The phrase violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, which targets specific people probably because of their race, violence against women is primarily committed with the victim’s gender as a primary motive.
The United Nations General Assembly defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) states that “violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women, and that violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.” The Declaration further noted that violence against women could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the State itself.
The UN has designated 25 November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Worldwide governments and organisations observe this day and actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. As part of activities to mark the International day for the Elimination of Violence against women, the UN has dedicate sixteen days tagged 16 days to activities and campaigns to end violence against women. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. The sixteen days spanning from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to December 10, the international Human Rights Day is used as an organising strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by: raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels; strengthening local work around violence against women; establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women; providing a forum in which organisers can develop and share new and effective strategies; demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organising against violence against women; and, creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women.
In Lagos, Project Alert on Violence Against Women, a nongovernmental, non profit organisation also observed the activities with a panel discussion and presentation of books on gender based violence. The event tagged “Panel Discussion and Presentation of Books in Commemoration of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, 2013 held at the Lagos State Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Alausa. Under the theme “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World”, the event was also used as a forum to discuss issues bothering not just on violence against women, but gender based violence, including sexual abuse and how to eliminate them. Speaker after speaker, all the discussants agreed that issues of gender based violence deserve urgent attention and that immediate steps must be taken to stem them.
In her presentation, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Vice President World Bank, African region who was a special guest at the event traced some of the cases of violence against women which culminated to the United Nation taking a stand on the need to stem violence against women.
Particularly, she recalled two case, the firs on November 25, 1960 when the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961) in the Dominican Republic superintended the brutal murder of three Mirabal sister : Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa all political activists for daring to criticise his oppressive rule. The second was on December 6, 1989 when a young man brandishing a firearm burst into a college classroom at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada. The gunman, 25-year-old Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained Mini-14 rifle and a hunting knife moved through the college corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. By the time Lépine turned the gun on himself, 14 women were dead and another 10 were injured. Four men were hurt unintentionally in the crossfire. In Canada, December 6, is a Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, but November 25 is an international day dedicated to the same cause.
According to Ezekwesili, who decried both instances of violence against women just because of their gender, gender based violence occurs mainly because of the erroneous belief that there is inequality between the sexes. She said that based on that belief, abusive men physically attack women at the slightest excuse, including on issues that they would ordinarily not react had they been dealing with a fellow man.
She said violence against women thrives because of what she termed “the culture of impunity” and the “conspiracy of silence” whereby people in position of authority to punish these acts of violence including the Police intentionally or unintentionally condone it by not taking appropriate action to punish the perpetrators. She argued that “a problem not punished is a problem accepted” pointing out that “an abused woman is already devalued in her own mind set and most times will not be able to achieve her full potentials.”
She added that with women as builders of the society, violence against women will also negatively affect the society as a whole because the women would not be in a position to contribute their full potential to national development. On why the menace must be eliminated, she said the UN resolutions identify women’s rights as fundamental human rights and as such, violation of women’s rights is a violation of fundamental rights.
In her contribution, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, who was represented by a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation observed that available statistics show that at least one in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her life time. “An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year and 50 % of domestic violence victims are women. It has been established that both physical and psychological violence against women result in physical injury, depression, low self esteem, trauma, stress and other health related problems and may sometimes result in death,” she noted.
According to her, “it is not only the victim that suffers from this ugly situation. Children also get hurt when they see their mothers being maltreated, yelled at, pushed or hit. They experience confusion, stress and shame. Some of them may likely grow up learning that it is a normal way of life to hurt other people or let others hurt them.” The deputy governor also established a correlation between family violence and juvenile delinquencies, arguing that such children “have a six times greater chance of committing sexual assaults crimes and a 50 per cent greater likelihood of abusing drugs and alcohol. We must therefore rise and say no to violence against women. The prevalence of violence against women is unacceptable and condemnable. We must all join hands and stop those who still perpetrate this crime. Relevant legal provisions must be enforced and perpetrators brought to book as a deterrent to others.
“Let me also state that our government is irrevocably committed to all legal and advocacy strategies that will effectively reduce and eradicate every form of violence against our women and girls. We will raise the bar of our advocacy and sensitise all stakeholders on the importance of supporting the global advocacy campaign. Relevant law enforcement agencies are also supported by our government to ensure strict enforcement of law and prosecution of offenders,” she said.
The Panel Discussion on Sexual Abuse while condemning all forms of sexual abuse, noted that it could only be eliminated if everyone join hands to fight it. This is even as they agreed that majority of sexual abuse are committed by people the victim knows, loves and trusts.
Emmanuella Braide, who experienced gender based violence first hand, argued that “evil thrives because people keep quiet.” She noted that gender based violence and sexual abuse will continue until the public begin to not only speak against it but also act against it. Recounting her experience, she confirmed that her attacker was not a stranger as he was someone she had transacted business with earlier. She said that sexual abuses leave the victim traumatised but that victims should not give in to the trauma but pick up and overcome it. She said that one of the ways to overcome the trauma was for the victim to understand that the attack was not her fault, even as she should also confront the attacker.
Also speaking, praise Fowowe advocated stiffer action against men that abuse women. He blamed failure in parenting and the social media for the decadence in the society. He however warned that contrary to general belief, that sexual abuse affects both male and female children, arguing that abuses against boys is even more rampant.
On how to stem the tide, he advocated community parenting whereby every parent should be able to correct and discipline an earring child. Fowowe who said he was raised under such circumstance argued that until responsible adults take up the challenge of raising and mentoring every child the war against juvenile delinquency may not be won.
He blamed the social media which he said is turning from an instrument of good to that that promotes and celebrates vices. He lamented that so many websites today have detailed instruction on how to commit crimes including sexual abuses and rape. For instance, he said the men who gang raped a woman in the video of the Abia State University gang rape which was widely circulated on the internet were probably following instructions from one of such sites. He also blamed artistes who now celebrate videos that encourage vices rather than those that promote virtue urging them to stop such celebration of vices as they give children the wrong impressions about character building. “We need to mentor and groom our boys the right way. We need to build systems that will help stem the tide of abuses,” he said.
Fowowe also advised women to strive to empower themselves arguing that the common reports of the police being unwilling to act when cases of abuses are reported to them would not arise if women were in the right positions in the force. “If a woman who has been abused is there on the counter and another woman comes to report a case of sexual abuse, knowing her experiences, I’m sure that female officer will not laugh and make jokes about sexual abuse,” he said.
On her part, Dr. Maymunah Kadiri, a clinical
Psychologist argued that violence debases a woman, adding that children who observe their fathers beat their mother will most likely grow up believing that violence is an acceptable norm in marriage. She said that while marriage is a sacred institution, “when it comes to choosing between the sanctity of marriage and the sanctity of life, the sanctity of life comes first.”
Earlier in her remark, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Founder/Executive Director Project Alert on Violence Against Women, had noted that the greatest problem in gender based violence is impunity whereby the perpetrators feel they have the right to abuse others. According to her if issues of gender based violence and sexual abuse is to be successfully meted, everyone must ask him or herself if they are part of the problem or part of the solution.
She said that dealing with victims of abuse requires dedicated care as the trauma goes beyond addressing the physical signs insisting that there are also the emotional and psychological trauma which also needs to be addressed before the victim can completely heal.
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