WOMEN AND VIOLENCE

Some key facts taken from World Health Organization in 2017

Violence against women – particularly intimate partner violence and sexual
violence – is a major public health problem and a violation of women's
human rights. Global estimates published by WHO indicate that about 1 in
3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual
intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
Most of this violence is intimate partner violence. Worldwide, almost one
third (30%) of women who have been in a relationship report that they have
experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate
partner in their lifetime. Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women
are committed by a male intimate partner.
 Violence can negatively affect women’s physical, mental, sexual, and
reproductive health, and may increase the risk of acquiring HIV in some
settings. Men are more likely to perpetrate violence if they have low
education, a history of child maltreatment, exposure to domestic violence
against their mothers, harmful use of alcohol, unequal gender norms
including attitudes accepting of violence, and a sense of entitlement over
women. Women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if
they have low education, exposure to mothers being abused by a partner,
abuse during childhood, and attitudes accepting violence, male privilege,
and women’s subordinate status.
 Women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if they
have low education, exposure to mothers being abused by a partner, abuse
during childhood, and attitudes accepting violence, male privilege, and
women’s subordinate status. There is evidence that advocacy and
empowerment counseling interventions, as well as home visitation are
promising in preventing or reducing intimate partner violence against
women. Situations of conflict, post conflict and displacement may
exacerbate existing violence, such as by intimate partners, as well as and
non-partner sexual violence, and may also lead to new forms of violence
against women (WHO, 2017).
The Department of Health defines Violence against Women (VAW) as
any act of gender-based violence that results or is likely to result in
physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women
including threats or such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty whether occurring in public or private life. Gender-based
violence is any violence inflicted on women because of their sex
(DOH, n.d.).
VAW in the family or domestic violence is “violence that occurs within the private sphere, generally
between individuals who are related through intimacy, blood or law.” It may take the form of
physical violence (hitting with the fist, slapping, kicking different parts of the body, stabbing with a
knife, etc) or psychological and emotional violence (intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to
property, public ridicule or humiliation, repeated verbal abuse, marital infidelity, etc.) or sexual
violence (rape, sexual harassment, acts of lasciviousness, treating a woman or child as a sex
object, making demeaning and sexually suggestive remarks, physically attacking the sexual parts
of the victim’s body, forcing him/her to watch obscene publications and indecent shows or forcing
the woman or her child to do indecent acts and/or make films thereof, forcing the wife and
mistress/lover to live in the conjugal home or sleep together in the same room with the abuser,
etc) or economic abuse (withdrawal of financial support or preventing the victim from engaging in
any legitimate profession, occupation, business or activity, deprivation or threat of deprivation of
financial resources and the right to use and enjoyment of the conjugal, community or property
owned in common, destroying household property; and controlling the victim’s own money or
properties or solely controlling the conjugal money or properties.
Vulnerable Employment Gap The gender gap in vulnerable employment (being
the sum of own-account and unpaid contributing family workers) is 6 percentage
points in the Philippines. Women are not only more likely to be in vulnerable
employment, but they VAW in the community often takes one or more of the
following forms: physical violence such as physical chastisement, trafficking for
both the sex industry and the service industry, forced prostitution, battering by
employers and murder; sexual violence such as rape, sexual harassment and
sexual intimidation, and psychological violence such as intimidation, sanction or
isolation by community/cultural norms based on attitudes of gender discrimination.
are also more likely to be in the category of unpaid contributing family members,
which offers the least opportunities for decent work.
State Violence Against Women consists of political violence such as
tolerance of gender based violence, trafficking, domestic violence,
sexual abuse, forced pregnancy and forced sterilization, custodial
violence such as military and police rape, torture, and suppression of
the political acts of the women’s movement, abuse of women in
refugee and relocation camps and in prisons; and institutional
violence such as enforcement of discriminatory laws and regulations,
policies and programs such as abortion policies, reproduction policies
and matrilineal laws (DOH, n.d.).
The Nature of Violence against Women ● Cultural beliefs and traditions have
conditioned people to think that men and women have different roles – that men
are the leaders, pursuers, providers and take on dominant roles in society, while
women and nurturers, men’s companions and supporters, and take on
subordinate roles in society. This perception results in men having more social
privileges than women, thus gaining for men the power over women. With power
comes the need to control to retain that power. And VAW is the expression of
men’s need to control women. ● Many instances of VAW have been dismissed as
having been caused by the women themselves. Domestic violence is sometimes
blamed on a “nagging” or “neglectful” wife. Rape is sometimes attributed to a
raped woman’s “flirtatious” ways.
