The Independent Commission for Human Rights was supported by religion, culture and law. 2. Violence against Women in Patriarchal Societies The percentage of women involved in education and employment increased, but the level of violence practiced against them has not. Research into the reasons for this phenomenon shows that increasing the number of women earning education degrees and jobs aims merely to improve their economic conditions, and increases their opportunity to get married and participate in supporting their family members, including the husband. Since childhood, they are prepared to play this role and encouraged to demonstrate their femininity while deprived of having control over their bodies; they suffer psychological repression in regard to the authority of first, the father and then that of the husband’s family25. Such a phenomenon prevails due to strict laws, religious instruction, and social suppression. The man, whether father, brother, husband or son, controls a woman’s freedom, movement and body to keep the honor of the family and from being seen as a tool of sex, enjoyment and reproduction. Women suffer degrading treatment due to the superiority given to males. The attempt to subdue women to accept such a reality results in adverse impacts on their psychological structure and their future, as well as the future of their offspring, especially among the poorest social categories, where women are less legally and socially protected and more influenced by the dominant culture26. Such an environment turns women from being an active partner in the process of development with full human rights to a marginalized citizen lacking self-confidence and suffering overwhelming defeat from the patriarchal system. Furthermore, they are turned into victims of the different forms of physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence practiced against them. Domestic violence weakens the natural role of the family as a unit of support and protection for its individuals, and penetrates the first social system where the marginalized individuals due to age, sex or disability become targeted and lose the feeling of support and security. Al-Rajabi views the patriarchal system in her study “Violence Against Children” as full control of men over women, where the discourse, order and decision of the man remains dominant, and the social, economic and cultural backwardness prevents development and progress within society. This also keeps it fossilized and rigid, understating the value of the role of women and overstating that of men27. International conventions on violence against women reflect the nature of the connection between the social systems of some societies and violence. Recommendation No. (19), adopted by CEDAW (1992), emphasized that violence against women is a form of gender-based discrimination. It also emphasized in Article 16:23 that such discrimination is a major cause of violence in all its kinds and domestic violence is the most malicious 25 Abdulwahab, 1994. Domestic Violence: Crime and Violence against Women ( Dar al-Mada for Publishing, Damascus, Beirut), p. 26 26 Abdulwahab, 1994. Domestic Violence: Crime and Violence against Women (Damascus/Beurut; Dar al-Mada Publishing) 27 Al-Rajabi 2010, “Violence Against Children” ,; published on the following electronic web site.25\6\2012. www.ammanjordan.org\aman_studies\winview.php. 22