According to statistics provided by Arab media, the number of Arab women who do not get married after the age of 25 has been increasing dramatically.
"A’nes" is an Arabic word used in reference to a woman who reaches a certain age without getting married. This term has a negative connotation. Women who are labeled as "a’wanes" (plural of A’nes) generally have considerably fewer chances of getting married.
Social science expert, Hsham Hussein told Al Arabiyah Television Channel that western countries also see the marriage of older women as an odd thing, but labeling women as a’wanes in the Middle East is very harmful. Women are constrained with many social taboos and stigmas and "are not allowed to live their lives normally."
Hussein added that the reasons behind this phenomenon might vary from one Arab country to another. People living in liberal Arab societies tend to wait longer before getting married, and they consider unmarried women to be a’wanes at a much older age than those of more conservative societies.
Statistics provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs in Lebanon indicated that 83.2 percent of women between the ages of 25-30 and 5 percent of women over 34 are unmarried. In Syria 60 percent of the women between the ages 25-29 and 2.37 percent of women over the age 34 are unmarried.
Muntaha Al Ramahi, an Al Arabeyah reporter, points out that Gulf countries have the highest rates of a’wanes. Approximately 35 percent of women in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates are a’wanes, and so are 30 percent in Saudi Arabia and 10 percent in Oman. The age of women at which they are considered a’wanes in the Gulf was not mentioned.
Al Ramahi said that these high numbers prove that the problem is not economic because rich Gulf countries usually provide their youth with a lot of economic incentives to encourage them to get married
The lowest percentage of a’wanes is in Gaza and the West Bank. Only 1 percent of Palestinian women tend to "miss the train of marriage," Al Ramahi said.
ARAB SOCIAL RESARCHERS BLAME WESTERN VALUES FOR PROBLEMS FACING WOMEN IN NORTH AFRICA
Tunisian social researcher, Mahdi Bin Mabruk, told Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that women are delaying their marriage as they are getting more influenced by western values.
Mabruk said Tunisian women now aspire to achieve economic independence and liberate themselves from constraints imposed on them by their societies. "There is a change in social values," he said. "Women have found new ways of achieving emotional satisfaction. Education and economic independence have become more important priorities than marriage".
However, this lifestyle has a price. According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, 32 percent of the Tunisian women are considered a’wanes, up from 22 percent in 1994.
Nadia is a 34 year-old Tunisian woman who works at the city municipality of Tunis. "I waited too long because I wanted to find true love," she told Al Al-Quds Al-Arabi. "I spent seven years with a man, but he got married with a relative of his and now I have to deal with being a’nes. I regret this lifestyle because I wasted many years"
A similar pattern is happening in Algeria. According to official statistics provided by the Algerian National Academy for Statistics, 11 million Algerian women are unmarried, including five million over the age 35. About 200,000 Algerian women become a’wanes every year.
Moroccan official Ahmad Lhemi told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that he is puzzled with the unprecedented high numbers of unmarried Moroccan women, pointing out that almost all women under 24 years of age are unmarried.
Dr. Aziz Ajbilo from the center of the Demographic Studies in Morocco told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that during the 1960s, women married at an average age of 17, and men married at an average age of 24. Now the average marriage age is 28 for women and 31 for men. Ajbilo added that the rate of fertility among women has decreased from seven children in 1960 to 2.5 in 2004.
This phenomenon has also become a source of concern to many Morrocans, and some called it a disease of "Western influence." Others point to economic problems: Moroccan men have to save enough money to provide a home and pay for the wedding, which can be a challenge for many.
According AL Arabiyah television some Moroccan women are now seeking to marry non-Arabs. This is evident by the increase in the number of "Marriage Agencies" in Morocco. A 34-year-old woman visiting the agency told Al Arabiyah TV, "I’m frustrated with the social life around me. I had a failed experiment with a Moroccan man. So I came here. Eventually I met a Frenchman and we might get married next month".
