Muslim Statistics (Women)

Danger to Women

Worldwide

According to a 2011 survey conducted by TrustLaw, a legal news service run by the Thomson-Reuters Foundation, 3 of the 5 most dangerous countries for women (including the top-spot) are Muslim majorities, and in terms of cultural/tribal/religious danger to women, 4 of the 5 most dangerous countries are Muslim majorities.

Divorce Rates

Malaysia

Divorce rates among Muslims is five-times higher than among non-Muslims

New Straits Times story (Sept 30) that revealed the disproportionately high divorce rate among Muslims (15,000) compared with Chinese and Indians (3,000). A Muslim man's unilateral right to divorce his wife at will is one of the causes of the higher rate of divorce among Muslims.

November, 2006

In Malaysia 60 per cent of the population are followers of Islam, with the large ethnic Indian and Chinese communities devotees of Christian, Buddhist and Hindu traditions. But the divorce rate is highest among Malay Muslims, with the number of splits doubling between 2002 and 2009.

Qatar

The fact that Qatar's divorce rate is rising can be blamed on the women in the country, according to a survey carried out by newspaper The Peninsula.

Based on this study, more than half of divorces in Qatar are the result of women disobeying their husband: in at least 20% of divorces the women behaved badly and 36% were caused by insolent behaviour by women. Some 17% of divorces are caused by women refusing to do their household chores. In 9% of the cases the husband decides to divorce out of jealousy, but also in these cases women are to blame, because they made their husband jealous by leaving the house on their own. One in three wives in Qatar suffer physical or psychological violence from the side of their husband, but this is not one of the listed causes for divorce in the survey.

February, 2012

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has the second-highest divorce-rate in the world

Given the enormous rise in the divorce rate in the Kingdom — the second-highest in the world — the head of Jeddah’s marriage court, Sheikh Saleh Ahmad Habad, has called for urgent steps to address the issue.

The court registers 40 marriages and 20 divorces a day.

Sheikh Saleh stressed the high price children pay when their parents divorce, including behavioral disorders, depression, addiction and low school performance.
. . .

A study conducted by Dr. Ebtisam Halawani at King Abdul Aziz University revealed that the main reason most women left their spouses was ill-treatment and violence. Most divorces occur during the first three years of marriage, the study said.

Polygamy, according to Abdullah Al-Fawzan, a professor and sociologist at King Saud University in Riyadh, is responsible for up to 55 percent of divorces. He added that the loss of trust, sincerity, compassion and cooperation were also factors in the failure of marriages.

The involvement of husbands in illicit relationships is a factor according to 38 percent of divorcees. Since few couples can get to know each other before getting married, the incompatibility and misunderstanding that can arise as a result often lead to separation, Professor Fawzan added.

According to the Ministry of Planning, 70,000 marriages and 13, 000 divorces were recorded last year. In Riyadh, there were 3, 000 divorces out of 8,500 marriages that took place in 2002.

Makkah had the largest number of divorcees (396, 248), followed by Riyadh (327, 427), the Eastern Province (228, 093), and Asir (130, 812).

If the trend continues, there will be eight million single women in the Kingdom by the end of the decade, according to Dr. Ebtisam Halawani’s study.

The number of divorces is increasing, with nearly 62 percent of marriages ending in divorce.

Most Saudi women who got their divorce in the year 2008 were aged between 30 and 34, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper said, citing an official report released by the Department of General Statistics and Information.

The daily said 25,403 Saudi women between 30 and 34 years of age were divorced in 2008, followed by 21,430 women aged between 35 and 39.

The report put the total number of Saudi women who got divorce that year at 128,090, the newspaper said.

The report also revealed that the majority of 14,589 Saudi men who divorced their wives in 2008 were aged between 40 and 44. It said 63,616 Saudi men aged between 35 and 80 years remain single, and 31,678 of them were aged between 35 and 39 years.

More than 2,000 men in their 70s or 80s have never got married, according to the report.

Earlier studies indicated that by 2015, Saudi Arabia will have at least 5 million spinsters.

The number of divorces is increasing in the Kingdom, with nearly 62 percent of marriages ending in divorce.

Divorce rates spike during the Eid and holiday break.

Family consultants claim divorce rates tend to spike during the Eid and holiday break but ruled out the possibility that arguments over Eid expenses were solely to blame.

Marriage consultant Muhammad Al-Ahmadi told Arab News there were various other reasons for divorce, the most important of which of course was the financial circumstances of the couple.

"Differences leading to divorce can easily happen over petty things, such as visits to relatives, travel during the Eid holidays, the type of food served on the occasion and whether to let children to go out to play," he said.

There have been some comical stories about Eid divorces. A local newspaper reported that a man divorced his two wives because they insisted that he buy them new clothes for the occasion. It reported another man divorced his wife because she refused to go with him to visit his sister and insisted on going to her mother instead.

However, a survey of couples conducted by Al-Mawadah Center for Family Consultancy did not entirely blame Eid expenses for family breakdowns. According to the survey, half of respondents did not believe that differences over Eid expenses were the main cause for divorce.

About 63 percent did not believe that Eid was an occasion to further strengthen family ties while 37 percent did.

A third approved of marriages during Eid, while 27 percent did not.

A recent report released by the Ministry of Justice said there were 9,233 divorces in Saudi Arabia in 2010. It revealed Makkah region topped all other regions with 2,518 divorce cases (27 percent of total divorces). The Eastern Province was second with 1,970 divorces and Madinah province occupied third place with 1,198 divorces.

