Physical and sexual violence against women rampant the region
Thousands of women in the Middle East have plugged into the international “me too” movement—ignited by a tweet from American actress Alyssa Milano—which aims to raise awareness of sexual harassment and assault. Milano encouraged females to respond, in a show of solidarity, if they had ever been abused or insulted.
Speaking to The Media Line, a sexual harassment victim, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed how harrowing it is to live in the Middle East, where women experience such abuse on a daily basis. “Harassment is part of the culture and environment,” she contended. “People lack knowledge about their bodies and sexual suppression generates unacceptable behavior.”
The woman claimed that in most cases the law does not protect females nor deter attackers. “We live in a male-dominated society and therefore men should come out and protest in the streets and demand protection for women. I sent out ‘me too’ tweets to tell all the girls out there that you are not alone and also to induce men to become aware of what we are going through,” she stressed.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, and the international research group Promundo, last year interviewed more than 10,000 men and women in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority to discover the reasons behind the shocking prevalence of harassment. When men were asked if they ever harassed females on the street, a stunning 64% of respondents in Egypt, the country where this is most prevalent, admitted to doing so. This figure dipped to 33% in Morocco.
A separate UN Women study showed that educated men were more likely to commit sexual harassment, whereas the more educated the woman, the more likely she was to experience abuse. The group also found that men aim to reassert their damaged masculinity, caused by poor economic conditions, by abusing women.
Najah Abu-Hudaiba, the president of the Albaqa women’s organization in Jordan, told The Media Line that harassment in the region occurs in large part because women lack the knowledge and tools to defend themselves. “I have been working on spreading sexual awareness among women for 17 years and I have not discerned any change regarding harassment and assault,” she told The Media Line. “Women come forward and tell me their stories; however, they do not take legal action. Society should make the effort to end the harassment, the government must be responsible for enacting legislation to eliminate the evil.”
Laila Awaida, a lawyer for the Lebanese NGO Kafa, views the new “me too” social media campaign as a positive initiative as it enables victims to effect change. She explained to The Media Line that the male-dominated culture in the Middle East has fostered tolerance towards sexual abuse while placing the blame on females. “It’s always her fault, society always blames her for going out at night, uncovered and so many other excuses.”
According to Awaida, when there are no laws in place to protect women and make them feel safe, society will always pressure the victims of harassment to remain quiet. The prevalent attitude is “don’t ask, don’t tell,” she concluded.
“Don’t say anything. Do you want a scandal that would ruin your reputation?”