Keywords

Domestic Violence , COVID-19 , Women , Moroccan NGOs , wife abuse , Fez

1 . INTRODUCTION

2 . LITERATURE REVIEW

Debates surrounding women’s rights and violence have been progressively omnipresent in the Moroccan public discussions. Women’s involvement in political protests and Arab spring uprisings has contributed to remarkable mobilization around the phenomenon of women’s rights and against violence against women. However, it is worth noting that the women’s movement in Morocco, specifically both secular and Islamic feminist groups, plays a very active role in preventing violence against women and achieving gender equality.

The political struggle of secular and Islamic feminists brought many positive changes to the reform of the mudawana, including the right to divorce and child custody, banning early marriage, and more than that, voicing out women who are facing violence. More importantly, Moroccan local NGOs have always been at the forefront of protecting and empowering women in all aspects of life (Evrard, 2014). In Morocco, recent studies indicate that some women have experienced physical violence since the age of thirteen, and others have experienced sexual violence at the same age. Most women experience violence perpetrated by someone they know, most often a current or former male partner (Ennaji and Sadiqi, 2011). Acts of violence are widespread, including deleterious impacts on physical and mental health. In Morocco, children and women exposed to violence can experience a variety of social, behavioural, emotional, and psychological problems that often remain throughout their lives. The existing academic publications also depict the underlying causes of violence against women that are rooted in ongoing social and cultural norms featured by the unequal value given to men and women. The existing research describes the degree, range, and dynamics of violence and explains why violence against women occurs. According to Ennaji, (2016), cultural traditions, illiteracy, gender inequalities, and misogynist hadiths are among the major reasons behind violence against women. In her article, “Gender-based Violence in Morocco: Domestic Violence as a Case in Point”, Hayat Naciri discussed how domestic violence disempowers women from different angles, including economic, legal, and social dimensions. According to her, the increase in violence against women is due to the cultural beliefs and norms that trivialize women’s role in Moroccan society (Naciri, 2018). According to Skalli, (2001) “Most women become economically dependent after divorce and widowhood, especially if they did not have a paid job prior to this change in their marital status. Nearly four out of ten women return to their parents’ home after divorce, more out of financial dependence than personal choice.” Illiteracy and poverty are two of the major reasons behind violence and the disempowerment of women in the Arab world (Skalli, 2001). Douki argues that “in Arab and Islamic countries, domestic violence is not yet considered a major concern despite its increasing frequency and serious consequences. […] religious justifications, plus the importance of preserving the honor of the family, lead abusers, victims, police, and health care professionals to join in a conspiracy of silence rather than disclosing these offences (Douki et al., 2003). In line with this, according to Boughima, the attacher is always from low/medium educational and economic level, and essentially has toxic habits. They also associated the factors behind violence with the psychological and emotional effects on women (Boughima et al., 2018). However, many women do not report abuse of any kind because of the belief, based on common misinterpretations of the Quran, that it is justified (Bouhout, 2020). Further, through her research on gender-based violence in Morocco, she recognizes this belief that violence is necessary and justified as rooted in the view that women are men’s property. In a patriarchal society, women are abided by the rules of culture and religious constraints, which hinder their ability to report violence or abuse (Kisa et al., 2021). In Morocco, if a woman seeks legal recourse against her husband, she is going against two essential social norms: family privacy and male primacy (Cochran, 2009).

Domestic violence has been a local and global hidden disease during COVID-19. It has affected all aspects of life, including gender roles, in different ways. Significantly, ‘pandemics make existing gender inequalities for women and girls worse, and can impact how they receive treatment and care’ (UNPF, 2020). The increase in calls of domestic violence against women has alerted several NGOs and activists. By using social media, they expressed their concern and affirmed the need to establish effective interventions to prevent and combat the phenomenon. Media plays a major role in shaping public opinion (Carll, 2003). The way news is promoted affects individuals’ way of thinking and behaviours. Besides, women are the most targeted victims of domestic violence in Morocco, including sexual harassment, rape, and battering. However, women rarely call authorities for help. Many reasons prevent women from reporting violence.

The most important of these are traditional beliefs regarding the subordination of women; the cultural negative perceptions towards a woman who complains about her husband, brother, or father, ignorance and poverty, the difficulty of proving being violated. These reasons make domestic violence tolerable and also frequent and impune. On that account, because of the social construction of masculinity, the path to preventing violence against women is laborious and competitive. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the trends of VAW in Morocco, including its forms and factors, contexts in which it occurs, and the socio-demographic characteristics of victims.

