Violence Against Women: A Cultural Fatality, a Systematic Violation of Human Rights

By Souhir Lahiani Department of Strategic Research, Studies and International Relations 23-09-2025

Between January and June 2025, 160 women sought help from the Najia Center. Among them, 51% were single, 32% married, and 17% divorced or widowed. Even more alarming, sexual violence now accounts for 16% of documented cases, compared to only 5% in 2023. The latest report reveals an explosion of sexual violence against women in Tunisia. Behind these numbers lies an entire social system: an internalized and naturalized gender hierarchy, which Pierre Bourdieu described as the quintessential form of symbolic violence. Violence against women is not an accident but the product of a deeply rooted social order.

The latest figures from the Najia Center, affiliated with the association Aswat Nissa, reveal a structural reality. Violence against women is not the result of isolated incidents; it is the outcome of a deeply entrenched social order. As Pierre Bourdieu explained, “male domination, the quintessential form of symbolic violence, asserts itself as self-evident, as perfectly natural.” In other words, violence against women is embedded in a system of representations and practices that make it both spectacular in its extremes and banal in its everyday manifestations.

Repeated tragedies, violence rooted in social structures

The numbers take on faces through the incidents reported in recent months. On September 18, 2025, in El Hamma (Gabès), a woman was the victim of an attempted murder, attacked by her ex-husband with a sharp object. On July 31, 2025, in Gabès, the body of an 18-year-old girl was found in her home in Matrouch, while that of a woman in her forties was discovered in the Essaragh river in Tbelbou. These cases are not exceptions: they illustrate a broader pattern of violence.

The femicide in Bou Salem on June 5 is a tragic illustration. A woman in her fifties was stabbed to death by her ex-husband before being set on fire. She left this world with the final image of the man who was once supposed to share her life—turned into her executioner.

The scale of this violence is rooted in social structures themselves. In 2022, the National Institute of Statistics revealed that 84.7% of Tunisian women had experienced some form of violence since the age of 15. Humiliations, threats, and constant control are not perceived as anomalies but as “normal” behaviors in a patriarchal society.

Bourdieu described this mechanism: “the dominated apply to every aspect of the social world unconscious schemas of thought that construct the relationship of domination from the viewpoint of the dominants themselves.” This internalization explains why so many women still hesitate to denounce their aggressors. Even Law 58, seven years after its adoption and hailed as a major breakthrough, remains largely insufficient.

The home: a privileged site of oppression

Data from Aswat Nissa confirm that 73% of violence takes place in the private sphere, 18% in public spaces, and 9% online. The home, supposedly a place of protection, proves to be the main site of domination. The perpetrator is most often the husband, partner, or a relative.

Another finding that shatters clichés: nearly half of the identified aggressors have a university education. Violence is therefore not the prerogative of the “uncultured barbarian”; it cuts across all social classes, fueled by a deeply entrenched patriarchal system.

In the face of this scourge, Tunisian civil society plays a crucial role. The Najia Center, the shelter Arwa la Kairouanaise established in 2017, and the association Aswat Nissa provide support, listening, and protection for victims. Their work is invaluable, yet still insufficient.

Tunisia has an important legal arsenal, particularly Law 58, which provides for prevention, protection, prosecution, and victim support. But without sufficient resources—and above all, without a transformation of mindsets—this framework remains largely symbolic. As Bourdieu reminds us, “the liberation of women can only be expected from a symbolic revolution.” Yet this symbolic change must be accompanied by cultural, economic, and social transformation. This requires action on several levels: in education, by teaching equality and respect from an early age; in the media, by denouncing discourses that normalize or transmit violence; and in families, by breaking the silence and ceasing to protect aggressors in the name of honor, etc.

As long as Tunisian women live under the threat of oppression and silence, no promise of equality or freedom can be fulfilled. Turning anger into action, statistics into policies, and testimonies into advocacy is no longer an option—it is an urgent necessity. For violence against women is neither a private matter nor a cultural fatality: it is a systematic violation of human rights and a major obstacle to democracy.

To be continued…

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References

Aswat Nissa: www.aswatnissa.org | www.facebook.com/aswat.nissa

Organic Law No. 2017-58 of August 11, 2017 on the elimination of violence against women.

National Institute of Statistics (INS), National Survey on Violence Against Women, 2022.

Bourdieu, Pierre (1998). Masculine Domination. Paris: Seuil.

Najia Center’s Semi-Annual Report 2025, affiliated with Aswat Nissa.