JORDANIAN WOMEN HAVE A LONG STRUGGLE AHEAD OF THEM
The Jordanian Interior Minister, Samir Al-Habashna told the Jordanian Television that the government cannot give citizenships to the husbands or children of Jordanian women who marry non-Jordanians. "The average Jordanian family is comprised of 6 members," he explained. "If we give this right to 80 thousand Jordanian women who marry non- Jordanians, then we are talking about half a million people who will automatically receive Jordanian citizenships."
Jordanian lawyer Rima Abu Hassan, advocating for these women, strongly disagrees, saying "I heard Samir Al-Habashna’s justification, but the issue here is not about numbers, it is about giving women their rights. Article 6 of the Jordanian constitution says that all citizens are equal. Men and women should have equal rights."
In case of divorce, men with foreign citizenship have the rights to take the children from their mothers. Mothers have no right to ask for their children back because their children take on their father’s citizenship.
Said Aber Al Zine, a Jordanian Television reporter, "Jordanian women are confronted with many other social problems due to the lack of rules that protect their rights and the absence of women’s voice when legislations are made."
According the Jordanian television, the International Institute for Women's Solidarity in Jordan has received an increasing numbers of battered women. One woman told the Jordanian television that, "When I told my husband that he should work and spend his money on our daughters - not in the coffee shop - he severely beat me."
Lawyer Rima Abu Hassan said that the government has established "Social Protection Homes" to provide safe refuge for battered women, but there are not sufficient spaces to receive all battered women, especially those with children. As a result women who are sexually abused are provided with services, and battered women are often turned away.
Many Jordanian women especially in rural areas are also victimized by "honor killings," which are usually committed by male family members against women suspected of engaging in adultery. The Al-Quds Al- Arabi reported that 19 women were killed in honor crimes last year.
According to article 98 of the Jordanian penal code, men tend to receive a sentence ranging from three months to one year in jail for committing honor killings.
EGYPTIAN WOMEN ARE PUSHED OVER THE EDGE
Yes, women also beat their husbands! That was the conclusion of a study of spousal violence conducted by the Dialogue and Development Center in Egypt. According to Al Arabiyah Television Channel, the study analyzed all stories published about spousal abuse in Egyptian Newspapers for the last six months of 2005.
One Al Arabiyah reporter said, "The results were surprising." It turned out that women had committed 111 crimes against men (85 homicides, 15 thefts, and 11 beatings)."In contrast men committed 172 crimes against women,(150 homicides, 13 attempted homicides, and 9 beatings).
Saed Abdel-Hafiz from the Dialogue and Development Center and who conducted the study told the Al Arabiyah television: "We always hear about women poisoning their husbands because it enables them to avoid physical confrontations, but women are also becoming more creative. Some inject their husbands with poisonous substances, while others use simple household products like hair dye."
Although the results revealed that men were still ahead in committing crimes against their wives, the study created a lot of controversy, which was evident in the headlines in the Egyptian Newspapers. "Husbands Massacre," "Men are victims of the Soft Hands," and "By poison, Choking, Kicking, Boxing and Severe Beating--- Women Respond to Verbal Abuse," are some of the headlines.
Said Abdel-Hafiz, "the study results were surprising because they reveal an increase in violence committed by women. They committed only sixty less crimes than men in a period of six months."
Nazic Nasir, a professor of social science in the American university in Cairo, believes that women are pushed to use violence because, "they have to deal with injustices and abuses. And they have no agencies to turn to for help in getting out of their unhealthy situations."
According to Najad Alberie, secretary general of the Democratic Development Organization, "Women beating their husbands are not a new phenomenon. Researchers tend to make mistakes because they tend to base their research on data acquired from local police departments. But men often are ashamed to make a police report if they are physically abused. In reality many men are beaten by women."
Alberie also said that wives who are subjected to beatings have to make a police report because that is the only way for them to be able get divorced from their husbands. Husbands, on the other hand, can divorce their wives anytime they want.