Equality

Worldwide

World Gender Gap Worst in Islamic Nations

The 2009 report by the World Economic Forum has listed predominantly Islamic nations in the bottom of their annual Global Gender Gap (GGG) Index.....The only nation not predominantly Islamic in the bottom of the Global Gender Gap index was Benin.

In addition, the 2009 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index report does not include rankings on a number of significant and predominantly Islamic nations where women are oppressed. Somalia (population of nearly 10 million) was not included in the index. Endless numbers of reports of the stonings and Islamic supremacist abuses of women have been reported in Somalia in the past year, including the stoning to death of a 13 year old girl based on “Sharia law” in October 2008. Sudan (population of nearly 41 million) was also not included in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index. Among other nations, Afghanistan (29 million) and Iraq (29 million) are also not included in this Global Gender Gap Index. With the index not reporting on these 109 million, the desperate fate of an estimated 50 plus million women are not included in this Global Gender Gap index report.

Even with these significant exclusions from the Global Gender Gap index report, the bottom 10 index nations (excluding Benin), which are all predominantly Islamic nations, represent a population of over half a billion individuals.....If women represent half of the population in these nations, then these bottom 10 predominantly Islamic nations demonstrate the ongoing oppression of an estimated 250 million women.

In addition, if some other predominantly Islamic nations in the bottom of the Global Gender Gap index are also added to these totals, the global image of the correlated oppression of women further expands dramatically. (Again, this is without such nations as Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., which were not included in the GGG index report analysis.)

If nine additional such nations in the GGG index are added, the total population impacted doubles from half a billion to over 1 billion.....If women represent half of the population in these nations, then these bottom ranked, predominantly Islamic nations demonstrate the ongoing oppression of an estimated 500 million women.

All of the predominantly Islamic nations referenced in these calculations are members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The OIC rejects the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and has created its own version of a human rights document, “the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights” that stipulates that “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’a” and that “The Islamic Shari’a is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification to any of the articles of this Declaration.” Human rights group Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has protested U.S.-funded NGO’s working in “engagement” with the OIC without challenging this rejection of universal human rights. On October 26, 2009, the U.S. State Department’s 2009 Religious Freedom report was critical of the efforts of the OIC to undermine human freedoms.

October, 2009

Saudi Arabia

A poll in the Saudi Dar al-Hayat newspaper found that 41% of readers don't think women should work as cashiers, while a further 20% were in favour but only with additional "conditions".

(Text reads): Do you support women working as cashiers in stores?

Yes: 39%
No: 41%
With conditions: 20%
Number of votes: 2,104

March, 2011

Female Genital Mutilation

Australia

At least 50 women who have undergone painful and illegal female circumcision have been treated at two Sydney hospitals in the past year.

November, 2006

Somalia

Somalia is a deeply traditional place, where 98 percent of girls are subject to genital cutting, according to United Nations figures.

December, 2011

United Kingdom

In October 2007, FORWARD published 'A Statistical Study to Estimate the Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation in England and Wales'.

The study revealed that over 20,000 girls could be at risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK.

Funded by the Department of Health and in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Department of Midwifery, City University, the study reveals that nearly 66,000 women with FGM are living in England and Wales (2001) and that there are nearly 16,000 girls under the age of 15 at high risk of WHO Type III FGM and over 5,000 at high risk of WHO Type I or Type II.

October, 2007

Some 500 to 2,000 British schoolgirls will be genitally mutilated over the summer holidays. Some will be taken abroad, others will be "cut" or circumcised and sewn closed here in the UK by women already living here or who are flown in and brought to "cutting parties" for a few girls at a time in a cost-saving exercise.

July, 2010

Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation

From the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2005

Country	Nation Prevalence % of FGM
Benin	17
Burkina Faso	77
Central African Republic	36
Chad	45
Côte d’Ivoire	45
Egypt	97
Eritrea	89
Ethiopia	80
Ghana	5
Guinea	99
Kenya	32
Mali	92
Mauritania	71
Niger	5
Nigeria	19
Sudan	90
Tanzania	18
Yemen	23

Verbal, Physical or Sexual abuse

Arab World

According to a study by the Foreign Nepali Workers Rescue Center (FNWRC), about 90 per cent of all Nepali migrant women are victims of sexual violence and exploitation. The worst cases are in Arab countries where female migrant workers are routinely raped, beaten and not paid. For this reason, the Nepali government limited emigration to the Middle East between 1998 and 2010.

Still, every year, 83,000 Nepal migrant women leave the country in search for work. Most go to the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where job opportunities are better.

Arab states are destination of most illegal workers. Out of 67,000 in the Middle East in 2006, only 3,000 had the right papers and a valid contract.

September, 2011

South Mediterranean Region

Violence against women in the home is the main emergency needed to be tackled by the Mediterranean's southern shores. The phenomenon affects between 40% and 75% of married women, who suffer mainly at the hands of their husbands. This is the glaring figure contained in a study carried out by the Euromed Gender Equality Programme (EGEP), which has been presented at a conference held in Brussels. The 'Programme to enhance quality between men and women in the Euromed Region', which is financed by the European Union as part of neighbourhood policy, focussed on nine partner countries between 2008 and 2011: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia.

Afghanistan

Nearly 90 percent of Afghan women suffer from domestic abuse, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Despite that, there are less than a dozen shelters like this one in Afghanistan, usually run by non-governmental organizations. Abusers are rarely prosecuted or convicted, and most women are afraid to say anything. "Their mothers are beaten by their fathers. They're beaten by their fathers, by their brothers. It's a way of life," said Manizha Naderi, director of WAW.

