Gender violence is a phenomenon in the Arab countries. The cases of violating females are increasing dramatically (Bateman, 2019). This violence is not associated with a specific religion, background, or class; it applies to everyone. Chelala (2019) said that 37% of women in these countries face domestic violence. Palestine faces violence from the Israeli occupation, and females are facing double the violence from males. Palestine has a high level of violence toward women (Bateman, 2019). According to the UN report, between 2014-2015, 200,000 women faced domestic violence in Palestine and Israel (Occupied Palestine).
Unfortunately, there are no laws to
protect these women, mainly in Palestine (Chelala, 2019). Moreover, if a female
reported violence from her family, the police would not do anything in most of
the cases. She will be advised to talk with relatives instead. Additionally,
some of the females will be ashamed to discuss their domestic violence in
public (Chelala, 2019).
Honor killing is very common in the
Arab countries and Palestine. Whenever a family or relative kills a female,
they refer it to honor killing so they will not be in jail for too long if they
are going to jail (GoPalestine, 2018). UN estimates that 5000 women are killed
by their family members each year. Honor is an indefinite and vague manner.
Some say that honor is critical in shaping gender identity, as honor was used
to contain the social status of a person within the community (GoPalestine,
2018). The term “Ird” in Arabic is associated with a woman’s honor
(GoPalestine, 2018). The person’s omission to remain by moral ethics will
decrease his dignity. This crash will spread to his/her social status in
society as well. The moral action of a lady will not alter her status in
society, while her misbehavior will surely diminish her image in her society
members’ eyes. Therefore, and considering that the action of a woman will
threaten the honor and the social status of the entire family, it may generate
a violent response, which might end her life (GoPalestine, 2018).
Among the many cases of women that
are killed under honor killing, I will briefly explain one of them. Israa
Ghrayeb was a 21-year old, she is not only from Palestine, but she is also from
my hometown Beit-Sahour (Bateman, 2019). She was a very successful person,
studying at the university English literature, and a famous make-up artist
(Bateman, 2019). Ghrayeb died on August 22, 2019 (Bateman, 2019). It was a huge
shock for all the people, particularly her friends, who were not convinced that
she passed away naturally. Her friends started publishing videos and
conversations for Israa and claiming that her family killed her for honor
killing (Bateman, 2019). The reason is that she went out with a man; who wanted
to propose; to a public place (Bateman, 2019). Her family denied everything,
but after forensic results, it was presented that she had beaten every day
using a belt by her brothers, and brother in law (Bateman, 2019). Palestinian
Attorney-General confirmed that Israa was a victim of violence and that she
faced physical and mental pressure from her family (Bateman, 2019). Israa's
relatives are in jail now, but only under investigation, as there is no
physical evidence for their crimes. Moreover, her father waived her rights in
court. It is unproved if Ghrayeeb passed away or murdered, but she did a
significant improvement in women’s rights in Palestine (Bateman, 2019). After
her death, many women started to protest and asking for new and updated laws
(Bateman, 2019). They demanded laws to protect women from violence, then
activists from all over the Middle East went out to support Palestinian women
(Bateman, 2019). The video below will help readers to understand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ohRz-v-ut8
The provided example and the topic of honor killing match well with this week's readings about GBV. Agarwal and Panda (2007) addressed the violence from the family; they argued that to escape the violence, females need to be economically capable or own a house or land, but how to achieve this in the Palestinian case? If there are unemployment, occupation, corrupt government, etc. I know a woman who had a big amount of money as an inheritance from her family, her husband took the money and spent it all, and he is beating her. As Logie et al. (2017) argued, gender norms and masculinity are reasons for this violence, and part of the solution is to provide social support and opportunities for education and employment.
References:
Agarwal, B., & Panda, P. (2007). Toward Freedom from Domestic Violence: The Neglected Obvious. Journal of Human Development, 8(3), 359–388. https://doi-org.proxy.library.ohio.edu/http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjhd20
Bateman, T. (2019). Israa Ghrayeb: Palestinian woman's death prompts soul-searching. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49688920
Carmen H. L., CarolAnn D., Uzma A., & Rebecca L. (2017). ‘Life under the tent is not safe, especially for young women’: understanding intersectional violence among internally displaced youth in Leogane, Haiti. Global Health Action, 10(0). https://doi-org.proxy.library.ohio.edu/10.1080/16549716.2017.1270816
Chelala, C. (2019). Domestic Violence in the
Middle East. Retrieved from https://www.theglobalist.com/middle-east-domestic-violence-gender-equality/
GoPalestine. (2019). Honor
Killing in Palestine: The PALESTINIAN Center. Retrieved from https://gopalestine.org/honor-killing-in-palestine/
Dina! We had a great discussion on gender based violence in the class and your reading certainly sheds a new light on the issue of GBV. Honor killings is something we weren't able to discuss during the session but I am glad you brought it up. Honor killings seem to be a major issue in India as well and is mostly based on inter-religion or inter-caste marriages. As per my knowledge, in India honor killing is not an issue of GBV but rather due to differences in socioeconomic structure,religion or caste. And in most cases both the partners endure violence irrespective of their gender. I would also like to highlight the point you made about females being sent back to the family post domestic violence citing it as a family matter. This seems to be a common practice and I think it stems from the concept of family matters being a private affair as Dr. Whitson mentioned in the class. Also, due to stigma of going against the men of the house, lack of social support, land or property and source of income makes it tougher for women to leave the situation and survive alone. Hence, Agarwal & Pandey (2007) advocate for property rights to be given to women in order for them to become self sufficient and somewhat financially independent. In case for your home country, I feel GBV lies at the intersection of many issues such as poverty, absence of women protection law, lack of education, employment etc. Because it is an intersectional issue focus on single matter will not yield result and hence it has to be a multi-directional approach tackling issues such as poverty, education, employment, including men into GBV discussion etc. simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteDina, thank you for highlighting the issue of gender-based violence in Palestine. In your post, you mentioned that there are no laws to protect these women in Palestine. This is evidence of a patriarchal society that underscores power structures that support inequality. In addition, this pattern and the subsequent forms of violence and discrimination are disseminated through social and cultural norms and practices around gender and sexuality. To effectively address the issue of violence against women, it is essential to recognize how negative concepts about masculinity and femininity validate men’s use of violence against women. The inequality between the status of men and women is another major reason for gender-based violence. This disparity involves beliefs that women should be economically reliant on men, and that women are meant to be under the control of a man. Asides from some of the solutions you pointed out, I think dismantling the social structures that are rooted in gender inequalities in this society will also help to address the issue of GBV.
ReplyDeleteDina, I found your blog to be a real eye opener about honor killings and GBV. Although, I did not think honor killings were still so prevalent in the MENA region, but I have heard they are frequent in India as Iman mentioned. Honor killings are clearly a form of controlling women’s behavior with violence and I found it most surprising that it is defined by the family or relatives. I believed the YouTube video mentioned it as immoral conduct deemed by the family members. I guess I am questioning why family members are the judge of what is considered immoral behavior. In any case, this is a clear cut abuse of human rights violations. Furthermore, families cultural or traditional values do not hold the power to deem what they see fit as immoral behavior. Honor killings are overlooked in society because as Oyinade mentions institutionalized patriarchal structures condone such behaviors. The only way to combat honor killings is to dismantle the patriarchal society and outlaw the practice globally.
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