Despite increasing public, professional, and scientific interest in the problem of wife abuse and battering, little has been written about the importance of sociocultural sensitivity in intervention with abused and battered women in Arab society. In this article, I describe central family values in that society and discuss their relevance to wife abuse and battering. Specifically, the discussion focuses on values such as mutual family support and interdependence, family reputation, women's inferiority and male supremacy, and family cohesion and the relevance of those values to wife abuse and battering. In addition, I present Arab women's perspectives on this problem, as revealed in their responses to open-ended questions that were part of larger studies conducted by me. In this regard, five dimensions of their perspectives are considered: (1) Women's definitions of violence against women; (2) their awareness of the problem; (3) their justification or condemnation of violence against women; (4) their awareness of the risk encountered by battered women; and (5) their approach toward coping with the problem. The results are discussed from the perspective of the sociocultural context of Arab society. The article concludes with recommendations for socioculturally sensitive intervention with battered women in this society.

ABSTRACT." Over the past three decades, Arab society in Israel has been undergoing processes of transition. These processes are manifested by changes in the economy, education, the status of women, family structure, and by socio-culturat changes and transformations in patterns of coping with social problems. There is a serious lack of empirical research on the implications of this process for the value systems of Arab society and families in Israel and a dearth of relevant intervention-oriented literature. This article outlines the basic cultural values in the Arab society in Israel in an attempt to illuminate the relevance of these values for family structure and for direct interventions with Arab families in Israel.KEY WORDS: Arab families in Israel; cultural sensitivity in therapy; Arab families in transition.The Arab society in Israel is in a state of transition. This process is reflected in various areas such as economy, education, culture, and women's status in the family and society that shape family structure, life and activity (AI-Haj, 1987;Kanaana, 1975). Cultural traditions are gradually being replaced by imported customs, and several stereotypes have begun to lose their value. For example, there has been a decline in prearranged marriages, and the system of dowry has started taking different shapes and forms. It is clear that the Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia, PhD, is a lecturer, The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Reprint requests should be sent to the author at The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel. Contemporary Family Therapy, 17(4). December ]995

The beliefs of 356 Jordanian women about wife-beating were investigated, using a self-administered questionnaire. The participants showed a strong tendency to justify wife-beating, to believe that women benefit from violence against them, and to blame women for their beating. Furthermore, the participants expressed clear opposition to formal assistance for battered women from governmental agencies. In this vein, they considered wife abuse a personal problem that should be treated within the family. The results also revealed that while the women showed a weak tendency to blame violent husbands for wife abuse, the prevailing belief was that violent men should not be punished for their behavior. The results are analyzed in light of the patriarchal ideology that typifies Arab culture and predominates in Jordanian society. Finally, the article discusses the implications of the results for future research, prevention, and establishment of appropriate services for combating wife abuse in Jordanian society.Recent studies in Arab societies have revealed that the scope of wife abuse is high and has devastating effects on abused wives' health and psychological well-being, as well as on marital relations. The results of a study conducted by El-Zanaty, Hussein, Shawky, Way, and Kishor (1996) among a national random sample of 14,779 Egyptian women indicate that about one-third of the participants in the sample had been beaten by their husbands at least once during the course of their marriage. Out of this group, about 45% had been beaten by their husbands at least once over the past year, and 17% had been beaten at least three times during the same period.Haj-Yahia (2000a) reports the incidence (i.e., the annual rate) of psychological, physical, sexual, and economic abuse as revealed by two national surveys conducted among Palestinian women from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For example, based on the results of the First Palestinian National Survey, 23% of the women reported that their husbands had requested or forced them to do something with the intention of insulting or humiliating them; 52% revealed that their husbands had insulted them, cursed them, used abusive language, or called them names; 23% reported that their husbands had pushed them, kicked them, or tried to knock them over; 16% indicated that their husbands had attacked them with a knife, a belt, or another object of that kind; 27% reported that their husbands had sex with them against their will; 41% revealed that their husbands had prevented them from using the family's money as they saw fit, at least once during the 12-month period preceding the survey (Haj-Yahia, 2000a). The results of both surveys also indicate that psychologically, physically, sexually, and economically abused women reveal higher levels of psychological distress, fear, anger (Haj-Yahia, 1999), depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem as well as several negative implications for their marital relations (Haj-Yahia, 2000b, 2001. Unfortunately, similar studies are lacking on the rates and impl...

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Based on a patriarchal perspective, the article presents a pioneer study of Palestinian husbands' beliefs in the following areas: justifying wife beating, holding violent husbands responsible for their behavior, and blaming the battered wives for violence against them. The results revealed the following trends: (a) High percentages of respondents tend to justify wife beating under different circumstances (e.g., the wife's “sexual unfaithfulness”); (b) although the majority of respondents held violent husbands responsible for their behavior, there was a concomitant tendency to understand the husband; and (c) a high percentage of respondents blamed the wife for violence against her. Patriarchal ideology provided a conceptual framework for presentation and discussion of the findings obtained through regression and multiple regression analyses. The implications of the results for future research as well as for prevention and intervention activities are also discussed.