Women and Confronting Violence, between Society Oppression and Lack of Protection Substitutes

News | 27 12 2021

"I am afraid of scandal", "I cannot bear consequences" , "protection substitutes were not enough", these are some of the responses received by Rozana from Syrian women who have been subjected to violence from their husbands. Some of whom fear confrontation for societal reasons, or for protection substitutes, or because they do not know the appropriate ways to protect their rights.

In this exploration, the journalist presents the reasons that prevent women from reporting the incidents of violence they face, especially refugee women in Turkey.

This material was produced with support of the JHR institution, Journalists for Human Rights.

Through a questionnaire implemented by Rozana, 24 women out of 51 (total participants) confirmed that they were subjected to violence. One of them stated that she was beaten and humiliated, so she left the house and abandoned her children. She settled with her mother and started working in a sewing workshop.

Some of the women that participated in the questionnaire stated that women are able to confront and stop violence despite all difficulties through proper recourse to laws that protect women and to organizations that assist women subjected to violence and guiding them to the right ways to obtain their rights with the least possible harm. However, the challenges that they encounter are not easy.

According to a statement to Razana by Kaitha Asaad Daly, the mental health trainer at "Tastakel" Organization within a Project of "George Mason" University, the unsupportive society of woman, her ignorance of the law of the host country, her fear for her own children and even for her husband from the punishment of the host country, the difficult material situation, lack of shelters, and the absence of civil society institutions’ role, all these reasons may affect the decision of woman to confront violence.

"What happened is a disaster" Sham said to Rozana

Twenty Years of Violence

Sham Muhammad is a nickname of a fifty-two years old woman living in Ghaziantep province south of Turkey. She barely agreed to tell her suffering story with her husband who has been abusing her for more than 20 years.

Sham does not think to resort to the judiciary or to seek the assistance of the concerned organizations, because of the results of her relative Malak Al-Ali (30 years) , a nickname of a woman from Gaziantep city that chose not to show her identity.

Customs and traditions are considered a major reason that prohibits many Syrian women from appearing publicly in the media, especially when it comes to confronting violence or discussing any negative phenomenon associated with women's rights in society.

A questionnaire implemented by Rozana

Sham represents dozens of Syrian women, who are subjected to violence in all its forms by their relatives, and decide to remain silent because of circulating an idea in society (experts confirm that it is not true) that: "Resorting to judiciary or to women protection institutions is complex and useless, and its results will not bring positive change to the family and its cohesion."

"What happened is a disaster" Sham said to Rozana describing what happened with her relative Malak after resorting to the judiciary and women rights organizations, noting that it had very little positive impact.

Sham attributes the reason to the long period of the judicial proceedings, the delays that took place due to the conditions of COVD-19 pandemic, and the meager compensation that does not match the size of the great damages that Malak faced while defending her right.

Law and Protection of Women

Turkish laws prohibit domestic violence, they include measures to protect family and prevent violence against women, and allow a person suffering from domestic violence to consult the concerned units, take protection services, housing, law, and medicine.

The Turkish authorities allow via KADES, the mobile phone application to combat violence against women, the possibility to report violent incidents in one click. The women counselling centers in various provinces provide services to women and children under the age of 12 who have been subjected to violence within the family.

Through number183, the Social Service Hotline provides psychological, economic and legal support to women who experience or are likely to experience violence and provides them with the services they need.

The problem of language and communication, the permanent lack of necessary technological means, and the societal obstacles (rejection the idea of complaints and filing lawsuits) may make it difficult for some Syrian women in Turkey to take such a step, especially when they are subjected to violence that require a rapid intervention.

The delay by women in facing violence is considered an aggravating cause of the problem. According to experts, the women’s refraining of solving violent cases at the beginning leads to their development to levels that are difficult to overcome. Therefore, the request for counselling and the search for solutions should not be delayed.

Society and Confronting Violence

The mental health trainer Kaitha Asaad asserts to Rozana that if women have appropriate alternatives and support after divorce decision such as an appropriate friend, a supportive entity, opportunity to work, and an economic independence, they will certainly take this decision.

Kaitha adds that women may live under pressures that may lead to the so-called Stockholm syndrome, meaning that the victim sympathizes with her torturer, living in the illusion of trying to satisfy her surroundings, celebrating the image of the mother victim. This particularly occurs in the Eastern societies.

Malak told Rozana her story, she confirmed that all members of her family, including her mother and father, stood against her. They described her step to go to the judiciary and the concerned organizations of protection of women in Turkey as a scandal.

The story began when Malak experienced a severe violence incident from her husband. Where she received several punches and was beaten by the foot on her face and body, leaving "painful and gruesome" traces in her eye and flank. According to her story to Rozana.

Society and Confronting Violence - Rozana

Malak directly submitted a complaint to the police before resorting to organizations that help women to find out the right and appropriate means to confront violence, and offer them alternatives to their protection such as shelter insurance, food assistance, and money amounts that are described as "symbolic."