● Some instances of VAW have been dismissed as trivial, such as woman
accusing her employer of sexual harassment is believed to have an active and
malicious mind which causes her to misinterpret her employer’s appreciation of
her good looks. ● There are still outdated laws that reinforce the cultural belief
that men, having the dominant role in society, should have more privileges than
women. Articles 333 and 334 of the Revised Penal Code penalize a wife who
commits adultery, but not a husband who commits the same adulterous act of
having sexual relations with a woman who is not his wife. A husband may only be
penalized for concubinage, or when he keeps a mistress in a conjugal dwelling or
when he has sexual intercourse with a woman who is not his wife, under
scandalous circumstances.
What are the causes? These are what the society was made to believe, the
misconceptions Many of the misconceptions surrounding violence again women
center on its causes. There are a number of myths that exist, such as: men
can’t control their anger or sexual urges; alcohol causes men to be violent;
women could leave violent partners if they wanted to; and men experience
equal, if not greater, levels of violence perpetrated by their partners or former
partners.
Research has shown that the significant drivers of violence against women
include: the unequal distribution of power and resources between men and
women; and an adherence to rigidly defined gender roles and identities i.e.,
what it means to be masculine and feminine. What do you personally believe in?
Could they be myths, too? Attitudes that condone or tolerate violence are
recognized as playing a central role in shaping the way individuals, organizations
and communities respond to violence.
Vic Health (2019) has summarized five key categories of violence
supportive attitudes that arise from research. These include attitudes
that: justify violence against women, based on the notion that it is
legitimate for a man to use violence against a woman; excuse
violence by attributing it to external factors (such as stress) or
proposing that men cannot be held fully responsible for violent
behavior (for example, because of anger or sexual urges); trivialize
the impact of violence, based on the view that the impacts of violence
are not serious or are not sufficiently serious to warrant action by
women themselves, the community or public agencies;
 minimize violence by denying its seriousness, denying that it occurs or denying
that certain behaviors are indeed violence at all; and shift blame for the
violence from the perpetrator to the victim or hold women at least partially
responsible for their victimization or for preventing victimization
Violence against women can cause long-term physical and mental health
problems. Violence and abuse affect not just the women involved but also their
children, families, and communities. These effects include harm to an individual’s
health, possibly long-term harm to children, and harm to communities such as lost
work and homelessness. The short-term physical effects of violence can include
minor injuries or serious conditions. They can include bruises, cuts, broken bones,
or injuries to organs and other parts inside of your body. Some physical injuries
are difficult or impossible to see without scans, x-rays, or other tests done by a
doctor or nurse.
Many women also have mental health problem.. To cope with the effects of the
violence, some women start misusing alcohol or drugs or engage in risky
behaviors, such as having unprotected sex. Sexual violence can also affect
someone’s perception of their own bodies, leading to unhealthy eating patterns or
eating disorders. If you are experiencing these problems, know that you are not
alone. There are resources that can help you cope with these challenges.
 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This can be a result of experiencing
trauma or having a shocking or scary experience, such as sexual assault or
physical abuse. Depression. Anxiety. This can be general anxiety about
everything, or it can be a sudden attack of intense fear. Anxiety can get worse
over time and interfere with your daily life. If you are experiencing anxiety, you
can get help from a mental health professional. Many women who have
experienced violence cope with this trauma by using drugs, drinking alcohol,
smoking, or overeating.
Stop violence against women! Violence against women and girls is a grave
violation of human rights. Its impact ranges from immediate to long-term multiple
physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls, including death.
It negatively affects women’s general well-being and prevents women from fully
participating in society. Violence not only has negative consequences for women
but also their families, the community and the country at large. It has tremendous
costs, from greater health care and legal expenses and losses in productivity,
impacting national budgets and overall development (women’[Link]).
Measures to address violence Decades of mobilizing by civil society and
women’s movements have put ending gender based violence high on national
and international agendas. An unprecedented number of countries have laws
against domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of violence. Challenges
remain however in implementing these laws, limiting women and girls’ access to
safety and justice. Not enough is done to prevent violence, and when it does
occur, it often goes unpunished. Women’s right to live free from violence is upheld
by international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), especially through General
Recommendations 12 and 19 and the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence against Women.
 In the majority of countries with available data, less than 40 per cent of the
women who experience violence seek help of any sort. Among women who do,
most look to family and friends and very few look to formal institutions and
mechanisms, such as police and health services. At least 144 countries have
passed laws on domestic violence, and 154 have laws on sexual harassment.
However, even when laws exist, this does not mean they are always compliant
with international standards and recommendations or implemented. Availability
of data on violence against women has increased significantly in recent years.
Comparable national prevalence data on intimate partner violence for the period
2005-2017 are available for 106 countries which simply mean that nations have
taken the campaign against violence against women seriously (UN Women,
2019).