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Dubai:
Husband-beating in Dubai homes is on the rise, say psychologists,
with many marriages erupting in violence, says a media report.
Police figures back up the phenomenon. Seven cases of
husband-beating were reported in 2010 — up from just two in 2009.
Police believes the numbers could be much higher as many cases go
unreported.
"Arab men rarely report these incidents and some even refuse to
open criminal cases against their spouses, or even... report it to
police officers, unless... circumstances [go] beyond [their]
control [such as if the wife reports a case against him, or other
people]," Gulf News quoted the Dubai police's Department of Criminal
Investigation in a statement to XPRESS.
Husbands are under attack elsewhere in the region too. In Qatar
for instance, husband-beating accounts for almost every second
domestic violence case.
Yet Dr Hassan Bin Salim Al Buraiki of the Family Consultancy
Centre in Qatar reckons the number of husband beating was not as
high as other Arab states.
He blames rising violence among
married women on their upbringing, drugs, alcohol and weakness in
men for the trend.
Police figures show that as
incidents of husband beating rose so did violent marital disputes
— 95 in 2010 compared to 68 in 2009.
Eman Al Amari, a clinical
psychologist from Dubai, urged society to celebrate these abused
husbands rather than ridicule them. "We should respect these men
for not hitting back," she says. "Men will not agree to speak up
for fear of shame and of being identified. They are more
conservative on this topic," Gulf News quoted her as saying.
According to Eman, husband bashing accounts for around 20 per cent
of domestic violence cases in Arab countries, but cautioned it
still paled in comparison to wife beating. She says during the
last few years, she had come across half a dozen cases — two each
in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah and one each in one in Abu Dhabi and
Fujairah — of violence against husbands.
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