Gender Based Violence.
Introduction.
Being a nurse in the counseling and youth-friendly services centers, clients have always come with complains of conflicts in their relationships and those aligned to the gender lines. This promoted my interest and probe on the gender-based violence and abuses. Gender-based violence entails a conflict between men and women with the female in most cases being the target. It is typically directed to women merely because they are women. It results in physical, sexual and psychological harm. Violence against the females is one of the human rights violation worldwide which has persisted for a while. In the entire world, one in three women will go through sexual or physical abuse in their lifetime.
Concerning statistics, it is estimated that over 75% of the violence that is perpetrated against women are conducted by their male partners. For those who have been abused either physically or sexually, more than half are likely to do abortion, get depressed or acquire HIV/AIDS compared to their counterparts who have not gone through the violation (Women, U. N. 2014). Worldwide, it is estimated that about 750 million of alive women and girls were married before they turned 18 years. Also, about 120 million females worldwide have had forced intercourse or other forced sexual acts in their lives.
The gender-based violence includes feticide, forced marriages, battering, female genital mutilation, commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking involving girls and women, intimate partner violence including bride price related violence, sexual violence and marital rape, sexual harassment, and harassment in the workplace. According to the United Nations, the gender-based violence also includes other activities such as sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, forced use of contraceptives, prenatal sex selection and female infanticide, forced sterilization and honor crimes. In 1995, the United Nations also recognized additional vulnerable groups that are also at great risk of being abused because of their status (Decker et al., 2015). This included the elderly and the displaced, women belonging to the minority groups, refugees, indigenous and migrant communities, women in detention and those living in impoverished areas.
Regarding categories, gender-based violence is grouped into three groups by the global community. This includes family violence which is recognized to be the most common type of abuse against women. The abuse, in this case, occurs within the family surrounding where the perpetrator is related to the girl or the woman. Some instances of family violence include verbal abuses, sexual abuse of a girl by father, uncle or stepfather, forced marriage, marital rape and spousal beatings.
Another category is the community violence where the abuse extends off the family to cover the surrounding population being the perpetrators of the act. The perpetrator is either unknown or unrelated to the woman or the girl that falls to be a victim. It usually comes in the form of public humiliation, forced prostitution or trafficking, rape or sexual harassment.
There also exist state violence where the violations are tolerated by the individuals that are related to the regime in place. T5his type of abuse is usually evident in the form of violence while one is in the hands of the police, corrections officers, peacekeeping troops, border officials and refugee camp guards. In states that are engaged in conflict, sexual violence and systematic rape are normally used as tools to promote engagement in war.
Besides the recognition of gender-based violence to be a human right violation, the act has persisted with various factors in place to support this prevalence. According to Flemming et al., these factor range from psychological, economic and sociological that makes men to perpetuate the violence against women. Social factors such patriarchal family structures and gender inequalities provide a conducive environment that entertains the domestic violence. The settings that have unenforced or limited laws in curbing the violence against women also enables men to perpetuate in their act. Such settings also will lead to high rates of occurrence of the violation since the social institutions that are supposed to thwart the violence become ineffective and the courts also being unestablished.
Men’s perpetration of domestic violence is also enhanced by the existing norms that are related to masculinity and gender inequality in some communities (Fulu et al., 2013). Flemming et al., 2015 argues that men who hold ideologies of traditional gender roles such distinct roles for men and women are more likely to perpetrate violence. Furthermore, men that are stressed by adapting the normative ideas concerning what it takes to be a man also have higher chances of perpetrating domestic violence.
Witnessing or having undergone abuse as a child can make such as a child to be a future perpetrator of violence to the male and experiencing violence for the females. This is so because these groups will view the practice as normal since it can be traced from their childhood. Substance abuse is also another risk factor which leads to violence since individuals turn to be out of control when they are influenced by the drugs that they use.
Low level of education leads to high [perpetration of violence among boys and experiencing the violence among girls. Education is viewed to give people insight and change their view of issues. With low education, various genders view the violence as part of the communal practices hence leading to its perpetration. Besides, limited economic opportunities that promote unemployment among both men and women also promote gender-based violence. With both teams being unemployed and leaving in abject poverty, they resolve to gender-based violence where each team turns to present their frustrations.