September, 2009

Afghan women's groups say self immolation is a sad part of life in Afghanistan. Young women often set fire to themselves using household fuel or cooking oil, in response to domestic violence or family disputes. Launching the awareness campaign, Afghanistan's acting health minister Dr Suray Dalil said that in the last year 22,000 burns cases were recorded in the country's hospitals. Of those, 2000 required in-patient treatment. Fabrizio Foschini is a political analyst with the Afghanistan Analyst Network, based in Kabul. He says the problem seems to be increasing.
. . .
The reason is they are having such a life that they cannot tolerate anymore all this kind of violence. So I believe that the main reason is this that we have a strong culture of impunity that gives woman no hope and no choice to go and ask for justice.

September, 2011

Half of Afghanistan's women prisoners are inmates for "zina" or moral crimes.
. . .

Some of the women convicted of "zina" are guilty of nothing more than running away from forced marriages or violent husbands.

Human rights activists say hundreds of those behind bars are victims of domestic violence.

November, 2011

According to figures in an Oxfam report in October, 87 percent of Afghan women report having experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission logged 1,026 cases of violence against women in the second quarter of 2011 compared with 2,700 cases for the whole of 2010.

January, 2012

Bangladesh

As many as 449 women committed suicide facing different forms of repression last year, according to a report of a women's rights organisation published yesterday. Of them, 27 took their lives due to stalking.

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad made the annual report on women repression based on stories published in 14 national dailies last year, a press release said.

A total of 6,616 women fell victim to repression across the country last year, says the report. Of them, 1,014 women were victims of stalking, 96 were killed after rape and 38 died after being set on fire. Moreover, 81 women were acid burnt while two of them died following the attacks.

Over 800 women were raped, of whom 165 were gang raped, as per the report.

Two hundred and eighty seven women faced sexual harassment in 2011. About 181 women and teenage girls were abducted while 109 women and girl children fell victim to trafficking. Among the victims of trafficking, 45 were sold to brothels, the report says.

At least 330 women were killed for failing to give dowry while 55 teenage house helps died in different incidents of torture across the country. Also, 68 women were tortured in the name of fatwa (religious edict), and 75 fell victim to child marriage.

January, 2012

Egypt

Between the year 2002 and 2003, The Association of Legal Aid for Women, (CWELA) began compiling and analyzing press coverage of 20 daily newspapers and weekly magazines that dealt with domestic violence in Egypt.

CEWLA’s report also showed that the perpetrators of violence were males in 75 percent of the cases and women represented 25 percent. The perpetrators were the husbands (52 percent), the fathers (10 percent), brothers (10 percent), the mothers (four percent) the rest were the sons, relatives of the husband or of the wife, the step father or the step mother. The types of violence were murder (76 percent), attempt to murder (5 percent), battering (18 percent), kidnapping 2.5 percent and the rest were different types such as burning property, forcing women to sign checks and become guarantors of men, accusation of insanity, etc.

The report indicated that causes of violence were honor crimes (42 percent), leaving the house without the husband’s approval (7.5 percent), wives asking for divorce (3 percent).

February, 2012

Germany

[According to annual report of the German police] The representatives of this ethnic group stood out as part of those involved in sex crimes in Germany - 34.9% of rapes and other similar crimes accounted for Turks only.

February, 2012

Iran

Statistics in Iran show that 66% of Iranian women, at the beginning of the marriage have been at least physically abused once. Some forms of physical abuse that occur include: biting, bondage, imprisonment in their own home, scratching, hair pulling, and even starving.

February, 2006

Iraq

A recent report by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) registered 139 cases of violence against women in the northern region of Kurdistan in the second half of 2008 alone. It said 163 women were killed as a result of domestic violence in Kurdistan in 2009. Experts suggest the number is less than 5 percent of the real estimates.

May, 2009

One in five Iraqi women is subjected to either physical or psychological abuse, often inflicted by family members, Minister of State for Women’s Rights Ibtihal al-Zaidi said on Saturday.

“One-fifth of Iraqi women are subjected to two types of violence, physical and psychological, constituting a very serious danger to the family and society,” Zaidi said at a conference dedicated to fighting violence against women.
. . .

The overall level of violence in Iraq has declined since its peak in 2006-2007, but women still remain victims of violence, trafficking, forced marriage at a young age, and kidnapping for confessional or criminal reasons, according to non-governmental organizations.

November, 2011

Sundus Abbas, who heads the Women’s Leadership Institute, a rights group with branches in seven Iraqi provinces, says the true figure for women who face sexual and domestic abuse is as high as 73 percent.

March, 2012

Jordan

91% of university students polled by the Jordanian Human Right Center approve of wife beating. An earlier study by another organization found out that a majority of WOMEN also supports the right of a husband to beat the wife

According to the [National Family Council] report:
83% of Jordanian women approve of wife beating if the woman cheats on her husband
60% approve of wife beating in cases where the wife burns a meal she's cooking
52% approve of wife beating in case where she's refused to follow the husband’s orders

Norway

Oslo is the capital of Norway. In 2010, its non-Western immigrant population was made up of Pakistanis (21,195), Somalis (11,542), Sri Lankans (7,214), Vietnamese (5,573), Turks (5,987), Moroccans (5,848), and Iraqis (6,831). And in 2009, 11% of its population were Muslim.

Every single rape assault between 2005-2010, where the rapist could be identified, was commited by a non-Western foreigner.

