“He sometimes kept her starving for days, other times he would keep her awake for the whole night, disturbing her and scaring her verbally so she could not sleep. The abuse also included sexual violence where he would force her to have anal sex and watch porn movies. When she refused she wasbeaten.”
“When I knew I couldn’t survive anymore I decided to come to Malé”, says Fathimath, 30.
The Gender Ministry’s Study on Women’s Health and Life Experiences makes for heavy reading. The main point – that Maldivian women suffer disturbingly high levels of violence and have little protection from it – will not come as a shock to many. It is something many people are aware of and realise, but it is the first time the issue has been so publicly confronted.
The report, which was published at the end of last year, looked in detail at a problem which affects the lives of tens of thousands of Maldivian women. It came up with many sensible recommendationsandproposedchanges.
But before those, the statistics alone are disturbing:
1 in 3 Maldivian women aged 15-49, equivalent to 27 000, reports experiencing some form of physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives.
1 in 5 women aged 15-49 in the Maldives who have ever been in a relationship report experiencing some sort of physical or sexual violence by a partner. 1 in 9 reported experiencing severe violence like being punched, kicked, choked, burnt or having a weapon used against them.
1 in 6 women in Male’, 1 in 8 for the Maldives in general, report having experienced childhood sexual abuse under the age of 15.
6.3% of women aged 15 – 49 who have ever been pregnant report being physically or sexually abused during pregnancy. Of those, 41% reported being punched or kicked in the stomach.
Unfortunately it is not just a national issue. Women all over the world suffer to a similar extent. “Globally, 1 in 3 women will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime,” experts Heise, Ellsberg and Gottemoeller have found.
Ex-UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan outlined the gravity of the problem in March, 1999. “Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace.”
Problems
The report was done with technical help from the World Health Organisation and financial help from UNFPA and UNICEF. It is the first time such a detailed analysis has been made into the sad situation that affects so many Maldivian women.
It outlines how the issue is pervades many different areas of government and society. “Although the majority of the violence against women and girls occurs in the home, this study irrefutably shows that violence against women is not just a family issue. It is a health issue, an education issue, a legal issue, a social issue and a community issue,” the report says.
“Violence against women and girls is not inevitable and with a united and integrated approach we can end this shameful abuse of human rights.”
Just how shameful the abuse is becomes clear from the anonymous accounts of abused women:
“[My husband] tied me up face down on a bed with woven rope. I was 8 months pregnant then…I had to stay like that for four hours. When he untied me my hands and feet were swollen and cut. My tummy hurt really badly because I was tied face down…I cried. I had a still birth and the midwife told me it was probably due to the violence of my husband,” says one woman.
Another says, “I was having my period but he [husband] wanted to have sex. I told him and he hit me so hard in the mouth that six of my teeth became loose. I started to bleed and my lips were badly cut. He abused me the next night and the night after that.”
Another Maldivian woman explains, “One night while I was sleeping he took me to his room, placed me on the bed, tied my hands with a towel and my feet with a sarong and raped me. My brothers were at home at the time, but I couldn’t shout because I was embarrassed my brothers would find out. I became pregnant with his baby.”
One woman’s situation shows how little is done in society to confront the situation head on. “Even though he keeps on trying to aggressively beat me, the neighbours never try to stop him. They just stay there and watch the commotion. If I got any help from them, my injuries would be less.”
OpinionsandAttitudes
The report also looked into people’s attitudes towards the problem. Following a detailed survey, it charts some alarming opinions, and equally alarming justifications.
“The position of the woman in a husband/wife relationship is considered subordinate by most people. This is believed by many to be defined as such by Islam…A number of people, particularly men, use Islam to justify keeping women inside the house, restricting their rights and being violent. This understanding of Islam must be addressed,” says the report.
“Some women still believe they are obliged to have sex with their husband whenever he wants which means that many women are unable to see sexual abuse within a marriage for what it is.”
