Violence against Women, Social Taboo?

 

Women fall victims to violence because of their gender. It is a manifestation of the power disparity between the two sexes. The right of women and girls to a life free from violence is a legitimate right of humans. Reality is completely different. This is not only happening in Algeria but it is transcontinental and present in all countries of the world. Even the most advanced ones!

Since the world is celebrating in this period 16 days of activism against violence against women and girls under the name of “orange the world campaign” starting from November 25th:” The International Day Against Violence Against Women and Girls” to December 10th: International Human Rights Day, I wanted to seek the opportunity and talk about this subject. So, if you are interested in the subject keep on reading this article. If not, keep also on reading it can change your thinking about the topic or add new information to you!

What is violence against women?

The United Nations defines violence against women as any violent act that the aggressor’s nervousness leads to, and that results in harm or suffering for women. Whether from a physical or psychological point of view. Including the threat of such acts or the arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether this occurs in public or private life.
Usually, the perpetrators are either current or ex-husbands, parents, siblings, or colleagues. Often women and girls are exposed to violence in places where they are supposed to feel safe. For example in their homes or their social surroundings.

Women most vulnerable to violent practices are those who are separated from their partner, married, or who were exposed to violence during their childhood.

A report of the United Nations confirms that only 10 percent of the women who are victims of violence report that they are exposed to that and only 40 percent talk about it with relatives, which highlights the need for action to sensitize women to the importance of changing their reality. Despite the existence of the laws, they lack accompaniment and enforcement mechanisms. The World Health Organization believes that violence against women is one of the biggest health risks that women face all over the world!

Violence against women in Algeria:

Algeria has seen a significant rise in violence against women in recent years, both in the family and in the street according to an article published by Al Jazeera. Security Services statistics say they recorded nearly eight thousand cases of violence against women only in the first nine months of 2019.

The general figures of the National Directorate of security-which are now recording violence against women – show numbers that need to be seen given the significant growth of the phenomenon, since in 2016 more than 8,000 cases of violence against women were recorded, 50% of which were domestic violence.

In the same context, Algeria counted more than 7,586 violent cases against women during the first nine months of 2017, as well as those who did not file a complaint against those involved, often because of fear of husbands and the reaction of society.
The figures also found that violence against women is 65% and that men are 90% responsible.

However, despite all the alarming numbers recorded about violence against women, the real figure is much greater because of the lack of reporting by abused women for several considerations. Also because of the nature of society and local norms, which often reprimand women who report violence.

Causes of violence against women:

Social motives:

These include low levels of Education. Widespread ignorance among members of society. Consequently, vulnerability to misconceptions that spread in society, as well as the adoption of macho views that manifest themselves in the form of both physical and sexual violence.

• Psychological motives:

The psychological factors that formed in the personalities of perpetrators of violence against women in childhood greatly influence their behaviors. The most prominent of these psychological factors is the victimization of the perpetrator in any form in childhood, his presence in a family environment where the father attacks the mother in any form. The absence of the father from the family can be a cause too. Besides personality disorders that may lead to the creation of an antisocial personality.

• Economic motivations:

Low living standards, widespread unemployment, and poverty are among the most common causes of violence in many societies today.  These causes, combined, pose significant psychological pressures on the breadwinners of the family, which often collide with the consumerism of women.

Sometimes, women themselves can be one of the main factors that lead to violence against them! Such as when they are very afraid of the man himself or of the society in which they live. They are forced to silence and submit to violence, such as ridicule, to avoid the most severe physical violence. Women are forced to refrain from violence if there is no one to protect them when they are subjected to any form of violence. Also, most women are afraid to go to court and lodge complaints because they are convinced that there are no laws to deter violence. In addition to the domestic pressure that women may be subjected to if they file a complaint against men. Sometimes the husband may force her to all these things, combined, do not encourage women to resort to the courts to respond to violence against them.

Violence against women is a clear and blatant violation of human rights. It prevents them from enjoying their full rights and has serious consequences not only for women but for society as a whole, with serious social and economic consequences.

The effects of violence against women:

Violence results in severe physical, psychological, sexual, and reproductive health problems in the short and long term and high social and economic costs for those exposed to it.
Also, it can cause fatal consequences, such as violence, induced abortions, and women’s health problems. In addition to that murder, preterm birth, and low birth weight. These forms of violence can also lead to depression and suicide.

Sexual violence, especially during childhood, can increase the likelihood of drug and alcohol addiction. Also dangerous sexual behaviors later in life. There is also a relationship between exposure to violence perpetration (for males) or becoming a victim (for females) in adults.

What about children? 

Kids raised in families where violence is common are more likely to experience a range of behavioral and emotional disorders. This can lead them to commit or fall victims to such violence later in life.

