Silence over Justice: An Epidemiology of unreported Cases of Violence against Women in Morocco
Shabista Naz
Abstract
Since the Moudawana’s reform (2004), several legal safeguards have been introduced to provide justice to women survivors of violence in Morocco. However, recent statistics show that legal measures have had little impact on reducing these crimes. The Moroccan National Survey on Violence against Women (2019) found that only three out of a hundred women survivors of sexual abuse seek legal justice and report the crime.
The data made it apparent that the existing legal safeguards are insufficient in breaking the silence of women survivors of violence. Hence, the present paper tries to draw attention to a different and often less discussed dimension of socio-psychological norms and behaviors of Moroccan society (power imbalance between men and women, fear of retaliation, victim-blaming/shaming attitudes, and family pressure, among others) which largely dictates the muted response of women survivors of domestic abuse.
The present paper further argues that addressing the socio-psychological issues as a priority, along with the formulation and implementation of legal measures, would provide voice to the voiceless. Furthermore, prioritising the socio-psychological aspect would encourage more women to report and seek legal help against incidents of violence.
Keywords
References
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Publication date:
11/14/2022
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