Publication date: August 2017
The report is the second part of a two-part series on violence and discrimination against women in Syrian society (read part 1 of the series). Informed by survey data from 2091 respondents (1120 men and 971 women), this report focuses on the prevalence of domestic violence, public attitudes toward punishment for perpetrators, religious justifications for violence against women, and public perception toward so-called honor crimes. The report reveals significant differences in public perceptions and beliefs about domestic/spousal violence depending on the gender, education level, religious ideology, and other demographic characteristics of the respondents.
Some significant findings include:
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- 21.2% of women reported experiencing domestic violence – double the percentage of men who reported the same answer.
- Less than 7% of victims reported the abuse to one of the relevant institutions.
- The majority of domestic violence incidents (69.2%) occur in the presence of minors (sons, relatives or others)
- Only half of men (49.8%) believe perpetrators “must be punished” for physically assaulting their spouse, compared to 72% of women.
- 42% of women and 56% of men believe that Islamic Law allows the beating of women in some cases; 38% of women and 57% of men believe that there are logical reasons for violence against women.
- Respondents’ agreement with justification for violence against women differed notably by respondents’ age, religious ideology, ethnicity, and education level.
- Both men and women showed support for the commutation of sentences for perpetrators of ‘honor’ crimes; only around one-third of women and one-fourth of men believe that honor killings should be prosecuted like any other murder regardless of the circumstances.
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