another feminist gathering to discuss women's victimisation; what is particularly significant about this workshop is that NGOs had an opportunity to air their grievances and talk about their experiences working with victims of violence before policy makers, who in turn were asked what their respective ministries are doing to improve the situation.
Four principal issues were discussed: domestic violence, as the most prevalent form; FGM another popular form of violence; rape; and institutionalised violence.
Once a hush-hush subject, the issue of domestic violence is slowly beginning to surface in public forums, though many still refuse to see it as affecting more than a handful of women. Those who believe that the phenomenon is very widespread challenge such perceptions: "Is it that men who beat up their wives enjoy it, are they sadistic or sick in the head?" Nawla Darwish from the New Woman Research Centre threw the question at the audience, then suggested an answer herself. She argued that it is irrational to think that all men who beat up their wives are sadistic, especially since "Egyptian society is not characterised by violence", and speculated that wife-beating could reflect men's frustration at their inability to convince their spouse by words alone. The phenomenon, however, is embedded in our culture, she added, citing a proverb to the effect that, if you break a girl's limb, she will grow 24 instead. Social and economic considerations also make women think twice before speaking out against beating, she added. According to the Egyptian Demographic Health Survey of 1995, one third of women said they had been beaten by their husbands at least once; of this third, 45 per cent said they had been beaten up at least once during the past year, while another percentage needed medical treatment because of the beating. One third of those who had been beaten said this had occurred even when they were pregnant.
One of the questions Darwish posed policy makers was: what is the state doing to encourage women to report violence, and what rehabilitation services exist for battered women?
Mahmoud Shukri, first deputy for social development at the Ministry of Social Affairs, did not speak about what the state is doing to help women report violence, but he did say that the Ministry's new strategy includes setting up shelters, fully staffed by specialists, for women fleeing violence. He also mentioned a series of projects focusing on women, including a joint endeavour with UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, to eliminate harmful practices against women.
The Ministry of Education, represented by Mohamed Khalil, first deputy and head of the education department for Cairo governorate, had less to say about efforts to address the issue. Rather than discussing ways of discouraging violence against women, Khalil spoke of the ministry's efforts in reducing drop-out rates among female students. And sexual harassment at school by peers or by teachers and headmasters? "It does not happen, and when it does, the strictest punitive measures are applied."
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Interior sent no representative to address activists' concerns regarding the treatment of assault victims in police stations and the treatment of women by police officers in general. The ministry had strongly objected to allegations that women are sexually abused in police stations and therefore boycotted the meeting.
Magda Adli from El-Nadim Centre for the rehabilitation of victims of violence spoke passionately about the dilemma facing a victim of assault. "If she tells her parents, they either keep silent or they try to marry her off to the man who raped her. If she chooses not to tell anyone, and then there are manifestations of a pregnancy, her life may be taken from her in the name of defending the family honour -- that is, assuming that the offender does not kill her after failing to rape her, or out of fear that she will cause a scandal." If the victim does have the courage to report the offence, contended Adli, she is likely to be treated as the accused: "She will get that 'look' from doctors and nurses in hospitals that is given to a woman whose virtue is suspect."
Henpecked husbands? Brutish wives have been a favourite theme of cartoonists with irony (or misogyny) on their mind. Here, a 1935 caricature by Saroukhan, published in Rose El-Youssef, takes up the issue
According to one estimate, said Adli, an average of 10,000 rape cases are recorded yearly, excluding Upper Egypt, "and of course this does not include incest, because society does not acknowledge that we have an incest problem, despite the fact that many of us feel that cases are increasing."
Women are sometimes the victims of unspoken institutionalised violence too, added Adli. "Sometimes a woman is exposed to humiliation at the hands of the state that is supposed to protect her: a woman may be unfairly detained and threatened with beatings, threatened with rape."
Mahmoud Ghoneim from the Ministry of Justice dismissed the idea of abuse in police stations. "Maybe in some circumstance or with some people this occurred, and it is unacceptable whether it is used on a child, a man or a woman." He said that in his 10 years of experience working with the General Prosecutor, he never witnessed any abuse of authority; in the rare cases that did occur, the perpetrators were punished.
He also asserted that the state has no vested interest in keeping issues such as rape and incest secret, simply because it is not the perpetrator of such violence.
But Adli protested that the state does seek to keep such issues hidden, "because the state is a signatory of international treaties and conventions, which the world expects it to observe, and consequently it does not want to expose the kind of abuses that go on". She insisted on the need to talk about our problems honestly and openly.
All NGOs activists agree that a strict penal code is simply not a sufficient deterrent. Even with a strict penal code, judges still retain the power to let offenders off lightly because of the judge's prerogative, which is guaranteed in the law. Azza Soliman from CEWLA (Centre for Egyptian Women's Legal Aid), for example, was concerned that crimes of honour are handed lenient sentences for this reason. Judges sometimes empathise with fathers and brothers who kill a female member of their family to salvage the family honour, she asserted.
While Judge Ghoneim believes that the real crisis in Egypt is not one of law but of society and behaviour, many participants felt that legislation itself is discriminatory. Only if this problem is tackled, they argued, will efforts to effect social change acquire legitimacy. Many times during the seminar, however, it was felt that NGO activists and government officials were speaking two different languages, reflecting a disparity in their perceptions of the issues at hand. This partly explains the absence of a comprehensive strategy coordinating the efforts of NGOs and the government.
Within the NGO community itself, there is difficulty in reaching out to the many grassroots organisations interested in women's issues. The outcome: one participant at the workshop noted in dismay that the problem with many seminars or conferences is that they always preach to the converted. When it comes to fighting violence, in other words, it seems that the silence has certainly been shattered; but the word has yet to go around.