Transcript of English translation

00:00:01:75 00:00:06:30 In Oslo all sexual assaults involving rape in the past year 00:00:06:30 00:00:10:45 has been committed by males of non-western background 00:00:10:45 00:00:13:78 this was the conclusion of a police report published today 00:00:13:78 00:00:16:55 This means that every single rape assault in the last five years, 00:00:16:55 00:00:22:11 where the rapist could be identified, he was a man of foreign origin, 00:00:22:79 00:00:27:27 The young girl we are about to meet was raped about two years ago 00:00:27:27 00:00:30:66 As she entered her apartment she was assaulted and endured 00:00:30:66 00:00:34:17 hours of the threats and violence and rape by a man unknown to her 00:00:34:17 00:00:36:54 She will be struggling with this experience for the rest of her life 00:00:37:29 00:00:41:31 I have found it difficult to go out shopping on my own because I felt anxious 00:00:41:31 00:00:45:94 I was simply too afraid to go out the door, And had problems contacting 00:00:45:94 00:00:51:89 and speaking to friends and family and simply live a normal life. 00:00:51:89 00:00:57:28 In april a few weeks ago, four women were assaulted and raped on the same night 00:00:57:28 00:00:59:45 None of the perpetrators has yet been found 00:00:59:95 00:01:02:54 Today Oslo police presented the total figures 00:01:02:54 00:01:06:44 revealing how in the past year, all sexual assaults involving rape 00:01:06:44 00:01:09:17 has been commited by men of non-western background. 00:01:09:17 00:01:11:43 It is troubling statistics 00:01:11:84 00:01:16:16 From 2005-2010 a total of 86 sexual assaults involving rape was reported 00:01:16:44 00:01:20:56 in 83 cases the man was described as having "non-western appearance" 00:01:20:83 00:01:24:65 these are all the cases in which the perpetrator could be identified by the victim 00:01:25:88 00:01:30:31 Many of the perpetrators who commit these rapes are on the edge of society 00:01:30:31 00:01:33:54 often unemployed, arriving from traumatized countries. 00:01:33:87 00:01:37:44 In the past five years it has often been asylum seekers 00:01:37:74 00:01:40:98 This girl was raped by a man of pakistani heritage 00:01:40:98 00:01:46:58 she is an ethnic norwegian as is almost all victims who are assaulted and then raped 00:01:46:80 00:01:51:43 "He said, that he had the right to do exactly as he wanted to a woman" 00:01:51:67 00:01:55:41 Why? "Because that is how it was in his religion" 00:01:55:41 00:02:00:51 "Women did not have rights or oppinions, he was in charge" 00:02:00:51 00:02:07:14 The way women are viewed is atleast one of the questions we have to ask 00:02:07:14 00:02:10:29 in order to understanding the motive of the perpetrators 00:02:10:59 00:02:13:97 It should not stand on its own, as a stigma, 00:02:13:97 00:02:16:55 but it is an element we must have the courage to adress.

According to domestic violence coordinator Stein Erik Olsen, families with different ethnic backgrounds are over-represented in the domestic violence statistics.

Nettavisen had intended to write an article about the Norwegian Christmas holiday, Christmas dinners, Christmas beer, Christmas Aquavit and Christmas brawls in Norwegian households.

The hypothesis was that the number of incidences of domestic violence would increase when people have time off and when they consume more alcohol.

That’s not the case in Oslo. According to the domestic violence coordinator and assistant police chief Stein Erik Olsen the ‘Norwegian Christmas violence theory’ is simply a myth, on par with the myth that more burglaries are committed during holidays.

“70 percent of domestic violence cases involve families with a different ethnic background. The cultures concerned don’t touch alcohol and they don’t celebrate Christmas.”

And he adds:

“Our experience from Stovner [immigrant suburb of Oslo] is that the number of domestic violence cases declines during Ramadan.”

Olsen doesn’t wish to speculate why that is the case.
. . .

The number of domestic violence cases reported has increased from 633 in 2008 to 932 as of December 1, 2011.

December, 2011

Pakistan

A study published in June 2006 in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, based on interviews with 300 women admitted to hospital for childbirth, said 80 percent reported being subjected to some kind of abuse within marriage. At times, the violence inflicted on women takes on truly horrendous forms. The Islamabad-based Progressive Women's Association (PWA), headed by Shahnaz Bukhari, believes up to 4,000 women are burnt each year, almost always by husbands or in-laws, often as “punishment” for minor “offences” or for failure to bring in a sufficient dowry. The PWA said it had collected details of nearly 8,000 such victims from March 1994 to March 2007, from three hospitals in the Rawalpindi-Islamabad area alone..

June, 2006

The number of incidents of violence against women increased by 13 per cent in 2009, says a report by the Aurat Foundation set to be released on Wednesday. The report states that 8,548 incidents of violence against women were reported in 2009 compared to 7,571 incidents reported in 2008. Of these, 5,722 were reported to have occurred in Punjab, followed by 1,762 in Sindh, 655 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 237 in Balochistan. Similarly, 172 cases of violence against women were reported in Islamabad, the report said.

2009

In Pakistan, it is reported that three out of four women in prison under its Hudud laws [these are the laws of what it forbidden and permitted by Allah himself], are rape victims. Because rape is equated with zina [unlawful sexual intercourse] under Hudud law, rape victims are required to produce four pious male witnesses. It is of course nearly impossible for the rape victims to produce the four male witnesses required to prove their allegation. Therefore their police report of rape was taken as a confession of illicit sex on their part and they were duly found guilty.

Fifty percent of women in Pakistan’s urban areas admit that their husbands beat them, a 2009 US State Department report on Pakistan has revealed.

In 2009, efforts were in progress to come out with a new domestic violence law in Pakistan. A private bill on domestic violence had been passed in the National Assembly in 2009, which required approval by the Pakistani Senate.

