What is gender-based violence?
Any act or practice that results in the physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering because of a person’s gender, may be termed gender-based violence. Such violence primarily affects women and girls.
We have disaggregated the different types of violence against women in order to highlight the multifaceted nature of the problem. In order to eradicate violence against women, we need to understand the complex nature of this scourge.
In general, the media has been guilty of both failing to transform itself from a gender perspective and of perpetuating gender stereotypes. Violence against women has presented particular challenges to the media, and to society, because of the way in which it has been consigned to the “private” sphere; and the blanket of silence surrounding it that the media has not always known how to break in a way that respects survivors and moves us towards constructive solutions.
The media does, however, have the potential to play a lead role in changing perceptions that in turn can help galvanize a move for change. The manual aims to equip journalists with the tools to address same of the problems that may arise when reporting on violence against women.
How is gender-based violence different from sexual violence?
While sex is a biological reality, gender is a social construction. Men and women are socialised into adopting particular forms of behaviour that then come to be seen as characteristic of their gender. Despite evidence to the contrary, women are often seen as being weak and passive. Their domain is identified as the domestic, private world, while men are seen as strong, aggressive and part of the public world.
In many countries (particularly in developing countries) this has dire implications for women. They often do not get enough food, are denied education, do not have access to jobs and where they do they are often paid less than men. Systemic and structural discrimination against women leads to particular forms of violence, is termed gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence causes more death and disability among women between the ages of 15-44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and even war. As the life cycle diagram below suggests, such violence often begins even before birth and continues well into a woman old age:
Gender violence throughout the life cyclePhase and type of violence experienced
Pre-natal
= Sex selective abortion (practiced in countries like China, India, Republic of Korea);
= Battering during pregnancy (emotional and physical effects on the woman, effect on birth outcome);
= Coerced pregnancy (for example, mass rape in war)
Infancy
= Infanticide;
= Differential access to food and medical care for girl infants.
Childhood
= Child marriage, genital mutilation, sexual abuse by family members and strangers;
= Differential access to food and medical care;
= Burdening girl children with household chores;
= Differential access to education;
= Child prostitution.
Adolescents
= Dating and courtship violence (acid-throwing in Bangladesh, date rape in the United States, economically co-erced sex (African schoolgirls going out with “sugar daddies” to obtain fees for school);
= Sexual harassment in the workplace and at school;
= Forced prostitution;
= Trafficking in women.
Adulthood
= Abuse of women by intimate male partners;
= Marital rape;
= Dowry abuse;
= Femicide;
= Sexual harassment;
= Rape;
= Forced sterilization.
Old age
= Abuse of widows (economic, physical)
= Elder abuse (e.g. in the United States and South Africa)
= Dispossession;
= Depriving women of their inheritance (economic abuse)
= Sexual cleansing of widows (as in Africa);
= Witchcraft
= Violence associated with religion, tradition, culture and custom.
Source: based on and adapted from Heise, L et al. Violence against Women: The Hidden Heath Burden. World Bank Discussion paper. 1994.
Scope and dimensions of gender-based violence
For reasons of the private public divide explored earlier, there is a general lack of information about gender-based violence. What we know about such violence is that:
= It exists in all societies, whether develop or developing;
= It takes various forms;
= It has devastating consequences for women, families and societies.
Yet, we do not have concrete data about the exact nature of such violence. We are only beginning to understand its profound and far-reaching consequences and are still grappling with answers to questions such as:
= Why do societies allow men to be violent toward women?
= Why does such violence happen?
= Or the equally important question, why do women accept violence?
= Why do they sometimes help to perpetuate it?
To answer some of these questions, we need to examine the issue of unequal power relations that exist between men and women. These inequalities run deep into the social constructions of gender and sexuality. They affect relationships between men and women.
Violence is known to function as a mechanism of social control that reproduces and maintains the status quo of male dominance and female subordination. This is one reason why some men and some societies have a vested interest in perpetuating gender-based violence. It helps to keep control in their hands.
Despite its pervasiveness, gender violence is among the least talked about violations of women’s human rights. Much of it takes place within the home and family, and family pressure and attitudes ensure that it remains largely unreported. Indeed it is now known that women everywhere are more at risk from their husbands, fathers, neighbours or colleagues than they are from strangers.
