Tribal norms protecting women are diminishing [Archives:2007/1082/Front Page]
Almigdad Dahesh Mojali
[email protected]
SANA'A, Sept. 2 ) Academics and human rights activists argue that tribal norms do not protect women from violent attacks by men. However, some tribal norms do try to protect women; the problem is that men do not abide by them either through ignorance or lack of faith.
In northern districts of Yemen, such as Sana'a, Dhamar and Marib Al-Jawf, tribal norms contribute to protecting women from violence. For example, if a man slaps a woman he will be punished by having to bring a lamb to her family and provide her with a dress. The punishment increases with the volume of violence committed. Additionally, according to tribal norms, harming a woman is seen as a cowardly and shameful act. Ali Al-Salami, a tribe sub-leader, stated, “Aggression against women is everywhere, but it differs from one place to another. It is much more in the rural areas due to many factors, such as a lack of education and awareness of the other's rights.”
Tribal norms exist to organize community affairs and all community members should abide by them. The tribal sheikhs are responsible for knowing the norms in case they are violated, in which case the sheikhs determine the volume of the violation and the punishment. Ali Naser, a tribe sub-leader stated, “These norms and others were put in place to organize the life of communities and they are known to all people and in case one of the people violates these norms, he will be punished at the volume of the violation.”
Amat Al-Razzaq Jahaff, head of the Women's Development Center for Traditional Heritage mentioned, “Tribal norms do many good things in protecting women in the rural areas. For example, if you beat a woman, you will be fined and all people will blame you. But this doesn't mean that there are no defects in these norms. Some norms look as if they support and defend women, but when you look at these norms thoroughly you find that they disgrace women. For instance, it is shameful to beat a woman even if she slaps you. What is meant by this is that a woman doesn't deserve that a man should bother himself and beat her.”
Many women complained of being beaten by their husbands, fathers, brothers and sometimes sons. Zenah Mahdi, 45, shared, “I suffered a lot from both my husband and elder brother. My husband is illiterate and merciless and my brother is controlled totally by his wife who is a relative of my husband. When I ask my husband to bring me anything or I commit a trivial mistake, he directly comes and beats me without even asking about the reasons. When I go to my brother complaining of my husband, my brother takes it easy and does nothing in order not to hurt the feelings of his wife. He neglects me for weeks and his wife and children start hurting me and once my husband comes to take me, he doesn't bother himself even to blame my husband and submits me to him like a goat.”
Aum Ali Mohsen, 38, explained, “My son is addicted to Qat and he keeps company with bad guys. When he doesn't have money he obliges me to give him money to buy Qat. When I don't have or refuse to give him, he beats me and takes what he wants by force. Once he took me and wanted to cast me into the traditional oven (Tanoor).”
Sometimes tribal norm procedures and interference from outsiders leads to the diminishing of women's rights. Mohammed Rashed, 30, witnessed, “In my village, three known highway men killed one woman and injured two others. According to the tribal rules, the killers aren't to be killed but the punishment is very big; the blood money is doubled and the same for the injuries. Here, everything is doubled because it is a very big shame to attack women. But because the sum is very big and the killers have support by sheikhs and tribesmen, the women and their families have still received nothing.”
Tribesman Ahmed Al-Naqeeb, stated, “I often heard my neighbor beat his wife and children and I would go to reconcile them, but really I'm not surprised at what he does and I expected that. What do you expect from a man who deprives his family from many essential things and goes to the market to buy Qat? A man who has no relations with God? In my opinion the religious factor plays a role in this issue.”
A 42-year-old wife, who asked to be anonymous, mentioned, “My husband almost never prays or fasts. I don't see him doing anything for Allah and I think this is why he always curses at me. He is always angry with me and sometimes beats me in front of my children. In the past I went many times to my brothers and complained to them but with no avail, and now I stopped because I don't want other people to know what's going on in my house. My children sometimes try to beat him but they know that it is forbidden and at the same time don't want the others to know about such things.” She continued, “In the end, I resorted to the sheikh, who obliged him to bring three lambs, 20,000 Yemeni riyals and a complete dress for me as a punishment.”
One tribal norm states that if a man kills a woman intentionally, he shouldn't be killed in return, while according to Islamic law, he must be killed.
Sheikh Mohammed Zubair, a tribe leader, clarified, “According to the tribal norms, if a man kills a woman, he isn't killed for her because a woman isn't seen as equal to a man in the tribal environment; man is more valued. All people know that it is stipulated in the Holy Qur'an that a man is to be killed if he kills a woman intentionally, but due to ignorance, illiteracy and tribal fanaticism people try to ignore this rule.”
Khalid Al-Qalisi, 38, a lawyer, explained, “Yemeni law which is derived from Islam stipulates that a man is to be sentenced to death when he kills a woman intentionally, except for his daughter.”
The affect and application of tribal norms reduces with the passage of time. This is due in part to the absence of people who are knowledgeable about such norms. Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Marwani, head of Dar Al-Salam Organization, said, “Unfortunately the application of tribal norms started to reduce with the passage of time and people began neglecting these norms though they serve to a big extent in organizing community affairs despite their minimal negative aspects. In my opinion, the reduction of the application occurs due to the death of the righteous sheikhs and tribal leaders who used to always conciliate between people. Also, modernization has affected the people to the point where they abandon their customs.”
Most tribal norms aren't prevalent in the middle and southern districts of Yemen. Sheikh Al-Marwani explained, “These tribal norms have existed for hundreds of years. Yemeni people inherit these norms from generation to generation, but these norms were erased from the southern areas and some of the middle areas because of the British occupation and the spread of education.”
——
[archive-e:1082-v:15-y:2007-d:2007-09-03-p:front]
