All Saudi women should salute Rania Al-Baz. Despite being beaten nearly to death by her husband, she allowed photographers to take pictures as she was admitted to the hospital with a black eye and bruises all over her face. She was brutally punched and kicked by her husband and even though the photo was too gory for some people —blood was dripping from her face — she wanted her case to be publicized so that other battered women would be encouraged to speak up.
For too long many of our women have been silent about the abuse they receive from their husbands. They swallow their miseries and the abuse goes on and on. Sometimes, as we have recently read in our local papers, things end tragically as was the case of a man in Jizan who poured gasoline on his wife and burned her to death. I was glad to learn from Arab News that some members of the newly established Human Rights body in the Kingdom had paid Al-Baz a visit in the hospital and showed their support for her. But I believe much more needs to be done, not just by the human rights’ body but also by society itself. For starters, people working in the media in the country should highlight such stories in the local press. Unfortunately, as was the case with the inhumane treatment received by travel agency employees in Riyadh who had their heads shaved, this particular incident of domestic violence suffered by a well-known TV presenter was nowhere to be found in the local Arabic printed media. Both the Kingdom’s English language papers were the only Saudi papers that ran the story as did the Arabic sister publication of Arab News, Asharq Al-Awsat, which is a pan-Arab newspaper.
Why is our local press so reluctant to publish these stories? Our editors in chiefs surely know that brutally beating and harassing wives is everybody’s business. When bones are broken, faces bruised and limbs twisted, it’s no longer a private matter that should stay discreetly between four walls. It’s a public matter that needs to be brought up in the most urgent and vivid matter. For too long we — both males and females — have considered domestic violence a matter that should not be spoken of in public. The excuse that we have given ourselves is that homes have their sanctity and that what happens behind closed doors should remain there. That has unfortunately been seriously abused.
Another unfortunate thing is our society’s prejudice toward women. Though many of us lead a comfortable life in the 21st century — driving a car, using a cell phone, watching satellite TV — the mindset of many Saudi males is that women are useful as sex objects or for obeying orders. Many Saudi men still think of women as inferior creatures who were put on earth to please and gratify them. They tend to look at women as property bought upon payment of the dowry.
That “ownership” concept extends to abusing maids as well. Several months ago I met an acquaintance who works in Indonesia. His job was to hire female Indonesians for recruitment as housemaids by several Gulf agencies. He told me of many cases of Indonesian maids who had been abused by their Saudi employers. Some had been beaten and others burned; some had been sent home because they were pregnant from their employers. He said that in most cases, there was no public notice of what had happened and that all would be hushed up by a sum of money paid to the unfortunate woman.
The other sad fact concerning abuse of women in our country is that in some cases when wives complain about their husband’s treatment, they are often asked to compromise, being reminded constantly by judges or by the elderly that a woman receives rewards from heaven if she obeys her husband. In the end, the man has the upper hand, be it in court or in the public eyes. Going from one court to another, it took one Saudi woman two years to win a case against her husband. She was finally granted a divorce when it turned out that her husband was a violent and abusive individual.
Had we bit more public awareness, more women speaking out boldly about their experiences plus some family counseling centers, the situation could be greatly improved.