Further, worldwide research shows that up to 20-50% of women in most societies have been physically assaulted at least once by an intimate partner some time in their lives. Where violence takes place outside the home, women are often not in a position to report such violence. Or, if they are, they are reluctant to do so because they are unsure of the kind of reception they will get.
INFORMATION BOX“A rural survey of 16 Papua New Guinea’s 19 provinces showed that 67% of rural wives surveyed said that they had been hit by their husbands, and 66% of rural husbands said they had hit their wives. Amongst urban elites, male and female reports of wife beating were identical, at 62%. Wnen the Law Reform Commission presented its interim findings on domestic violence, some Members of Parliament argued that wife beating should remain a “strictly private affair” and that the law should not have the right to intervene on family life. Others asserted that there is nothing wrong with wife-beating provided the husband has “a good reason” and a Minister claimed that paying bride price makes the man the head of the family, so that husbands felt they “own the woman and can belt her any time they like”. Another Honourable member was annoyed that the nation’s leaders were being asked to discuss something as trivial as wife-beating: “We are wasting our time instead of discussing the development of the country. We should have something better to discuss than this?” (Davies: 12)
Wherever power relations exist, whether it is between men and women or between the State and its citizens, violence is used to exercise this power. The existence of such power relations also works to turn those in power (and these are usually men) into perpetrators of violence. At times it can also wok to brutalise those in power (See section on men). The following section highlights some sites of gender- based violence.
Sites of gender based violence:
The family
One of the primary sites of power is within the family and household. This is also one of the primary sites of gender-based violence. Because violence within the family and household takes place in the home, it is often seen as a “private” issue and it becomes difficult to gather information about it. Yet, there is nothing private about this violation of human rights. In recent years there has been a move toward bringing domestic violence into the public arena. This has resulted in an increase in reports on domestic violence.
The State
Often the state or state functionaries such as the police, or the army help to perpetuate gender-based violence. In times of civil strife, security forces, the police and the military are known to use rape as a weapon of subjugation, and an indirect way of targeting the men of a particular society. However while civil strife and war form the staple of much media coverage, little attention is paid to the women and children who suffer as a result of war. The gender dimensions to this problem are often ignored. Instead the assumption seems to be that since the principal actors are men, they are the ones who are mainly affected.
The market
Today, with globalisation, an increasing number of manufacturing units of international companies ore being shifted to so-called Third World countries. Women form a big part of the labour force in these countries, and it is well known that the conditions of work are often discriminatory. Thus women have no maternity benefits, they often have to work long hours in difficult conditions with little job security. These conditions affect women’s health and opportunity for economic empowerment, as they are usually concentrated in low paid, low status jobs that require considerable manual labour. Globalisation has also witnessed a rise in trafficking in women- the so-caIled “flesh trade” that is so deeply reminiscent of slavery, yet so little talked of, as to be one of the most shocking indictments of the 21st century.
The health system
All over the world, women face increasing health hazards. Health systems are all too often insensitive to their needs. Further, in recent years cutbacks in social spending and the increasing spread of privatisation has ensured that the health systems remain out of reach for the majority of poor women.
The media
The media is one of the most important socialising influences in people’s lives. Negative and stereotypical images of women in the media, and the ways in which the media reports on gender-based violence (as a lesser crime or violation) contributes to the acceptance of gender-based violence. The dominant myth is that the media is neutral and objective. This is not so. Each journalist brings to the newsroom his/her views, opinions, beliefs and attitudes. These inform the way in which the journalist views a particular issue. Thus the media is not a passive conveyor belt that simply transfers information to society without making value judgments. Instead, the media informs our understanding of issues, and therefore has a critical role to play in processes of transformation,
The legal system
Many countries, even today, have discriminatory laws that accord a lesser status to half the population, giving them fewer rights and privileges. In some countries such laws continue to be sanctioned and propagated on the basis that they are in tune with the culture of that particular society or section of society. In this way, gender-based violence is given legal sanction.
These are some of the sites of gender-based violence. Many others may be added to this list, but what emerges form this list, is that gender- based violence is far from being a private matter!