Report: 96% of women in Siirt suffered violence

2015-05-11 10:24:19

SİİRT (DİHA) -  In Turkey's city of Siirt, 96% of women have experienced physical violence, according to a new report by the Siirt Municipality Women's Council.

In the eastern city of Siirt, Turkey, which has a population of more than 130,000, the municipality conducted a survey of women, including the unemployed, migrants and housewives. 96% of respondents did not work for a wage, with a majority of the women surveyed surviving every month on less income than Turkey's minimum wage. 95% did not receive any social aid from the state or elsewhere and around a quarter had outstanding debts. The rate of women who have never had any education is 11% higher than that for men in the province, where the majority of girls do not complete school.

Child marriage emerged as a key problem in the report. More than 30% of women had children before the age of 18. Researchers noted that while less than 20% of respondents said they married for love or at their own wishes, very few of the women who had children at a juvenile age said they married of their own free will.

The vast majority of the 96% of women who had experienced physical violence said that violence had been "normalized" for them. Researchers noted that the widespread perception among women that psychological or verbal abuse and rape within marriage did not "count" as violence created difficulties in gathering data. Among the reasons women cited for experiencing violence, number one was economic reasons, followed by punishment for talking back, addiction problems, rejecting a man, tradition and jealousy. 

The municipality conducted the survey to plan projects to solve women's problems, asking them about the reasons for why they felt women experienced violence and poverty. More than three quarters of the women said that they did not take part significantly in urban social life.

(cm/nt)