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02/12/2008Violence against women

Violence against women November 25th marked the United Nations' annual International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Violence against women is a truly international problem, affecting one in three women worldwide.

According to the World Bank, women between the ages of 15 and 44 are at greater risk of rape or violence than cancer, malaria, war or car accidents.
There's an economic cost, too. Domestic violence against women costs the United States alone over 5 billion dollars a year in health care costs and lost productivity.
Flora Terah : determined © RNW
Flora Terah: determined
In other countries, the losses to the society aren't as easy to measure. Flora Terah is a women's rights activist in Nairobi and has just written a book about her experience as a parliamentary candidate during Kenya's national elections last year.
She describes how women were routinely assaulted, tortured and raped to deter them from running for office. Terah says that it's because of "the cultural belief that women are supposed to be in the kitchen. Women are supposed to be seen and not heard."
 
Terah herself was assaulted by a group of men who force-fed her human faeces and beat her so badly she spent three months in hospital. But worse was yet to come. Her son was murdered - she thinks as part of the attempt to intimidate her. And while the threat of violence has deterred many Kenyan women for getting involved in politics, Flora Terah hasn't given up:
"I'm determined. I have to go for my cause. I'm back in my constituency working for my community".
Her book is called "They Never Killed My Spirit, But They Killed My Only Child".

Danger at home
In Europe and the West, most violence against women happens at home. Daniela Almer is a spokesperson for the Austrian Information Center Against Violence.
"The family apartment is the most dangerous place for women in Austria, and not the park in the night or the street in the night."
But progress is being made, Almer says. Victims of violence are more willing to speak out and seek help.
"They are not ashamed, as they were ten or twenty years ago, because they know that domestic violence is not their fault and they have a right to look for help."

Liz Funk, is a college student and author of "Supergirls Speak Out". Listen to an extended interview with her here.
"The media broadcasts these limiting images of women as hypersexual and anti-intellectual. The Hills, Gossip Girl, 90210, all portray young women as these extremely thin women who focus all of their energy on getting a guy and partying and not really thinking very deeply about their lives."
 
Social attitudes
And that's a significant step. Social attitudes towards violence against women are crucial, says Byron Hurt. He's a filmmaker and gender rights activist in the United States. His film "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" examines representations of gender roles in hip hop and rap music. 

He found that hip hop promoted an aggressive image of masculinity, where sexism and homophobia were part of being a man. But he's quick to point out that his findings aren't limited to hip hop.
 
"My film is a critique of gender in general, using hip hop as a platform. But the hyper aggression and misogyny is all over the culture. I think that the messages that boys and men are receiving around the world about manhood is problematic."
 
He's working with men in traditionally male environments to combat the problem and provide positive images of manhood.

"If you could get guys who are athletes who are well respected by other men or guys in the Marines or the US Army to publicly speak out against [violence against women], it makes it easier and safer for other men to do the same thing."
 
December 2008 
Hermione Gee
Radio Netherlands


1 reaction to this article

Neil Warner posted: 2009-08-26 14:58:46

Social attitude modification has to begin challenging the pervasive patriarchal mindset we have in every society. In China, killing their baby girls, in India marrying them into conjugal servitude as children; in other places abusing and postponing their healthy development and education (Taliban bombing girls schools).
After the physical and mental abuse has happened we need to pick up the pieces and support women in their recovery path...which is a long process.
When and how will men decide that repressing and forcing the other half into submission is not the right policy? When are they going to be so secure on their self-image that they don't need to brutalize others to feel important and can then be the solid, responsible social beings we need?
We have to invite everybody to give up power and control over women; this is a necessary but slow step in social evolution. Meanwhile, the other thing we can do is help women recover...here is some help:
http://creativeconflicts.com/

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1 reaction to this article

Neil Warner posted: 2009-08-26 14:58:46

Social attitude modification has to begin challenging the pervasive patriarchal mindset we have in every society. In China, killing their baby girls, in India marrying them into conjugal servitude as children; in other places abusing and postponing their healthy development and education (Taliban bombing girls schools).
After the physical and mental abuse has happened we need to pick up the pieces and support women in their recovery path...which is a long process.
When and how will men decide that repressing and forcing the other half into submission is not the right policy? When are they going to be so secure on their self-image that they don't need to brutalize others to feel important and can then be the solid, responsible social beings we need?
We have to invite everybody to give up power and control over women; this is a necessary but slow step in social evolution. Meanwhile, the other thing we can do is help women recover...here is some help:
http://creativeconflicts.com/

Add a comment
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