Why is the Violence Against Women not a Priority?

 Today is another rant caused by falling down that "rabbit hole" again.  I really should probably not use the internet like I do because I am constantly exposed to curious or irritating things that make me pause and search for more information.  Once that starts, I end up finding out all kinds of things best left alone and that usually causes me to rant and rave to myself and you if I feel like blogging.

So, today's issue is about violence toward women.  This issue dates back to ancient times and it seems that not much has changed since then despite all the women's movements and all the legislation about stopping it.  Here is where my rant comes in: if there is documentation that supports the fact that 1 in 3 women alive today will experience some form of violence.  These are mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters and other family members that have people who care about them; but that does not prevent them from becoming victims.

What is the problem with fixing this issue?  Why can we not find a solution?  Why instead is it acceptable that we have to establish national databases to list the missing and deceased women?  Shouldn't that make you wonder why we have to do such a thing?

A Brief History of the Violence Against Women:

Violence against women has been a persistent issue throughout human history, and it takes many forms, including physical, sexual, psychological, and economic violence. Despite various efforts to tackle this problem, it remains prevalent in almost all societies and affects women of all ages, races, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds.

The earliest records of violence against women can be traced back to ancient civilizations. For example, in ancient Greece and Rome, women were treated as inferior beings, and violence against them was often considered a normal part of life. Women were frequently subjected to sexual violence, including rape, and there was little legal recourse for them to seek justice. Similarly, in many traditional societies, women have been seen as property and treated as such. Practices such as female genital mutilation, honor killings, and forced marriages continue to be prevalent in some parts of the world.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, women's rights movements emerged in many countries, and they began to advocate for women's equality and an end to violence against women. These movements were instrumental in bringing about legal changes, such as the right to vote and the right to own property. However, violence against women continued to be a problem, and many women were still unable to access justice or support.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a new wave of feminist activism emerged, which focused specifically on violence against women. This movement highlighted the widespread nature of the problem and brought attention to issues such as domestic violence and sexual harassment. In the United States, the first domestic violence shelter was opened in 1974, and this was followed by the establishment of rape crisis centers and hotlines. These services provided much-needed support for women who had experienced violence and helped to raise awareness of the problem.

In recent decades, there have been many global initiatives to address violence against women. The United Nations has played a key role in this, with the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979 and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women in 1993. These instruments have helped to establish legal frameworks and standards for addressing violence against women, and they have been used as a basis for national legislation and policy development.

Despite these efforts, violence against women remains a significant problem in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 3 women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. In some regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence is even higher. Additionally, violence against women is often underreported and goes unpunished, and many women still face significant barriers to accessing justice and support.

The history of violence against women is a long and complex one, with deep-rooted cultural and societal attitudes that have perpetuated this problem. While progress has been made in recent decades, much work remains to be done to eradicate this form of violence and ensure that women everywhere are able to live free from fear and abuse.

Economic costs of violence against women and girls: 

According to the article, "Facts and figures: Ending violence against women", 

"Violence against women can result in significant costs to the state, to victims/survivors, and communities. Costs are both direct and indirect, and tangible and intangible. For example, the costs of the salaries of individuals working at shelters are direct tangible costs. Costs are borne by everyone, including individual victims/survivors, perpetrators, the government and society in general.

In Viet Nam, both out of pocket expenditures and lost earnings represent nearly 1.41% of the GDP. More importantly, regression results for estimating productivity loss due to violence indicate that women experiencing violence earn 35 per cent less than those not abused representing another significant drain on the national economy.[9] In Egypt, it was estimated that 500,00 working days are lost each year due to marital violence and the health sector bears over USD 14 million in costs to serve just one quarter (600,000) of survivors.[10] In Morocco, the total cost of physical and/or sexual violence against women was estimated at 2.85 billion dirhams (around USD 308 millions) a year.[11] In 2021, the cost of gender-based violence across the European Union was estimated around €366 billion a year. Violence against women makes up 79 per cent of this cost, amounting to €289 billion.[12]".

What are the Causes:

According to the article, "What is Violence Against Women?" 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; 
• an adherence to rigidly defined gender roles and identities i.e., what it means to be masculine and feminine.