Research of Uppsala University showed a  link between cohabiting violence and higher infant and child mortality and morbidity rates (e.g. diarrhoeal diseases and malnutrition) was also revealed.

Social and economic impacts:

YES! Violence against women incurs huge social and economic costs. Women may experience isolation, inability to work, loss of pay, lack of participation in regular activities, and limited access to care for themselves and their children.

Solutions to the problem of violence against women:

From a personal perspective, I believe that prevention begins through school curricula. It must include programs to identify and respond to violence. In addition, programs that demonstrate the need for the relationship between couples within society to be based on principles of respect.

Violence against women must also be addressed through the correction of gender-specific cultural norms with the contribution of active official institutions, civil and civic organizations in society. Reformists, and religion, as well as local media. Developing the health sector and respond to situations of violence and raise awareness on the subject will help a lot.

Besides, legislation to protect women’s rights, whether at the family level, at the employment level, and legitimate rights, must be implemented.  As well as numerous amendments to the old laws, which are no longer relevant in the current situation.

People must be pushed to practice life side by side with the participation of women. Many families are afraid to give responsibility to women, for fear of being attacked with words and vilified. This reinforces the existence of social and cultural backwardness, making it gnaw in the minds of societies for decades.

The role of civil society in eliminating this phenomenon:

Algerian society, like Arab societies, continues to subject women to male control. Along with the authority of traditions that contribute to the humiliation of women.

Despite holding high positions in various fields and entering areas that were exclusive to men, she remains in the eyes of society as a minor.  Incompetent, unable to decide the fate of her life, and only created to marry, have children and serve the family. Unfortunately, the authority of tradition has excelled in insulting her, taking violence as a means of disciplining women as if they are in need of that!

Youth leaders can be a powerful component of social change as they have the desire to change social and political structures for the better. We need to empower them!  Invest in their skills and abilities to achieve peace and justice. This will end all forms of violence, either against men or women!

 

Author: Rania Boublal.

 

Why Is It Never the Algerian’s Fault?

It would only take listening for a few minutes to Algerians casually talking in a cafeteria or public transit or even their own job to notice how the topic of conversation eventually drifts to their daily problems. This is perfectly normal especially in a society suffering from countless social and economic issues. Yet, the notable part is the rationalization of those problems. There seems to be a consensus on who is responsible for our issues among Algerians and it’s definitely not ourselves.

When things go wrong who do we blame?

We Algerians have a tendency to blame the myriad of problems we suffer from on this abstract concept of “The people.” We call it different names: “society”, “the nation”, “the people”. But in essence it basically means “All other Algerians except for me and the people I like”. Even  government bureaucrats blame the government itself for their problems as if it’s not made up of people like them. It’s as if a portion of Algerians holds a monopoly on evil. While we are simply innocent victims suffering from their deeds. But in reality we all have a hand in our current predicaments.Yet we insist on using this abstract “people” as a scapegoat to slip away from taking the blame. In order to reinforce this idea we always seem to take pride in mocking other people’s mistakes to distract ourselves from our own deeds while they do the same with our mistakes. It is true that people are not equally problematic but our whataboutism is far from reasonable.

Digging up the root cause

In order to understand a mindset that is shared by an entire nation we need to dig into their common history. Looking back, the main culprit is undoubtedly our socialist mindset. Socialism has been the standard ideology adopted and glorified in Algeria since its independence and it still persists in our heads and practices to this day. But wait, hold on, socialism? Isn’t that an economic system? What does it have to do with personal responsibility? 

I have heard no better yet simple words explaining this phenomenon than those of Nobel Prize winning Economist Milton Friedman: “… The modern view is very different… It has become that after all the individual was an innocent puppet pushed one way or another by the social forces that impinged on him.That you could not blame an individual anything that was not his fault. It was society that was responsible” 

The Myth of Collective responsibility

Socialism is not merely a way to allocate a nation’s resources. It is a mindset based on collectivism: the idea that we act, not as individuals, but as a society. It assumes that people are one unified homogeneous entity that strive for the same goals and pursuits. That our problems are caused by our collective decisions rather than our individual choices. This would imply that the individual is nothing but a cog in a machine, pushed by social and economic factors without any free will of their own.

Based on the dogma of collective responsibility, an individual person cannot be held responsible for their own actions. This implies the assumption that society is be held responsible as a whole. That all problems can only be solved as a society rather than every individual facing their own issues. This belief eventually morphs into a sense of helplessness, and sedation. 

Socialism is a system based upon surrendering to the rule of a central power. To await the intellectuals and leaders to rise up and guide us all to our prosperity rather than strive for it ourselves. Afterall, It was no coincidence that socialist nations developed cults of personality around their leaders.

What can be done about this?