Malak provided the police with the necessary documentation to prove that she was subjected to violence. The matter turned into a lawsuit which caused trouble to Malak since her family rejected any action against her husband on the grounds of preventing the "scandal." Also, for the sake of her children (she has three sons) and because of the duration of the proceedings, which lasted for two years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During that period, Malak’s family tried to pressure her several times to force her to stand down and to drop the lawsuit. But with her insistence to rely on the judiciary, her father decided to kick her out of the house, so she went to her relatives and friends.

"The concept of shame is controlling our societies; it interferes in every detail of our lives. This concept prevented people from intervening to save and protect women, it forced women not to spread whatever was happening in their homes. All this is to devote subjugation of women to men". The social researcher "Wadha Al-Othman" told Rozana.

"The psychological state I went through cannot be described. I was beaten and psychologically hurt by my closest person (my father and husband). My mother has nothing to do but support my father, who responds very violently to anyone who disagrees with him." Malak said to Rozana.

She adds: "I stayed with my uncle's wife for a few days, and because of my uncle's viewpoint that showed sympathy for my husband, I moved to my friend's house and then I tried to turn to women organizations."

Lack of alternatives

The compensation provided by women's organizations seemed insufficient to encourage women to claim their rights. Some women did not find sufficient alternatives to their minimum living requirements and others refused to place themselves in need and receive material assistance.

The woman continues her story to Rozana: "After making a great effort, and communicating with my friends, I was able to convey my suffering to the Women's Protection Department of the Refugee Association, which is based in Istanbul and has offices in various provinces, including Gaziantep."

The association granted Malak with a home, symbolic compensation, and psychological counseling services, but this was not commensurate with the extent of the damage suffered by Malak, according to her description.

Malak explained: "All the compensation that was provided was not enough to restore my dignity and rights stolen by my family and my husband. I never felt safe and comfortable, because my father pursued and searched for me, and I was secretly communicating with my mother to check on her and my children who stayed with my husband's family."

Fear and a Feeling of Disability

Social researcher Wadha Al-Othman assures Rozana that women's financial independence is the most important step to protect them from violence. She adds: "If every woman had taken a stand the first time she was subjected to violence, men would not have dared to repeat that."

Sham, the wife of Malak's uncle, who hosted her for days at her home, to protect her from her father's threats, stated that she used to her husband’s violence, and when she was thinking of resorting to the judiciary in case she was subjected to severe violence, she was reluctant to do so.

Sham told Rozana: "I do not want to lose my family and relatives. I do not have to bear the disastrous consequences for Malak, and I realized from her story that there are consequences beyond my ability that I cannot bear, even for one day."

Sham, like Malak and many women, does not know that they can resort to organizations that guide them in the correct ways to confront violence, provide them with information on how to obtain their rights and protect them legally, and help them overcome any negative societal effects.

Sham says: "I have no choice but to follow what my husband tells me literally without any objection, which is what my father recommended to me on my wedding night, that obedience to the husband is above everything and that I agree with him in everything, even if he says milk is black."

Sham concluded her speech to Rozana by saying: "I feel helpless, I cannot protect myself, although the solutions are in front of me, but society is ruthless, and the results do not always come well. I fear for my children and do not want to stay away from them."

Law and Protection of Women - Rozana

One of the questionnaire respondents, 24, who lives in the state of Adana in southern Turkey stated that she was beaten by her husband and could not do anything, and the same is true of her female relatives.

Another 28-year-old woman who lives in Syria said in the questionnaire that most women in her area (which she did not specify), are subjected to violence by their parents or husbands, and they cannot stop this violence or even reveal and complain to any responsible party.

The war in Syria has caused an increase in levels of violence against women, as a result of the judicial bodies’ focus on political issues, as well as societal factors that tolerate or allow women to be subjected to abuse and prevent them from resorting to the law under the pretext of “scandal.”

But the matter remains different outside Syria, especially in Turkey that hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, as the law grants multiple means of protection, and international organizations are working to raise awareness and correct wrong societal ideas about women’s confrontation with violence and their pursuit of their rights.

Delayed Solutions Produce New Types of Violence

According to a report by Women Now Organization entitled “An in-depth reading for Syrian women about the present and the future and the concepts related to them,” women listed types of violence that were not expected, including the violence of nostalgia, the violence of asylum, the violence of displacement, the violence of places, and the violence of romantic relationships after the start of the revolution and during the war violence of detention, violence of displacement, violence of identity.

After 2011, the number of cases requiring women to have the right to pass their nationality to their children increased, including cases of childbearing as a result of the rape of female detainees, the marriage of Syrian women to unidentified foreign fighters, in addition to violations in displacement camps.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls on 25 November 2021, the Syrian Network for Human Rights recommended in a report to the international community the need to secure protection and assistance for forcibly displaced females and refugees, especially girls, and to take into account their special needs in the field of protection in particular.

The United Nations stresses that the responsibility to protect women from violence lies with everyone, including society and the media, to contribute mainly to spreading awareness, clarifying women's rights to confront violence, and correcting misconceptions about it.