Women subjected to domestic violence are more likely to lash out at their partners, said a women’s rights activist this week, in response to government figures indicating one in 100 men suffer physical abuse.

"Violence is unacceptable against both genders. But when a woman is subjected to violence, she remains silent because she is afraid of being disgraced,” said Solidarity is Global Institute (SIGI) President, Asma Khader, during an interview with Roya’s Nabd Al-Balad on Wednesday.

Twenty six out of every 100 wives suffer from physical, sexual or emotional abuse from their husbands, she said. And having controlling and violent husbands is the main cause for wives to retaliate and become abusive against their husbands.

“When a man faces abuse he can file for a divorce easily, but when a woman is abused she finds it very hard to get a divorce. She starts thinking about her children and how society will judge her," said Khader.

A study carried out by the Department of Statistics found one out of 100 husbands in Jordan suffer physical abuse.

The survey interviewed 19,000 families, as well as 14,500 women and 6,600 men in 2017/18.

It found 7.4% of wives who committed physical abuse against their husbands were previously abused by them. While only 0.2% of wives committed physical abuse against their non-abusive husbands.

Additionally, 10.4% of controlling husbands were abused and only 0.2% of non-controlling husbands suffered physical abuse from their wives.

The survey showed that 3.2% of uneducated and unemployed were abusive in comparison to 0.2% of educated and employed ones.

Meanwhile, 2.5% of uneducated men were abused by their wives and 1.1% of educated men were abused.

It also found 2.3% of men who do not involve their wives in family decisions were abused as opposed to only 1.1% of men who do involve them.