The Egyptian Center for Women Rights (ECWR) broadcasted its third episode, “Domestic Violence: The Enemy that Lives Among Us”, of the online training titled “How to Live Happily”.
This episode discussed the rates of domestic violence in the Arab region. These rates showed that 26% of women in Egypt are exposed to domestic violence, where it is 25% in both Morocco and Yemen. Studies also show that despite the significant increase in the rates of domestic violence against women, the rate of victims reporting and seeking help only ranges between 2% to 7% which is very low.
Nehad AbulKomsan, the presenter of this training and the chairwoman of ECWR, asserted that men who practice domestic violence justify their actions using fallacious excuses such as “anger blinds me”, “the woman has to endure pain”, and other inherently-flawed cultural sayings that are translated as “when you break a rib for a woman, she grows another 24” which tries to reflect that women grow stronger and more obedient after they are hit beated. Moreover, men also use the excuse that the idea of women coming forward with their stories of domestic violence is scandalous and brings shame to them and to their families, thus, it is better to keep it between them.
Subsequently, Nehad AbulKomsan highlighted that it is the imbalance of power relations in families that is the main cause of domestic violence. Because when women possess any form of power – social or economic- that makes them in less danger of being victims of domestic violence. Therefore, the rule of law has to protect women’s status within society and within their households by issuing laws that ensure the balance of power relations and does not tolerate any form of abuse generally and domestic violence specifically. Moreover, there is a massive need for laws that not only criminalizes and outlaws domestic violence, but also impose severe penalties to whoever commits this crime against any woman.
Among many efforts towards combating domestic violence, AbulKomsan offered channels and modes of communication through which battered women can seek psychological and economic help. All of this besides advocating for gender equality in terms of achieving balance in power relations and applying the rule of law on every individual in society.
