Women abuse prevalent in Gulf: Activists

By Isa Mubarak

MANAMA - Discrimination and violence against women is prevalent in conservative, patriarchal Gulf Arab countries which often turn a blind eye to these taboo issues, human rights activists said on Monday.

Participants urged Gulf governments to enact laws that will protect women at a landmark conference on violence against women, sponsored by rights watchdog Amnesty International.

"Governments must send a strong message to those practicing violence against women that this is a crime which will not be tolerated," Abdel Salam Sidahmed, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, told reporters at the end of the two-day conference in Bahrain.

Source: [Reuters]

Activists said there were no statistics on violence against women in the Gulf, but added that abuse was widely practiced in the region where relations between the sexes are governed by conservative, tribal norms and a strict interpretation of Islam.

"Research in five Gulf Arab countries have found a big number of cases of violence or discrimination that leads to violence," said Amnesty's Dina El-Mamoun.

Oil wealth has brought modern infrastructure, Western customs and an army of Asian and European workers to the region.

Women hold ministerial posts and run businesses in most Gulf countries, but that does not stop ordinary Gulf Arabs from discriminating against their female relatives. In Saudi Arabia, the region's political kingpin, women are not allowed to drive or even hold bank accounts in their name.

Women in the region are also discouraged from discussing abuse, even rape, for fear of being stigmatised by society.

"Women refrain from reporting abuses by their husbands because they are taught by their families to be patient and keep family secrets," Rania al-Baz, a Saudi television presenter who was savagely beaten by her husband last year, told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.

Baz, who suffered 13 facial fractures after her husband repeatedly slammed her head against the floor, informed the media about her beating, hoping it would encourage other women to come out into the open about domestic abuse.

The case, which made headlines throughout the region, led to a Saudi court granting her an unusual divorce.

The conference called on governments to provide housing facilities for abused women and to set up hotlines to report violent crimes. It also suggested setting up a regional research centre to collate statistics and conduct studies on the matter.