However, the Council of Islamic Ideology’s (CII) warning that a law against domestic violence will ‘push up divorce rates’ coupled with Mohammad Khan Sheerani’s objections (of the JUI-F), led to a deferment of the hearing in the Senate. Since then the government has not paid much attention to the matter and the bill has lapsed, The Express Tribune reports.

March, 2012

Palestinian Authority area

Launched in January 1999, the [Women's Empowerment] project first established a research team, trained by Dr Abdo, which in turn began training community leaders on gender-based research methods. They have used these skills to interview a representative sample of 120 women from refugee camps, villages, and cities in the Gaza Strip to determine the incidence of gender-based violence. The preliminary results are alarming: half of the women interviewed to date have been victims of violence. "Violence against women in Gaza basically means domestic violence," says research consultant Aitemad Muhanna. "Women are beaten by their husbands, beaten by their fathers, and even beaten by their brothers." Women are beaten for not fulfilling traditional roles — such as cooking, cleaning, or tending to their appearance — to a husband's satisfaction. Other abuses include harsh insults, sexual abuse among family, and marital rape.

Qatar

One in three wives in Qatar suffer physical or psychological violence from the side of their husband

February, 2012

Somalia

In the past two months, from Mogadishu alone, the United Nations says it has received more than 2,500 reports of gender-based violence, an unusually large number here.

December, 2011

Turkey

London-based Refugee Workers Association Woman’s Group (GIK-DER) revealed disturbing news last week that up to 80% Turkish and Kurdish women are victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment. At the same time 70% of Turkish and Kurdish husbands cheat on their wives.

November, 2006

According to a government study titled “Research on Domestic Violence against Women in Turkey,” 41.9 percent of Turkish women are subjected to physical and sexual violence. Women at a “low-income level” are assaulted at a rate of 49.9 percent, while the number for higher-income women is still high, at 28.7 percent.

Some 55.8 percent of women who have no education or have not finished primary education are subjected to violence, while 27.2 percent of women with at least a high school diploma or higher are the victims, the study said.

Some 48.5 percent of women experience some form of violence but do not disclose their victimization, the study said, adding that women with a lower income (54.1 percent) were more likely to stay silent about being assaulted than women with more education (37.5 percent).

Some 23.4 percent of women have been forced by men to quit their jobs or have been prevented from working; in the lower-income category, this figure is 21.5 percent while it is 21.2 percent for those with higher incomes.

Altogether, 33.7 percent of women said they considered suicide as a solution to their problems. For those with less education, this number is 34.1 percent, while 37.6 of higher educated women have also considered taking their own lives.

February, 2011

According to a report by UN Women released in early July of last year, Turkey tops Europe and the US in the number of incidences of violence against women. Official statistics reveal that four out of 10 women in Turkey are beaten by their husbands.

March, 2012

Violence against women increased one-and-a-half times between 2008 and 2011, according to the sub-commission's report. In 2008, Turkey witnessed 48,000 incidents of gender-based violence; that figure jumped to 80,398 in 2011.

May, 2012

Sexual Harassment

Egypt

According to a survey conducted in 2008 by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, 83 percent of native Egyptian women and 98 percent of women visiting from abroad have experienced some form of public sexual harassment . More than half the Egyptian women reported being molested every day. And contrary to popular belief, most of the victims of this "social cancer," as the Center called it, were wearing modest Islamic dress. Not all sexual harassment is physical -- besides groping women's bodies, grabbing at their clothing, and indecent exposure, it can also include blatant ogling, sexual catcalls, and stalking.

A 2008 survey by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights found that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women living in Cairo said they had been harassed in some way -- and 62 percent of men admitted to harassing.

The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR) describes the problem as a social cancer and calls on the government to introduce legislation to curb it.

The findings contradict the widely held belief in Egypt that unveiled women are more likely to suffer harassment than veiled ones.

Participants in the survey were shown pictures of women wearing different kinds of dress - from the mini skirt to the niqab (full face veil) and asked which were more likely to be harassed.

More than 60% - including female respondents - suggested the scantily clad woman was most at risk. But in reality the study concluded the majority of the victims of harassment were modestly dressed women wearing Islamic headscarves.

ECWR head Nihad Abu El-Qoumsan said that even veiled women who were victims of harassment blamed themselves.

Western women who took part in the study demonstrated a strong belief in their entitlement to personal safety and freedom of movement, she says, but this was totally absent among Egyptian respondents.

No-one spoke about freedom of choice, freedom of movement or the right to legal protection. No-one showed any awareness that the harasser was a criminal, regardless of what clothes the victim was wearing.
. . .

The British foreign office says Egypt is one of the countries with the highest number of cases reported to embassy staff regarding sexual offences against visiting women.

According to studies conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Right (ECWR) in 2008, 98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women surveyed had experienced sexual harassment in Egypt. Meanwhile, 62 percent of Egyptian men confessed to harassing women and 53 percent of Egyptian men faulted women for “bringing it on.”

Pakistan

The sexual harassment of women belonging to minorities by Muslims is pandemic:

Around 74 percent of Pakistani women from minority communities -- Christians and Hindus -- were sexually harassed, while 43 percent faced religious discrimination at workplaces in 2010 and 2011, a study said.

March, 2012

Saudi Arabia

Up to 70% of files exchanged between Saudi teenagers' mobile phones contain pornography, according to a study in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.

The study quoted in Arab News focussed on the phones of teenagers detained by religious police for harassing girls.

The same researcher also found that 88% of girls say they have been victims of harassment using Bluetooth technology.