3 . METHODOLOGY

4 . RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Many studies have been conducted on the issue of domestic violence against women, but few measures have been taken by the authorities to prevent it. For this reason, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as women become trapped in their houses, a large number of Moroccan women reported being violated by their perpetrators. In this section, we present our findings.

Here, we logged information regarding respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics related to age and educational level (Figure 1).

In the survey, out of 111 respondents, 27% were aged between 18 and 22, 47 % were between 23 and 27, 18 % were between 28 and 32, and only 6% were between 33 and 42. This indicates that the largest category responding to our research is aged between 22 and 32. It was noted that at least 27% of informants have two children, and 20% of them had a professional engagement (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Respondents’ Age

Figure 2. Participants’ Educational Level

Figure 3. Respondents who Experienced Domestic Violence during the Lockdown

Figure 4. Forms of Violence Participants Experienced during the Lockdown

The above figure describes the educational backgrounds of each informant. Since domestic violence could differ between educated and illiterate women, we decided to ask our respondents about their educational level. The highest number of participants (44.14%) have attended high school, and (28.82%) indicate they attended university level, whereas (9.90%) are illiterate, (13.51%) have received a secondary degree, and 1% have attended primary level (Figure 2). Surprisingly, the majority of women who were victims of domestic violence are educated and hold high positions due to the sociocultural context that puts pressure on them and saves their marriage and their unity with their children. In contrast to other studies which associate women victims of violence with a lack of financial stability and a lack of education (Follingstad and Rogers, 2012; Lenze and Klasen, 2017), the findings reveal that educated women are exposed more to violence due to the fact that partners compensate for the loss of their traditional authority and Qiwamah. Sometimes, they decide to stay in a toxic, abusive relationship because they believe it is a public shame if they get a divorce, as in the case of one of the participants named Sara. She demonstrates this perception by saying that “It is pointless for me to carry on my studies and get divorced with a kid. It is a complete failure.” It is assumed that sociocultural context is more powerful sometimes than the work status or educational level of women.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in domestic violence around the world since all countries imposed social isolation and lockdowns. Recently, Moroccan NGOs reported increases in violence against women due to the lockdown. Compared to the previous year (2017), the Moroccan Federation of Women’s Rights indicates that gender-based violence increased by 31%. In line with this result, our study shows that 71% of respondents have experienced domestic violence, whereas 27% have not faced any kind of violence (Figure 3). Additionally, our interviewees’ experiences and dissatisfaction with domestic violence are reflected in the discussion below, which took place during the focus group discussion.

Extract one:

Moderator: ‘Have you experienced any kind of violence during lockdown?’ What kind of violence?

Laila: I was always abused by my husband; he used to hit me so badly. But, amid the CORONA pandemic, he started hitting me more and more”

Fatna: “Yes, we have fought three times during the lockdown. He hit and slapped my face because I didn’t fulfill all that he demanded.”

Halima: My father threatens to kill me! He always insults me and calls me “whore”. One day, during the first days of lockdown, he attacked me and put his hands around my neck, asking me to give him money I had gained when I was working in Tangier.”

Mounia: “This is not a father”. He is like my criminal brother; he uses abusive, hurtful words when he is angry with me. I can’t even say those dirty words.”

Halima: “He is a greedy person. I used to give him money, but we stopped working due to COVID.”

Achora: “My husband grows very suspicious and jealous. Even though he spends the whole day at home, he acts as if I am doing something wrong and he is trying to find out. He does not allow me to go out or even look through the window. But what pissed me off is his daily pressure on me to do anal sex. I refused many times, but he forced me and did it.”

Mounia: “He doesn’t know that it is haram (prohibited)”

Moderator: Sorry, you had to go through all this. Have you ever reported being violated to the police by any NGO?

Halima: “No, I just called my father-in-law and he made him apologize.”

Fatna: No, I escaped home and spent three days with my family. Then, he was just sorry and begged me to return home.”

Achora: “We are getting divorced soon; I made a medical certificate of being physically injured and gave it to the lawyer. I need an NGO to help me, but I don’t know any”

Mounia: “No, but my poor mother always defends me.”

