The Supreme Council for Women (SCW) held a lecture on "Domestic violence, and Its Impact on the Family and Society", as part of its awareness-raising programmes and events.
Legal expert Hud Saad, the lecturer, said domestic violence, which most of the time takes place behind closed doors, has negative impacts on children, women and society as a whole, and impedes women’s role in contributing to social development.
She added that studies have shown that members of families in which there is violence are more susceptible to be aggressive, explaining that domestic violence is a phenomenon that is transferred from one generation to another, and therefore efforts should be made to address it and protect society from it.
She defined "domestic violence" a pattern of behaviour which involves violence or other abuse by one person against another in a domestic context, adding that it can take many forms, including physical, emotional,verbal, economic and sexual abuse.
She said that women are the most affected by such violence in many societies, where they are undermined, and deprived of equal opportunities and resources, noting that the media have consolidated such a traditional vision on women as being unable to perform their duties like men.
On ways to address the phenomenon, she called upon Bahraini women to be aware of their rights, seek advice from the competence state bodies and take the right decisions whenever they are subjected to domestic violence.
She said that Dar Al Aman Centre for abused women, the Batelco Care Centre for Family Violence Victims, the Aisha Yateem Family Counselling Centre and the Child Protection Centre offer all kinds of support to domestic violence victims in Bahrain.