Mariyam Imad wonders why half the inhabitants of this tropical paradise are still living a nightmare.
The peaceful surface of the Maldives’ waters belies a brutal tradition of family violence and sexual abuse. The country is on the path to reform, but Maldivian women continue to endure oppression. On 28 September, they will march to the ballots to choose their country’s next president. With a literacy rate above 98%, these are educated women. A quarter of them are employed. Hundreds have stood for local council positions. But few entertain much hope that this election will improve their fate.
Misogyny has deep roots in the Maldives. The United Nations is concerned that, in spite of recent liberal reforms, women traditionally continue to take on a subservient role in society and girls are often removed from education at an early age. Female participation in the labor force has doubled over the last 20 years, but still only accounts for a third of national jobs. According to the World Economic Forum, women earn just 65 percent of the wages of men in similar positions and are excluded from key sectors of the economy. This is particularly noticeable in the tourism industry, which accounts for a whopping 30% of Maldivian gross domestic product. Maldivians often consider it immoral for their women to stay on resort islands with foreign values for extended periods. In other sectors, women are hired but never reach influential positions. They account for approximately 40 percent of government employees, but only 6 percent of the country’s parliament, 5 percent of local councilors and are completely forbidden from running for President.
The Maldivian legal system is based on Shari'ah and clashes occasionally with women’s rights – notably in matters of inheritance and divorce. But the real threat is not enshrined in law. It comes from tradition. Contempt for women is so deeply ingrained in society that courts downplay the testimony of female witnesses and meet out punishments unequally. Flogging sentences are a good example of this. This cruel and degrading practice is often used to punish sex outside of marriage. By definition, the crime affects both genders equally but the records of the Judicial Services Administration show that 80 percent of convictions fall on women. Pregnancy was once used as the excuse for these statistics as it provided a rare form of proof of adultery. But today men only escape punishment because forensic evidence is systematically dismissed by the courts. The bias is so pronounced that earlier this year, the international community had to intervene to prevent the flogging of a 15 year-old girl who had been molested by her step-father. The girl was sentenced to 100 lashes and house arrest for having borne a child outside of matrimony. Before hitting the international limelight, the step-father was not even charged.
Wost of all, the Maldives entertains a gruesome tradition of rape and domestic violence which is utterly irreconcilable with the image it tries to sell as a holiday paradise abroad. The United Nations and the World Health Organisation have concluded that one in three Maldivian women alive today has suffered from physical or sexual violence at some time in her life. One in eight was sexually abused before she even reached the age of 15. Rape is common because it goes unpunished. There is no specific legislation to address domestic violence or sexual harassment in court, and convictions require at least two eye witnesses (the number increases to four if the witnesses are female). Politicians are only beginning to speak out against this practice. “Close to 0 per cent of rape charges result in convictions,” laments Eva Abdulla, one of only five Maldivian female Members of Parliament. “Women are even being beaten and sexually harassed by the police.”
She alludes to a recently Police Inquiry Commission report of four police officers who sexually abused a woman inside a police car. They drove her around the city, stripped her clothes off, assaulted her and then threw her out into the street. Although the policemen were discharged, for a long time, no criminal charges were brought against them. NGOs believe that these testimonies are just the tip of the iceberg. Most rape cases remain unreported because women are afraid of reprisals. In case of domestic violence, women generally lack the economic independence to move out or launch legal proceedings themselves. In any case, they know that the police and judiciary do not care. Why should they speak out in a country where what few laws protect them are blatantly not enforced?