These women have experienced domestic abuse that was committed by their husbands, fathers, and brothers. As they demonstrate, perpetrators become more violent under the influence of social isolation. They have been victims of three forms of domestic violence: physical violence, verbal violence, and sexual violence. The result of domestic violence is the dehumanization and devaluation of women, which leads to divorce, health problems, and psychological problems. They lose their sense of security and become scared of their closest people.

To justify what sorts of domestic violence women faced during the quarantine, respondents were required to provide us with all the forms they experienced. Of the 111 women, 22.30% have had verbal abuse by a partner, 13.46% were sexually violated, 36.92% have had psychological abuse, 7.69% were physically violated, and 19.61% have been economically abused (Figure 4). The result also indicates that 10% of these victims had to flee their homes during the pandemic. While it is commonly assumed that marriage has its “ups” and “downs,” some participants believed that the “downs” of marital life occur when they are physically violated. Women stated that their husbands’ aggressive behaviors fueled their determination to promote themselves. Despite their different perspectives, the majority of participants made the same decision to stay rather than get divorced. In 41 cases, the victim had no reaction against the attacker; 21 had a medical certificate without judicial follow-up, and 13 were divorced. Some participants reported that the abuse was repeated during the lockdown due to the low income of their partners, drugs, and depression.

5 . DISCUSSION

In this paper, we examined the occurrence of several interrelated factors with domestic violence in Morocco during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. In Morocco, previous studies regarding domestic violence against women before the onset of COVID-19 proved that 33.9 % of women were facing physical abuse and 38% were undergoing psychological and verbal abuse (Sadiqi, 2010). These findings show that both physical and psychological abuse have increased since the initiation of lockdown measures in Morocco. Social challenges and expectations for the sake of family reputation and children’s safety (Douki et al., 2003). There is currently no effective implementation by authorities to punish perpetrators and protect the victims of domestic violence. In addition to the reasons listed above by our respondents and interviewees regarding domestic violence, social and cultural norms, women who are not financially independent, marriage failure, and fear of public shame are among the most vulnerable categories of women to fall prey to domestic abuse. Our study reveals that the majority of women experienced physical, verbal, psychological, and sexual violence. These findings, specifically, show that both physical and psychological abuse have increased since the initiation of lockdown measures in Morocco. Women who reported being abused also highlighted more gender inequalities, beliefs, and attitudes. We can conclude that men with a patriarchal mindset are more likely to be abusers. The fact that women are economically dependent on men as providers for their families is another major cause of violence. According to Skalli, (2001), “Most women become economically dependent after divorce and widowhood, especially if they did not have a paid job prior to this change in their marital status.

However, the number of women who report the violence they suffer from is rare; and that is due to their lack of awareness of women’s rights, fear of not receiving any legal justice, and also because they think it is the norm, as reporting may bring shame to the family. The state, indeed, deters women victims from seeking their authority because the protection they provide is insufficient. This result aligns with studies that have also shown an increase in abuse reports in other countries, such as Spain, Italy, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom, and China (Bradbury-Jones and Isham, 2020; Campbell, 2020). Based on the Shreeves, (2022), there are similarities between the European countries during COVID-19 when it comes to domestic violence, as they noticed a rise in the number of female victims. Research “conducted for the European Parliament and EIGE's analysis of the impacts of the pandemic on intimate partner violence, which examined the available data, concluded that the pandemic and the lockdown measures led to an increase in the prevalence and intensity of violence against women”. (Shreeves, 2022). In September 2019, data obtained by the BBC from 43 police forces across the United Kingdom showed that murders as a result of domestic violence were at a 5-year high (BBC, 2019). In all cases, reports to the police decreased, except through an online survey in which women shared their experiences of domestic violence. Like Moroccans, women from these countries also have undergone physical conflict, forced to have sex with their partners, and threatened with staying at home.

Further, violence against women has been confirmed by our fieldwork as for the large percentage of females who have undergone violence in many forms and shapes, some merely verbal, while others have found themselves stuck in a life-threatening situation with a spouse or a family member who has far exceeded verbal violence to reach physical, sexual, or even financial abuse. This violence is associated with emotional abuse in 40%. In our study, domestic violence began in more than two weeks of the cases early during the lockdown. Our paper’s primary goal is to decipher and unravel the mystery of violence against women, as it remains a less-spoken-about issue that needs to be voiced out and recognized by the authorities. The women who had filled in the questionnaires listed some of the reasons behind their husbands’ violent acts during the lockdown.

