OUTLOOK

As for the violence in Palestine and the abuse of women and children by the Israeli occupation forces, its tanks, guns and planes; testimonies are redundant here. For these crimes against humanity are aired on televisions all over the world every day, hour on the hour. 
Several days ago, Amnesty International published a report issued by its field team on mission in the occupied territories. Its findings reiterated those of a report made by the UN Commission on Human Rights, concluding that Israeli actions were a crime against humanity. Thus it was not surprising that Arab Women in the March raised a banner that read "Occupation breeds poverty and violence". 

Moreover, a fact-finding report was presented at the Beijing Conference, by two Egyptian organizations. Entitled "Women: Old and New", it provided some statistics on the abuse of women at the work place: 

66% of the women in the sample admitted to being insulted at their work place 
70% to being sexually harassed 
30% to being subjected to verbal sexual harassment 
17% to being directly harassed by hand contact 
20% to being harassed by hand contact and flirting 

What according to the women in the sample constituted an act of violence committed by their husbands, was: 
-Denying them the right to disagree on any issue 88% 
-Denying them the right to travel 69%
-Denying them the right to go out 82%
-Forced sex 93%

Furthermore, the Official Information Agency in Egypt ...admitted to the violence exercised against Egyptian women. The Egyptian El-Ahram newspaper, published in its issue dated 7/2/1997 numbers from a research conducted by the National Commission on Population … which confirmed that: 35% of Egyptians are beaten by their husbands, at least once during their marriage and that pregnancy does not protect a woman… It should be mentioned here that the study took a sample of 7.000 wives, age ranging from15-49, 69.9% of who admitted to being beaten if they refused sex, 69.1% for daring to answer back. 
Violence, both in individual and group manifestations, is firmly rooted in our economic, cultural, and political realities. It is not a predisposition or a natural inclination born with men, unless the men in question are suffering from psychological disorders. Violence in the world is the result and to varying degrees of the policies of discrimination grounded in the patriarchal order and in the racial, sexual and religious differences. These are exercised in Egypt as well as in the whole world for private interests and against humanity. This is true whether it is dune in the name of the imperialist powers or in the interest of local class alliances through which a few control the fate of millions in order to accumulate profit and wealth. This, in turn, has lead to the double standard being exercised so blatantly by the hegemonies powers in the world today. 
The World March for Women against Poverty and Violence has exhibited a firm understanding of all the reasons that lead to violence against women and children. It did not presume to separate the general from the particular, the reasons for individual manifestations as opposed to those of groups; instead, it has delved deeply into the heart of the argument in an attempt to find effective solutions. 

The information and news media in the Arab world, are misleading and incapable of projecting the true reality lived by Arab women. They either erroneously project women in complete charge of their social and civic rights, or in the case of Drama series on television, the woman is a whore, a tart or a stepmother. She is brandished as the source of all crimes and evil in society . We are in need of a real information and news media. One that reveals the true image of the Arab woman, who spends her time outside her home working and who comes back and cares for her children s need. We need a media which gives prominence to the image of the Arab women, and her struggle against colonialism as deeply embedded in our Arab history Regrettably, our media further enforces the practice of violence towards women throught all its means, whether in newspapers, magazines, television program, Drama series or movies.We desperately need a dramatic turn of events. 

Azzizi El-Sibini
Journalist-Syria
 

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