A critical factor which also leads to gender-based violence is lack of safe places where women and girls can conduct meetings for their free expression and communication concerning the violation. This points can be places where they can develop friendships and social networks, interact with mentors and getting advice in a conducive environment which promoting such agenda.
With numerous factor being in place putting individuals at risk, there exist protective factors which are in place to reduce the prevalence and perpetration of the gender-based violence. These include access to support groups that can come o0ut to create awareness against this violation (Ttofi et al., 2016). Such groups can conduct campaigns in collaboration with the community to preach peaceful coexistence as well as the importance of respect to both genders.
Gender issues are also essential to be incorporated into the education curricula to enable people to be informed about being gender sensitive and promote gender inequality (Satesh Bidaisee, 2016). Through being knowledgeable on the gender issues, knowledge can be imparted to curb the violation. It is through the gender enlightenment that each gender will get to exist peacefully with each other. It is people mindset that can change their behaviors and this can be averted through education.
There is also need for quality response services that can rescue the victims of gender-based violence. These services should be offered by judicial, security, social and medical staffs that are knowledgeable enough to protect and provide justice for the victims. The impact that the victim undergoes should be catered for by these teams. The perpetrators should be punished sufficiently to keep off others from engaging in such acts. Among the agencies that have advocated for gender equality and women empowerment in the United Nations Population Program which is one of the United Nations agencies. It has addressed physical and emotional impacts of the gender-based violence. It has programs that provide the psychosocial assistance, rape kits and medical interventions to survivors of the violence. At the same time, it promotes and campaigns for maintenance of the rights of all the women and girls so that they can live in environments that are free from violence and abuse.
Other factors that can impact significantly to reduce the women and girls risk to gender-based violence is the economic autonomy for women and access to skills, employment, and various training. This gives them value and worth hence craps off the discrimination that exists in the society. This will also allow for the empowerment of the females and make them vigorous in fighting injustices and abuses against them.
Gender-based violence brings down the health, security, dignity as well as the autonomy of the victims. Though the violence, the victims suffer sexual and reproductive health consequences such as unwanted pregnancies, traumatic fistula, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections and even death. Other impacts also entail a poorer physical health in comparison to women who are not violated. According to the World Health Organization, gender-based violence increases the risk at which women develop various health problems hence deterring their lives.
Conclusion.
Violence against women is a global health issue that emanates in various setups. It is facilitated by various educational, social and cultural factors. In curbing the menace, the various player must come in to ensure women and girls can peacefully exist in the society without violation of their rights. As a healthcare provider, it is key to understand the environment where you are working to assess the occurrence of the gender-based violence putting in mind that most of the victims fail to seek assistance when they experience the violation.
References:
Decker, M. R., Latimore, A. D., Yasutake, S., Haviland, M., Ahmed, S., Blum, R. W., … &
Astone, N. M. (2015). Gender-based violence against adolescent and young adult women
in low-and middle-income countries. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(2), 188-196.
Fleming, P. J., McCleary-Sills, J., Morton, M., Levtov, R., Heilman, B., & Barker, G. (2015).
Risk factors for men’s lifetime perpetration of physical violence against intimate
partners: results from the international men and gender equality survey (IMAGES) in
eight countries. PLoS One, 10(3), e0118639.
Fulu, E., Jewkes, R., Roselli, T., & Garcia-Moreno, C. (2013). Prevalence of and factors
associated with male perpetration of intimate partner violence: findings from the UN
Multi-country Cross-sectional Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. The
lancet global health, 1(4), e187-e207.
Satesh Bidaisee, D. V. M. (2016). Sexual and reproductive health education: A case for inclusion
in the curriculum of primary schools in the Caribbean. International Public Health
Journal, 8(3), 327.
Ttofi, M. M., Farrington, D. P., Piquero, A. R., & DeLisi, M. (2016). Protective factors against
offending and violence: Results from prospective longitudinal studies.
Women, U. N. (2014). Facts and figures: Ending violence against women. United Nations Entity
for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