It is true that the socialist system in Algeria, at least symbolically, was abandoned decades ago. Yet, the mindset that was shaped and created within it still thrives. The best proof for this mindset is, ironically, the fact that the first idea that occurred to me as an attempt to solve this issue was social action. To try to solve the problem of acting as a society by doing exactly that. The true solution, however, is to take responsibility for our own lives and inspire others to do the same. To face our own flaws and failures rather than put the blame on others. To strive in making our own businesses, fixing our own streets, thinking for ourselves, and building our own lives. Not in isolation of social factors but despite them. 

 

Author: Wail Rimouche.

How Much Should You Get Paid?

The economy of a society is built upon the exchange of goods and services among the populace. No one person could ever be self-sufficient without being at a massive disadvantage due to economies of scale and benefits of specialization. Therefore, goods and services must be exchanged for a monetary equivalent. The question encountered at this point is what standard defines a fair monetary equivalent? How do we quantify what a person’s work is worth?

This issue has been debated by economists and philosophers such as Adam Smith and Jean Jacques Rousseau for centuries ever since the enlightenment. Many ideas have emerged in hopes of identifying a standard that justifies quantifying the product of human labor. Most of these fall within two overarching perspectives that will be discussed ahead.

The Labour Theory of Value:

The first theory that attempts to explain the value of human labour is known as The Labour Theory of value. This theory postulates an objective inherent value to the result of work emerging from the resources and effort spent creating that product or service. This concept seems very intuitive to us as it appeals to our moral sense of justice. But practically it is very difficult to quantify human effort. Is it the physical suffering the worker endures in the process of working? Or is it the time spent working that should be rewarded? Or both? If so, then what about occupations that do not require physical effort directly but instead strain the worker’s mental health causing them stress? And if this is the standard for how work should be rewarded then what about the different levels of endurance people have and their own personal skills? 

It is evident that such theory, although idealistic, is not very practical. The alternative theory, however, tackles this issue from a different perspective: that of the consumer of the service or product rather than the workers themselves.

The Subjective Theory of Value:

This theory is known as The Subjective theory of value. It states that the product of human endeavors, be it physical or otherwise, has no inherent value. Its monetary equivalent, therefore, is a result of supply and demand. According to this view a loaf of bread would be worth millions if people are willing to pay that price, but it would be worth nothing if they refuse to buy it regardless of how much effort was put into making it. This seems unfair from the worker’s perspective but from the consumer’s perspective it seems fair to pay a price that matches the benefits received from the product rather than the effort spent making it. This theory also assumes that efforts and needs are reflected in the value of a product indirectly by affecting supply and demand. 

Practically, both of these perspectives have their flaws and merits. The Labour theory of value is somehow more just and egalitarian but it would also impair innovation and demotivate efficiency. If work is rewarded by mere suffering, then it would be advantageous to simply prolong and amplify it. Another significant issue is, again, not being able to quantify effort. While the Subjective theory of value, gives the choice to the consumer to quantify the value of a product according to their own needs. But a pure free market could lead to abusing people’s needs for quick profit as it had already occurred in the healthcare sector in the United States. 

 It is simple to notice how the earlier view is broadly supported by socialists while the latter is supported by capitalists. But the divide is far from ideal as both systems in practice recognize both perspectives depending on the occupation. We will discuss the free market perspective as it has been the dominant world ideology since the collapse of the USSR. In a free market, the laws of supply and demand reign supreme but one major exception is the government. Government jobs such as education, healthcare, security, and so on fill many essential needs of the public. However, they are not quantifiable by supply and demand at least not without some severe inequalities. So now we get back full circle: How do we quantify the value of work in these professions? 

The Algerian Dilemmna.

Here in Algeria, this issue had kept cropping up for decades. It has led to a proliferation of private education and healthcare jobs as a result of governmental employees escaping the fact that their wages are at the mercy of politicians and public sympathy. We need to find a way to value their work properly? 

As a people we agree that many governmental occupations should pay more but a system based upon simple subjective popular opinion is unsustainable. We either need to find a mechanism to quantify their effort, if such a mechanism is even possible, and risk creating a system that promotes inefficiency. We could also surrender many of those sectors to the free market and give up on our nation’s long standing socialist policies and risk extreme inequality that would ripple across our entire society. Or we could find an objective market force that would indirectly govern their wages without directly giving up complete control to the free market.

This purpose behind this article is not to find a solution to this issue but to acknowledge its existence in the first place. It is easy to demand increased wages over and over again as a futile attempt to keep up with an ever rising cost of living. But it is not a sustainable strategy and will always keep the massive governmental institutions at the edge of a blade, only emerging to demand their rights when the blade cuts deep enough. A public sector that has neither an incentive to become more efficient nor any means to ensure a proper living for its workers would keep dragging down the economy of the entire country down with it. This might not be the most cheerful of conclusions but this is a conversation we need to have if we are to move ahead.

 

Author: Wail Rimouche.