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Landmark Study on Violence Against Women   
Oct. 16, 2006—A landmark study by the World Health Organization has found that domestic violence is a major global public health problem that afflicts at least one in every six women worldwide, and often many more. Released to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, commemorated in the United States in October, the study involved interviews with 24,000 women in ten countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia, Thailand and Tanzania. The 15 sites surveyed covered a broad range of economic circumstances and lifestyles, the study authors said, but they found the problem everywhere. Rates of abuse ranged from a low of 15 percent in parts of urban Japan to 71 percent in rural Ethiopia. Other studies have put the U.S. and Western European rates at about one in every four women. The study demolishes several myths about violence against women: that most assaults occur from strangers or on the streets, that advocates overstate the incidence, and that women are rarely hurt seriously. “Women are more at risk of experiencing violence in intimate relationships than anywhere else,” the study said. “It is particularly difficult to respond effectively…because many women accept such violence as ‘normal.’” Most violence occurs in a woman’s own home, the study said. The effect on the health and functioning of abused women, who may hide their suffering, is “devastating,” and for the children who witness it, the experience is “traumatic,” the study said. Noting that violence against women is “both a consequence and a cause” of gender inequality, the study offered 15 recommendations to combat the problem, beginning with action to promote women’s human rights and equality. CEDPA is taking action to combat violence against women by empowering women, youth and others to become advocates against violence. CEDPA’s youth programs educate girls and boys to recognize and understand causes of violence against women, understand its impact on families, and develop skills to negotiate within their relationships. In countries including Egypt, CEDPA has worked for nearly a decade to raise awareness and develop local champions against traditional practices that support violence against women, including female genital cutting. Female genital cutting is perceived as a rite of passage for girls in certain communities of Africa and the Middle East and has detrimental, life-long effects on women’s health and well-being. Local community partners recruited women who had not been through the procedure to visit families with daughters, raising awareness about the negative consequences of the procedure. They also persuaded community and religious leaders to speak out against the practice. Read more about the World Health Organization study at http://www.who.int/gender/violence/en/. Learn about CEDPA’s work to end female genital cutting in Egypt here: http://www.cedpa.org/content/publication/detail/751. |
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