April, 2007

Honour Killings

Worldwide

While statistics are notoriously hard to come by due to the private nature of such crimes and the fact that very few are reported, the United Nations Population Fund approximates that as many as 5,000 women are murdered in this manner each year worldwide. Undoubtedly that's a low estimate, as reports from Turkey, Jordan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories, among other locales, are filtering in at an alarming rate. Add to the list Germany, Sweden, other parts of Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, and it's clear that young Muslim women in the West are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

January, 2008

Many women's groups in the Middle East and South-west Asia suspect the victims are at least four times the United Nations' latest world figure of around 5,000 deaths a year.

This [2010] study analyzes 172 incidents and 230 honor-killing victims. The information was obtained from the English-language media around the world with one exception. There were 100 victims murdered for honor in the West, including 33 in North America and 67 in Europe. There were 130 additional victims in the Muslim world. Most of the perpetrators were Muslims, as were their victims, and most of the victims were women.

The perpetrators and victims in this study lived in the following twenty-nine countries or territories: Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Gaza Strip, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the West Bank.

In general, statistically significant interactions were found for age, geographical region, the participation of multiple perpetrators (mainly members of the victim's family of origin, including the victim's father), family position, multiple victims, the use of torture, and the stated motive for the murder. Between 1989 and 2009, honor killings also escalated over time in a statistically significant way.

Worldwide, the majority of victims were women; a mere 7 percent were men. Only five men were killed by their families of origin whereas the rest of the male victims were killed by the families of the women with whom they were allegedly consorting or planning to consort with either within or outside of marriage. The murdered male victims were usually perceived as men who were unacceptable due to lower class or caste status, because the marriage had not been arranged by the woman's family of origin, because they were not the woman's first cousin, or because the men allegedly engaged in pre- or extramarital sex. Men were rarely killed when they were alone; 81 percent were killed when the couple in question was together.

Although Sikhs and Hindus do sometimes commit such murders, honor killings, both worldwide and in the West, are mainly Muslim-on-Muslim crimes. In this study, worldwide, 91 percent of perpetrators were Muslims. In North America, most killers (84 percent) were Muslims, with only a few Sikhs and even fewer Hindus perpetrating honor killings; in Europe, Muslims comprised an even larger majority at 96 percent while Sikhs were a tiny percentage. In Muslim countries, obviously almost all the perpetrators were Muslims. With only two exceptions, the victims were all members of the same religious group as their murderers.

In the West, 76 individuals or groups of multiple perpetrators killed one hundred people. Of these perpetrators, 37 percent came from Pakistan; 17 percent were of Iraqi origin while Turks and Afghans made up 12 and 11 percent, respectively. The remainder, just under a quarter in all, came from Albania, Algeria, Bosnia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guyana, India, Iran, Morocco, and the West Bank.

Egypt

In Egypt, a UN report by Fatma Khafagy of the Cairo-based Association of Legal Aid for Women was produced in 2005. It states that in 1995, out of a total of 819 slayings, 52 of these were honor killings. In 2003, a report by a women's rights group claimed that 42% of domestic violence cases involved "honor crimes".

June, 2007

Despite the fact it is hard to find accurate statistics on honor killings in Egypt, it is estimated to be in the hundreds every year.
. . .
The [Association of Legal Aid for Women] report indicated that causes of [domestic] violence were honor crimes (42 percent), leaving the house without the husband’s approval (7.5 percent), wives asking for divorce (3 percent).

February, 2012

Finland

This year [2009], within just six months more than 30 women have sought refuge from honour violence at the facility. That is as many as during the whole of last year. As the coordinator at Monika House, Nasima Razmyar has the impression that the rise can be explained by growing numbers of women of marriageable age.
. . .
One problem is that the police do not keep statistics on honour violence... However, police believe that only a small fraction, probably less that 5% of all honour violence incidents come to light. The seriousness of the phenomenon is not understood, even by the officials dealing with it.

Helsingin Sanomat reported on Sunday [February 27, 2011] that according to the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, thousands of girls particularly in immigrant families with a Muslim background are afraid of their immediate relatives, while being subjected to physical or mental violence.

The reason for the control is the fact that the Muslim family honour is equated with the virginity of their daughters.

Iraq

In a recent interview with the Arabic daily Asharq-Al-Awsat of 9th December 2008, Suzan Shihab, a member of the parliament in Iraqi Kurdistan, speaks of the alarming increase in the level of violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan and the laudable laws passed by the Parliament to limit or curb this violence. She speaks of a very sombre reality; of 100 deaths a month due to violence, a half of which were due to “honour” killing and the rest was due to fatal burning, some of which were self-inflicted.

2008

The United Nations estimates that at least 255 women died in honour-related killings in Kurdistan, home to one fifth of Iraqis, in the first six months of 2007 alone.

2007

At least 27 women have died in so-called “honour killings” over the past four months in northern Kurdish Iraq, an official from the regional government said Monday.

2007

According to statistics provided by the Kurdistan Regional Government, 59 women were murdered in the first six months of this year. But local non-governmental organizations say the rate is much higher.

2010

However, between September and December 2007, twenty seven(27) women were reported murdered in alleged honor killings, and ninety-seven (97) tried to commit suicide for similar motives in Iraq. The number of reports of women attempting to kill themselves increased from thirty-six (36) in 2005 to one hundred thirty-three (133) in 2006; the number of women murdered for honor offenses went from four (4) to seventeen (17) for the same period (IRIN 2007, 2). The UN estimates that violence against women in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan has increased by eighteen percent (18%) between March and May of 2007 (United Nations 2007, 9).

Israel

Last year [in 2006], eight women were victims in Israel's Arab community of 1.4 million people, women's groups said.

