Horrendous abuse of Moslem women by their husbands and other male relatives

Muslim feminist fights for women's rights in Italy

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Silvia Aloisi
ROME - Reuters

They may have hoped for a better life in a rich European country, but many Muslim women migrating to Italy suffer abuse by their husbands and live isolated from the rest of society, a Muslim feminist leader says. "We are not integrated at all. Many of the women who came here 15 years ago have not moved one inch forward, they live in a ghetto, they do not speak Italian, they do not go to school and often they do not work," Souad Sbai told Reuters. "Worse, they are often beaten up and abused by their partners: and I do not mean a slap in the face. I mean broken bones, knife wounds and burns with boiling-hot oil," she said.

Unlike in France or Britain, many Muslim immigrants in Italy come from rural regions of the Maghreb, where conservative views about women rights prevail: "Once in Italy, men adopt a do-it-yourself vision of Islam that completely marginalises women."

Sbai, who is 45 and has lived in Italy for 27 years, is the head of the country's Moroccan women's association, a moderate Muslim group campaigning for women's rights and giving legal advice to victims of abuse. Along with other Muslim leaders she helped the Rome government draw up guidelines for immigrants. The so called "Charter of Values", published last week, states that Muslim women should not wear veils that cover their face and reiterates that forced marriage and polygamy are banned in Italy.

More than 1 million Muslim immigrants live in Italy, mostly from North Africa, and about 40 percent of them are women who often joined their husbands a few years after they came to start a new life. But while the men in the family usually find a job and learn at least some Italian -- moving up the integration ladder -- their wives tend to stay at home and look after the children. Many end up depending entirely on their partner who may have conservative views on whether they should go out or find a job.

Statistics show that the percentage of legally registered Muslim women in Italy is much lower than that of men. In the case of Moroccans, the biggest group of Muslim immigrants in Italy, 86.5 percent of those who registered to live and work legally here were men against 13.5 percent of women. Among Tunisians, the percentages were 95.4 for men against just 4.6 for women.

"INVISIBLE"

"Many women become the property of their husbands, who often take their documents or don't get them residence permits, so they do not legally exist in Italy and they cannot go back home," said Sbai. "To the rest of society, these women are invisible. You will not see them dining in a restaurant, or queuing up at the doctor or going to the hairdresser. You will not see them doing the kind of stuff that would be normal in their own country."

She takes the example of Najat Hadi, a 46-year old Moroccan who sought Sbai's help after her Egyptian husband, beat her up repeatedly, including lacerating her breast with a spiked club, because she rebelled against his authority and did not accept the second wife that he brought home one day. The husband has since disappeared with two of Hadi's children.