Last Friday, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, local columnists tackled the subject of domestic violence.
We have rightly called for tougher sentences, better support for victims, increased resources for shelters, etc.
I say it again: with good reason.
Forgive me the cliché, but if it is true that Quebec has progressed, each tragedy is indeed one tragedy too many.
Now let’s get out of our local sandbox.
Archive photo, AFP
Culture
Violence against women exists in all societies, but to varying degrees, particularly because it is linked to the dominant culture.
It is not the only factor, but it is undeniable, massive, and the available data leaves no doubt about it.
The OECD, UNICEF, the World Values Survey and the WHO have looked into the issue.
You have to be careful, because the existing data was not collected at the same time, the questions and definitions may vary, and the propensity to reveal the truth or hide it will also vary between societies.
But the available data paints an absolutely irrefutable portrait in these broad terms.
In the OECD summary table compiling the most recent data, the first positions in this sad ranking of violence inflicted on women belong to the following countries: Yemen, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Morocco, Uganda, Saudi Arabia and Liberia.
Small aside here: the very high figures for Canada are undoubtedly explained because the 2018 Statistics Canada survey also includes psychological violence and financial exploitation by a present or past spouse, an extremely broad definition.
In several of the countries in this sorry list, women are at risk for reasons such as leaving the house without permission, refusing sex or neglecting domestic chores.
And we’re not even talking here about forced marriages, the weakness of laws protecting women, the partiality of the courts, etc.
However, we hardly hear our local feminists getting upset about it.
Have you heard them denounce the fierce repression in Iran of women who wanted to remove the compulsory veil?
Have you heard them denounce the widely documented sexual torture committed by Hamas on October 7?
- Listen to Joseph Facal’s column via QUB :
Cocktail
Of course, when people from these parts of the world come to live in Canada, they do not leave their culture in the cloakroom at the entrance.
Here again, do you hear our feminists being moved by domestic violence against immigrant women in our country, or by the ban sometimes imposed on girls from these communities from dating local boys, or from dressing and living like do they want it?
No or very little. For what? In the name of a morally perverted reasoning according to which it would fuel “Islamophobia” or “racism” to tell the truth.
The most pitiful thing is that this cocktail of hypocrisy, willful blindness and selective indignation believes itself to be progressive.