Jordan

Women, who constitute 49 percent of the 4.6 million population, have little say. Official statistics show that 25 women--the majority of them teen-agers--are killed each year in so-called "honor crimes," which constitute 25 percent of the annual homicides in Jordan. Most are buried in unmarked graves, disgraced even in death.

In Jordan, an average of twenty-five to thirty women are killed each year in the name of honor

Morocco

In Morocco, Article 418 of Penal Code grants "extenuating circumstances" to a husband who murders or injures his wife for "flagrante delicto". About 200 women are killed each year in such fashion in the country, as per private estimates.

Netherlands

50% of honor-violence victims have been sexually abused

Honor-related crime victims are sexually abused more often than previously thought. That is one of the most remarkable conclusions of a study Nethe social services organization Fier Fryslân.

Of the 89 women who turned to Fier Fryslân between January 2008 and March 2010, 45 were sexually abused by family members, sometimes by several people.
. . .

Of the 45 sexually abused girls, 52% were abused by a cousin, 22% by a brother and 20% by an uncle. 8% were abused by their father, 2% by a stepfather, and 2% by an acquaintance.

Pakistan

Fifty-eight people, both men and women, lost their lives in 2005 only because they had married on their own will. They were among 1015 people murdered in the name of honour in the same year, said a report issued by the Madadgaar Help Line database recently.

The report, based on news clippings from twenty-six newspapers of Urdu, English and Sindh languages, says that despite the enactment of a law to curb violence against women, cases of karo kari or honour killing are still going on unabated.

The report says that the data does not necessarily presents the real picture. According to an estimate, only 10 percent cases of honour killing are reported in the media.

The report says that more than 473 incidents of honour killing were reported from Sindh, 337 from Punjab, 129 from Balochistan and 76 from NWFP during 2005. Those killed included 563 married women, 75 unmarried women, 373 men and six children.

In 380 such cases the perpetrators were never nabbed. In most of the cases, the killers were close relatives of the victims. The report says that 146 married women were killed by real brothers, 240 by husbands, 60 by in laws, 11 by real sisters, two by stepsons, one by stepbrother, one by former husband, one by mother and 71 by other relatives. Whereas newspaper reports about unmarried women show that fathers were the perpetrators in 49 cases, paternal uncles in 33 cases, real brothers in 16 cases and real sister in one case.

Total 618 of the victims were killed on the charge of indulging in zina and 337 for allegedly maintaining illicit relations.

The report said that when attacked, 901 of the victims died on the spot while 5 received serious injuries. 91 of the victims sustained murderous attack. According to the report, in 17 cases victims were found dead but it could not be ascertained how they were killed.

April, 2006

A total of 428 Pakistanis comprising 260 women and 168 men were brutally killed across Pakistan in the name of honour between January 1 and August 31.

The number of honour killings in Pakistan are estimated to be around 2,500 to 3,000 cases every year. However, the report states that a good number of such cases still go unreported or are passed off as suicides and only 25% of these are brought to justice.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), 260 women and 168 men have already been killed in the first eight months of 2008. Honour killings are treated as murder under Pakistan's penal code; however, the relevant law states that the family of the victim is allowed to compromise with the killer who is a close relative in most of the cases. Provisions of the Pakistani law also allow the next of kin of the victim to forgive the murderer in exchange for money. And most of the offenders continue to use this clause to escape punishment.

September, 2008

Every year more than 1000 women are killed in the name of honour in Pakistan alone.

December, 2008

Although statistics on honor killing’s victims in Pakistan are incomplete and difficult to obtain, they indicate that at least one hundred and eighty-three (183) women were killed for honor in 1998, more than one thousand (1,000) in 1999, and at least two hundred and forty (240)in the first six months of 2000 (Amnesty International 1999, 14; Gonzalez 2000/2001, 2). These reports are only of female victims, even though there is evidence of males being subject to honor killings.

2010

Nearly 1,000 women and girls in Pakistan were murdered in 2011 in honour killings, worrying figures have revealed.

A new report by Pakistan's leading human rights group has revealed at least 943 women were killed last year by their fathers, husbands or brothers for damaging their family name. Ninety-three of those killed were minors.

However, the true number of those killed is thought to be far higher. Many cases are thought to have been covered up by relatives and sympathetic police officers, the report revealed.

The figure of 943 was an increase of more than 100 the previous year in 2010.

March, 2012

Palestinian Authority Area

More than two-thirds of all murders in Gaza Strip and West Bank are honor killings.

In the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, it is believed that three-four women are killed every month in the name of saving honour. The Palestinian Authority follows the Jordanian law, which gives men reduced punishment for killing wives or female relatives if they have brought dishonour to the family.

Sweden

More than 4,000 teenagers in Stockholm are exposed on a daily basis to cultures of honour that involve traditions which run counter to Swedish law, according to an estimate based on a new official study.

Violence and repression are regular occurrences for a large section of 16-year-old school goers in the city centre and suburbs, according to a study commissioned by local politicians.

Ulf Kristersson (Mod), Commissioner of Social Services, is one of a number of politicians surprised and outraged by the findings.

"It's not permitted for adults, not even parents, to prevent children from living full, independent lives," he told Sveriges Television.

The results come from a survey of a cross section of more than 2,000 pupils.

Almost a quarter of female respondents, 23 percent, said they were expected to retain their virginity until marriage and were not allowed to have a boyfriend. Sixteen percent of girls were not allowed to have male friends or decide whom they would marry.

Seven percent of girls and three percent of boys said they were exposed to serious violations in the form of threats and violence.

And ten percent of girls and four percent of boys said their lives were limited to the extent that they could not live in the same way as other people their own age.

