The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) broadcasted the first episode of the online training of “How to Live Our Lives Happily and Without Violence”, the title of the episode was “The Meaning of Happiness”.
First off, Mrs. Nehad AbulKomsan, the President of ECWR and the presenter of the online training, began with discussing the meaning of “happiness”. And how, as a concept, “happiness” has many definitions from different perspectives; psychologically or linguistically. However, what all of the different definitions agree on is that it contains the sense of being secure and safe.
AbulKomsan also pointed out that the hierarchical order of human needs are based on 5 levels, and achieving every level makes the person also feel a certain level of happiness. The most important level of them all that gives the person the maximum feeling of happiness is the sense of safety. This feeling of safety only comes as a byproduct of healthy relationships without any form of violence.
From this point on, AbulKomsan asked the question: are our homes safe for all family members? Especially women? The rates of domestic violence against women in Egypt answers this question by stating that 46% of women and young girls have faced all forms of violence; sexual, physchological, and physical. And 35% of women suffer from this violence inside their households. Consequently, this has a huge, and negative, impact on men and women’s quality of life.
AbulKomsan stated that the only reason behind the occurrence of violence is the imbalance in relationships. Violence is typically bred from someone who has so much negative energy and takes it out on a woman. Then the vicious cycle continues when this woman takes it out on her child.
Balancing relationships in a household takes a strong family, or financial independence, or power. And even when a family lacks all of that, the law should be enough of a force to ensure the balance of relationships within a given family. Therefore, you can find that states who enforce these protective laws has small rates of domestic violence against women.
