“The ‘Rights’ Side of Life” [report] studied knowledge, behaviours and attitudes regarding human rights in the Maldives and reinforced many of the findings from the 2005 survey,” according to the UNDP-backed report released by the HRCM in December 10, 2012.

However, fewer respondents than in the first study believed that women should have equal rights to men in all seven of the areas surveyed (inheritance, divorces, work, politics, family matters, courts, custody), the report found.

“Despite the freedoms that the constitution has provided for women, attitudes towards women’s empowerment show a negative trend,” stated Andrew Cox, the recently-departed UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP representative in the Maldives.

“Alarmingly, the study also suggests that there has been a regression in people’s sensitivity towards domestic violence and gender based violence,” he added.

Male attitudes have become “more conservative” regarding women’s rights issues, whereas female views have become more supportive of rights in some areas, the report stated.

“Women have undergone a significant shift in attitude,” according to the HRCM survey.

In a reversal from the 2005 study, more women than men now consider it inappropriate for men to hit their wives.

However, significant numbers of respondents stated where there was a “substantive justification” – as opposed to something trivial – “violence against wives was justified,” the report determined.

Both genders in the Maldives were also found to believe that in the husband/wife relationship, women should play a “subordinate role”.

“It is widely considered among stakeholders and experts in the field that violence against women is based on such inequality,” the report stated.

Survey respondents mentioned sexual abuse and violence against women most often in regard to improving women’s equality and saw a need to focus on this controversial issue.

“There was some comment that the growing assertion of Islamic values might be resulting in changes of attitude in some areas covered by ‘The Rights Side of Life,’ [survey], such as those on attitudes to family and ideas about acceptable behaviour in the home, justifications for men hitting their wives,” quoted the report.

Furthermore, over a fifth of the women surveyed said they had been sexually harassed, with offensive or obscene sexual comments and behaviour, as well as men grabbing their hands in public being the most likely occurrences.

Regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, “more intimate forms of harassment” have decreased overall compared to the 2005 survey, but there is a “relatively high level” of sexually suggestive/obscene language. Both of these sexual harassment issues happen more often to rural women than urban women, the study found.

In response to sexual harassment at work, a woman’s most common response was to do nothing.

“The main reasons for this lack of action was their fear of not being believed; fear of people knowing/ bringing bad name to the family; and embarrassment and shame,” said the report.

In a related issue, sexual abuse of girls is considered a “serious problem” by 99 percent of women.

Additionally, sexual abuse of boys is viewed as a “serious problem” by both more women and men than in the previous HRCM study.

Political involvement

Women’s support for the right to participate in politics and government has risen, while men’s support has declined from nearly 73 percent to less than 58 percent.

Ultimately, a majority of women consider the country’s democratic reforms unsuccessful.

Their primary reasons for dissatisfaction according to the report were: