Violence Against Women

“I cannot bear anymore to be hit, insulted, and always harassed… I am afraid for my children and myself. This hell that I am living must stop… I need help” (magazine interview; Femmes du Maroc March 2004, 52). Malika is a young woman expressing her anger and rage against her husband who is threatening and beating her. In Morocco, there are numerous women who are in the same situation as Malika, and those women do not have even the courage to denounce their daily martyrdom. Taboos, education and religion are always the reasons to keep the violence that they have undergone secret. In fact, those women keep on bearing violence committed against them and encourage men to continue harassing them. Those women might be our mothers, sisters, friends, teachers, or employees, and they are encountering each day a difficult situation that they have to overcome without being affected. The 25th November of each year is the international day of violence against women, and Morocco also joins the international community to celebrate this great event and to break the barriers that still stop Moroccan women from pointing the finger at their pains. This day is also an occasion to sensitize people about the real meaning of violence, where it occurs and what they should do in a case of violence.
Violence is seen among people as the physical brutality against a person; however, violence includes verbal, non-verbal and physical aggressions. Each woman in Morocco is undergoing each day at least one of those three types of violence; this is why there is an urgency to treat this topic. People, especially women, have to be aware of the seriousness of this issue; the Moroccan family code in a case of violence and the help offered by organizations. Therefore, in this essay I will discuss different forms of violence against women, consequences on victims and efforts made to overcome this phenomenon.
The violence takes different forms; it could be verbal, non-verbal or physical. The verbal violence against women is the most common form of violence in Morocco. Women, young girls or even little girls are victims of men who cannot control themselves. Either on the street, or at home; those men are husbands, colleagues or strangers. They tell aggressive words out loud that hurt their female counterparts and make them feel uncomfortable. The remarks that strangers say against women on the street are often about their clothes, bodies or behavior. Those observations are all biased and low-monitored messages. In fact, women do not react, and prefer to keep silence, which encourages men to keep on harassing them. Besides, the oral violence that occurs at home between husbands and wives is generated because of conflictual relationships. Usually, when there is a lack of respect within the couple then the conflict degenerates to become a quarrel where the man takes the power and insults, or blames his wife. The second type of violence, which is the non-verbal violence, is usually combined with the verbal one. The man usually has aggressive gestures that enhance his violence and it is a form of harassment. The latest form of violence is physical violence. This type of violence is the worst, and brings about the most horrible consequences. A great deal of women is suffering daily from physical brutality either at their houses or offices, and sometimes even on the street. For instance, there are bosses who harass their female employees, and behave with them as if they were their servants. Therefore, the violence noticed among men against women is mainly due to psychological troubles, or jealousy.
Accordingly, violence that some women are undergoing has drastic consequences on the physical and moral health. Women who are physically brutalized have a shocking medical condition; they generally have serious injuries that they are hiding behind sunglasses or underneath their clothes. However, hiding those traces of violence is a way to save the face towards the society without solving the real problem that is set. Still, the physical suffering is softer than the psychological damages that may pursue the aggressed woman during her whole life. The violence that women undertake leads to a lack of both self-esteem and self-confidence. The woman feels that she is guilty for doing something, and that she deserves a punishment from her husband, brother or whoever he is. For that reason, she blames herself and bears all the sarcasms of her aggressor. Besides, she might have nightmares where she sees herself harassed or in the same situations that she endures during quarrels. Additionally, women who are undergoing physical violence may develop a kind of hate towards all men or have an extreme fear from them and be disgusted of their male counterparts. Consequently, harassed women, when they are educating their children, hand down the same fears and grudges to them. On the other hand, women who are verbally harassed do suffer from lack of self-confidence, and the only way to protect themselves is to keep quiet until they feel safer. Insults and words that men use to threaten women allude to their physical appearance or intelligence. This way, men feel that they control those pitiable victims and they reduce them to simple objects to be used. Therefore, physical and moral violence have extreme drawbacks on the psychological side of women that leads to the loss of a mental equilibrium.
In view of that, there are twenty two non-profit organizations trying to help harassed women to get out of the violence spiral (Femmes du Maroc, March 2004, 51). Those listening units have phone numbers where women can call and express themselves openly. Besides, in those centers there are many women who work to rescue harassed and threatened women by giving them psychological support. Militant women working in those units make the victims aware of their rights and show them the juridical procedure to follow if they want to denounce their aggressors. “Centre d’Ecoute de l’Hermitage” is the first center in Morocco that offered help to women victims of violence, and is lead by three militant women. Fatema is working in this center and witnesses each day women telling about their daily sufferance. She concludes “we do not alleviate all the sufferings which these women live, but we let us give them a glimmer of hope. It is usually hard, very hard!” (Femmes du Maroc, March 2004, 52). From this testimony, we can conclude that those women the necessary comfort in those talking units. Usually, the process of reconstructing their personalities takes a long period of time, and represents a hard task to achieve because they have been used to violence against them.
Overall, violence against women is a tough issue that requires comprehensive people who could deal with this concern. Violence inflicted to women could be verbal or non-verbal, and sometimes they undergo both forms of violence. In fact, this violence leads to severe consequences on women’s health; physical damages are the noticeable ones, but still there a deeper harms as the psychological troubles that overwhelm victims. Hence, non-governmental organizations (NGO) are setting programs to help women be aware of their human and constitutional rights. The reason behind all the efforts made against violence towards women is to give back their respect to threatened women because they are an inherent part of the Moroccan society. In the same way, the changes that have been made last year in the Moudawana code are seeking to protect women and give them their rights. The question raised then is to what extent the Moudawana will be applicable in the Moroccan context, but this could be another matter of topic.

Hind El Gaidi