Egypt suffers economic losses from violence against women

Violence against women has been and is still exercised as an old and prolonged phenomenon in Egypt. It is largely expanding, often due to low cultural or social environments. Dr. Azza Karim, professor of sociology at the National Center for Social and Criminological Research stresses that by accepting violence, and tolerating it as normal or natural, encourages the continuance of violence against women.

A recent study noted that the Egyptian economy lost about 150 billion pounds over the last 50 years due to violence against women. This figure does not include the loss of direct materials or the moral losses compounding the social environment.

Dr. Hamdi Hinawi, the leader of the study, affirmed that there is an annual $3 billion and 322 million pound bill borne by society due to violence against women. The study aimed to assess the economic costs of the violence, which includes not only the financial burden on the community’s budget, or the allocation of its resources to address the effects of violence, but also the loss to society, production and national income that could have been achieved if the violence was not part of the community.