The majority of teenagers who matched the honour culture profile have parents born outside Sweden.

Syria

The Syrian Women Observatory [SWO] has stated that between 200 and 300 honour killings are committed in Syria every year, the majority of which occur in rural and Bedouin communities. The SWO stated that half of the annual murder cases committed in Syria are cases of honour killing.

August, 2009

Turkey

These are the elites of Turkey

A survey carried out among university students on honour killings showed that in two universities around 30 percent of students thought such crimes were normal. In other universities the rate ranged from 3 to 19 percent.

October, 2006

According to governmental statistics, at least two hundred (200) die in the name of honor each year; this number constitutes half of all murders in Turkey (Navai 2009, 1). In Istanbul alone, at least one person dies as a result of honor killing weekly (Black 2008, 3).

2009

A June 2008 report by Turkey's Human Rights Directorate says that in Istanbul alone, there is one honour killing every week and over 1,000 were killed during the last five years.

June, 2008

United Kingdom

Up to 17,000 women in Britain are being subjected to "honour" related violence, including murder, every year, according to police chiefs.
. . .
Almost all victims of the most extreme crimes are women, killed in half of cases by their own husbands. Sometimes murders are carried out by other male relatives, or even hired killers. The fear that many thousands are left to endure honour violence alone may be supported by the disturbing details of the incidence of suicide within the British Asian community. Women aged 16 to 24 from Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi backgrounds are three times more likely to kill themselves than the national average for women of their age.

February, 2008

The number of murders, rapes and assaults on people who dare to break strict religious or cultural rules is doubling every year, police figures show, with up to two violent “honour crimes” being committed every day. But charities which help victims of honour crimes say the true extent of the problem is far worse than the statistics show, as every year hundreds of vicitms - normally women - are too frightened to report attacks or to give evidence in court.
. . .

Figures released by the Metropolitan Police show that in London alone there have been 129 honour-based crimes between April and October this year, compared with 132 in the whole of 2008/09, which in turn was double the number of the previous year. The Home Office has estimated that there are an average of 12 honour killings each year in England and Wales.

But Diana Nammi, director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, described the official figures as “the tip of the iceberg” and suggested there are more than 500 honour crimes each year nationwide.

She said: “It’s not just the detection of honour crimes which is increasing, but the number of crimes which are committed. The rise of fundamentalism is the reason these crimes are increasing. The Government has also been turning a blind eye to the problem, which only makes things worse.

“We need to change the mindset of the communities where these crimes are happening - mainly people from South Asia, the Middle East and Muslim communities - and hopefully the religious leaders will think about how we can stop this.”

December, 2009

Nearly 3,000 so-called honour attacks were recorded by police in Britain last year, new research has revealed.

According to figures obtained by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (Ikwro), at least 2,823 incidents of 'honour-based' violence took place, with the highest number recorded in London.

The charity said the statistics fail to provide the full picture of the levels of 'honour' violence in the UK , but are the best national estimate so far.

The data, taken from from 39 out of 52 UK forces, was released following a freedom of information request by Ikwro.

In total, eight police forces recorded more than 100 so called honour-related attacks in 2010.

The Metropolitan Police saw 495 incidents, with 378 reported in the West Midlands, 350 in West Yorkshire, 227 in Lancashire and 189 in Greater Manchester.

Cleveland recorded 153, while Suffolk and Bedfordshire saw 118 and 117 respectively, according to the figures.

Between the 12 forces able to provide figures from 2009, there was an overall 47 per cent rise in honour attack incidents.

Police in Northumbria saw a 305 per cent increase from 17 incidents in 2009 to 69 in 2010, while Cambridgeshire saw a 154 per cent jump from 11 to 28. A quarter of police forces in the UK were unable or unwilling to provide data, Ikwro said.

The report stated: 'This is the first time that a national estimate has been provided in relation to reporting of honour-based violence.

'Honour' attacks are punishments usually carried out against Muslim women who have been accused of bringing shame on their family and in the past have included abductions, mutilations, beatings and murder.

Ikwro director Diana Nammi told the BBC that families often deny the existence of the attacks.

She said: 'The perpetrators will be even considered as a hero within the community because he is the one defending the family and community's honour and reputation.'

December, 2011

The number of women from Britain's ethnic communities stepping forward to report honour- related violence has more than doubled in three years, new figures have revealed.

Figures from the Metropolitan Police show that in the 12 months to April 2011 there were 443 incidents reported as cases of honour violence or forced marriage in London alone, more than double that in 2007-08.

A separate recent survey of all police forces, using Freedom of Information Act, revealed that there were nearly 3,600 reported cases nationwide in 2010, The Telegraph reports.

Police figures have also revealed that a significant proportion of victims drop their cases after initially coming forward.

Campaigners warn that recorded cases may be just the "tip of the iceberg" with thousands of incidents going unreported each year because of fear of reprisal, family pressure or inconsistent police recording.

December, 2011

A large number of young British Asians support violence against women who 'dishonour' their families, a Panorama investigation will claim today.

The hard-hitting BBC documentary reveals more than two thirds of Asians between the ages of 16 and 34 say communities should live according to 'honour' or 'izzat'.

Research carried out for the show found nearly one in five – 18 per cent – said certain acts thought to shame families were justification for violence.
. . .

Honour attacks are punishments usually carried out against Muslim women who have been accused of bringing shame on their family

March, 2012

Yemen

In Yemen, with an estimated population of 16 million, Mohammed Ba Obaid, who heads the department of Women’s Studies in Sana’a University, said his surveys found that more than 400 women were killed for reasons of “honor” in 1997.

1997

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