Our research also demonstrates that a man’s employment is associated with less physical abuse. Henceforth, one of the respondents said that joblessness and boredom were the major reasons behind her husband’s furious acts; she added that ‘accumulated family issues and the pressure to provide for the family’s daily needs had the greatest impact on her relationship with her husband’. While another woman claimed that ‘drugs, jealousy, and economic crisis are solid factors that will certainly make any husband as violent as hers’, then she goes further to state that ‘we need to normalize privacy in the household, call for mutual respect between the couples and also act communicatively instead of physically.

This may reflect novel attitudes behind the increase in domestic violence during the pandemic. Importantly, the media must pay closer attention to this category and raise public awareness. In addition, some of the preventive measures repeatedly stated in the questionnaire focus on, first, the role of education and how we should educate our children, teaching them how society functions and how all genders should be treated equally. Again, another participant argued that we should legislate and implement new laws that take into consideration the peculiarities of the Moroccan society as an open, yet conservative society when speaking about family issues and domestic violence. In the same line of thought, some of them believed that associations should not only stop at helping each case individually, but instead, they have to be more involved in all that is related to law and legislation. Indeed, there should be some collaboration between the authority and civil society. Both should help spread awareness and sensitize people to the growing need for a peaceful community, allowing children to grow and prosper. Based on this study, low income was also associated with all types of violence. It comes out that domestic violence affects younger women, from both low and high socioeconomic and educational levels, in their marital home with their spouse. From these findings, we can say that even a loving commitment before marriage does not protect women experiencing violence from their spouse.

The fact that violence causes psychological problems means that the mental health of women victims should be given more importance than what they enjoy at the present moment, as indicated by the study of Boughima (2018). For that reason, access to psychologists should be equal for all social classes in the community. Participants have expressed their concern regarding the legislative measures and the lack of implementation.

To address this issue, in their book “Gender and Violence in the Middle East”, Enaji and Sadiqi (2011) suggest that there should be a process of deconstructing social and cultural norms that violate women in the name of Islam and constructing a new culture that promotes gender equality and peace between the genders.11 Women also need to know all the information related to domestic violence and their rights, and increase their chances of employment.

6 . CONCLUSION

This study focused exclusively on the study of women victim of domestic violence, and the association between violence with some essential factors. Overall, the paper concludes that given the increases in physical, psychological, verbal, and sexual violence among Moroccan women, this phenomenon of domestic violence should be treated as a main public crime against women. In our study, women victims of violence expect active measures to prevent it and provide them with health care. All evidence suggests that not enough is being done practically and in law to protect women from DVA.

In addition, women’s ability to leave their abusers is complicated, as divorce is still socially not accepted, and the preservation of the family is highly valued. The results show that 45% of unemployed women choose to stay with abusive partners due to financial dependence and fear of any physical harm that may be caused to them or their kids. Our findings coordinate with the previous studies that turn domestic violence into a public concern. Therefore, health sectors are required to put the victims in contact with authorities, and raise awareness through social media, visual, and printed media to reach all women's categories in all areas of society. This crime will be, thus, diminished when all of the authorities challenge gender attitudes that promote cultural violence. Actions might also involve serious empowerment of both governmental and non-governmental associations that help and promote safety for victims of domestic violence. Political crises and socioeconomic instability aggravated the gender inequalities created by the social and cultural structures and systems, and the COVID crisis brought in a new issue of investigation.

The fieldwork results have provided the opportunity to witness how COVID-19 has exposed structural gender and social inequalities. As intersectionality theory predicts, the epidemic has hit hard poor and unprivileged women and all those who are among the most marginalized demographic intersections: rural, single, divorced or widowed, and working-class people. Poor women are less likely to have access to social security and protection. Covid 19 has had a disproportionate impact on this underprivileged category, and women’s organizations have issued ominous warnings about the pandemic’s disastrous conditions in poor rural communities. The study has revealed that women and other marginalized groups bear the harshest and most unbearable brunt of COVID-19, which has aggravated structural social injustice and inequality at the intersections of gender, status, class, in addition to occupation.

This will have a negative impact on women’s participation in development and on diversity that is crucial in politics and in society as a whole. Based on this scenario, the country needs reforms of its existing laws and the development of new policies to achieve ideal gender parity in public life.

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Conflict of Interest

Acknowledgements

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References