The survey also showed that the youth do not seem to be any more liberal or enlightened. “Most men 15-34 agreed that a wife should be hit if she disobeys her husband, however all men 35-49 disagreedwiththestatement.”
“Most men 15-20 agreed that a wife should be beaten if he finds out that she has been unfaithful, however most men 20-49 disagreed that a woman should be hit.”
The report reflects that, “Surprisingly some of the younger men (15-20) had very conservative views, thinking that a man has good reason to hit his wife under some circumstances, whereas more of the older generation thought women should not be hit…Some men and women still believe that hitting a woman under some circumstances is justifiable. The first step must therefore be to teach women about their rights and that they do not deserve to be hit under any circumstances.”
Protection?
There are a number of serious structural problems in the Maldives which seem to be actively propagating the situation. For example, in rape and sexual abuse cases, “no forensic evidence is taken, because of a lack of resources and because it is not possible to prosecute using forensic evidence in the Maldives…it was noted that; ‘in severe cases of rape generally after a short stay in hospital the girl will be taken home and the parents will not want to fuss too much about legal issues.’”
The report outlines a lack of specialised training, limited finances, lack of guidelines, lack of counsellors and social workers, lack of staff and time as problems in the health sector, all of which act as barriers to providing victims with effective treatment.
A lack of confidentiality was also seen as a problem inhibiting counselling. Some took the attitude that as the community was so small, it was near impossible to guarantee anyone genuine anonymity, despite the fact that many would be discouraged from talking about what had happened to them without the possibility of remaining anonymous.
LegislativeProblems
“No specific definition of rape exists. It is termed ‘forced Zineh (sex outside of marriage), therefore marital rape is not a conceivable crime under the law.” That is one of a number of issues the report outlines that make the Maldivian legal system hopelessly inadequate in providing protection to women who become the victim of violence.
“Currently in the Maldives there is no legislation that deals specifically with violence against women including domestic violence and workplace harassment. These acts of violence can only be pursued through the conventional criminal justice system and it is obvious that this has been insufficient to prevent domestic and other forms of violence against women or protect victims.”
The report outlines more specific problems. “Under Maldivian law rape is particularly difficult to prove. A man can only be convicted of rape if there are two male witnesses or four female witnesses willing to testify or if he confesses in court. Even if he confesses in police custody he can retract his statement in court and he cannot be charged.”
Another issue highlighted is that, “according to the law a child is a person under the age of 18, however a child is still considered to be able to consent to sexual relations so there is no such thing asstatutoryrape.”
Minivan News also notes that the law affords no confidentiality to rape victims in the media, which actively discourages many victims of sexual violence from reporting the crimes against them. Victims who choose to report sexual crimes are currently named on the Attorney General’s website and in newspapers. They are offered no anonymity, and in fact are likely to achieve notoriety as a result of becoming the innocent victim of a rapist.
Suggestions
The report concludes that there are serious structural problems which allow the problem of violence against women to go on unchecked. The experts have some clear messages for the police:
“Treat domestic violence incidences as serious forms of violence. Speak to victims of domestic violence alone. Accompany women to the hospital when seeking medical treatment for injuries. Conduct further training and sensitisation on gender based violence issues for law enforcement officersatalllevels.”
To the legal experts it offers more stern advice: “Develop specific laws on gender based violence. Develop a clear and unambiguous definition of domestic violence. Raise the costs to perpetrators of gender based violence. Change laws that restrict and disempower women. Send a clear message that domestic violence is unacceptable. Train and sensitise law enforcement personnel on gender base violence issues.”
But the report calls on everybody to work together to deal with the problem. It realises that in order to tackle the issue in the most effective way, fundamental changes have to be made in society. It calls on the people to “empower women and girls by eliminating discriminatory law, strengthen women in leadership and decision-making and increase access to education, economic resources andhealthinformation.”
The report also recommends that women be given greater control over their money and their bodies, something that can only happen if men realise the rights of women to those things.
If women have more control over themselves and their situations, greater self-esteem and a more acute sense of their own personal power, then they have more chance of protecting themselves from such forms of violence.
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