Attitudes that condone or tolerate violence are recognized as playing a central role in shaping the way individuals, organizations and communities respond to violence. VicHealth 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; h
• hold women at least partially responsible for their victimization or for preventing victimization.

What can society do to combat violence against women?

According to this article, "Violence against women: Causes and consequences", "Every individual can have an impact and anyone can be a role model for gender-equitable behaviour. Questioning and reflecting on our own behaviour and society’s norms can reveal where we have subconsciously adopted a sexist way of thinking and behaving that was modelled to us by or within our society. Solidarity with women strengthens social cohesion. It also reduces the space available to violence against women. Clearly stating that we are against every form of violence against women and discrimination helps to send the right signals. Another way to make a stand is to boycott misogynist products and criticize discriminatory entertainment formats. This helps to interrupt the perpetuation of misogynist values. People working in sectors such as education, media, culture and advertising, or even the development of computer games, have a particular function as role models and can help to spread the impacts of more gender-equitable portrayals. People who carry out violence do have individual responsibility for their actions, since they themselves can decide against violence. If necessary they can seek out assistance at appropriate contact points."

So, basically, this problem is one that continues to fester and I don't see any solutions being offered yet that places blame on the perpetrators instead of the victims; that don't stigmatize the victims; that protect women from abuse and exploitation; that decrease or erase misogyny completely. Until we find that solution, our women and children are at extreme risk and that cannot be acceptable, I hope.

Religion vs. women

 Today I fell down another "rabbit hole".  This time it was about women and history as it is applied by religion.  Oh my God! What a huge "rabbit hole" I found.  As a feminist of long standing (I am a child of the 60s after all) I have always denounced how women are treated everywhere, but until I fell into this hole, my thoughts could not congeal into one focused thread.  Now, I can and it is that Power under the guise of Religion (see I used a capitol letters there?) is the basis for all the mistreatments that women have endured since the beginning of time. 

It Really is All About Retention of POWER

Keeping women in a down position is all about power, no matter the words used to continue this treatment of women.  Power.  I'll say that again.  Power.  Men fear women because we have the power to create life, and because we are the main caretakers of our children, we also have the power to mold the children's minds. This is unacceptable to Men (I used a capitol letter here again on purpose).  

Now, I grant that men play a part in the creation of children.  Without sperm, there would be no child. However, there are species that can reproduce without males and I am sure that science is ongoing to figure out how that can happen.  Once they figure it out, men may become obsolete!  No wonder men are so afraid.

Let's review some history:

The Middle Ages

In the middle ages, witch hunts took place with women being burned at the stake because they refused to bow to the men in power.  They openly decried the state of the world as they knew it and used herbalism and alternative measures to try to protect themselves from the violence they saw.  Those witch hunts/burnings were all about power, not fear.  The men in charge saw these women as threats to the way things were and feared that other women would follow them and upend the life they knew.  Religion was just the vehicle these men chose to use as cover.

During the evolution of Catholicism, women were always seen as a threat to the male dominated religious leadership.  Women were not allowed to participate in the clergy so as to keep them in powerless roles.  Women were not allowed control of their bodies by the Church; and dogma stated that women must always subserve themselves to their husbands. Once again, religion was just the vehicle men chose to use as cover.

Maybe religion was just seen as less abhorrent than power grabbing to the world's population.

Current Times

Today, nothing is different. China uses forced sterilization, forced abortions, forced implants, forced marriages and even death is used to control women and remove the threat of power.  In the middle east, women are raped, killed, forced into marriages, and forced to convert to Islam.  The Islamic religion, as some now see it, is not good or helpful for women at all.  Women under Islam are less than property. This is all about power.

In Africa, women are raped, sold, enslaved, tortured, forced to live with female genital mutilation.  They also are considered forms of currency and they are the possession of the dominant male in their family. This is a way to enforce and keep their power over the women in their lives.

Now, in the United States, women once had some rights to the control over their bodies but the Supreme Court decided to end that right.  There has also been some talk about rescinding the woman's right to vote.  This also is all about power.  We have old, white men in power and they fear the power that women have to disrupt the status quo.

None of this has anything to do with religion or religious freedom.  If things continue as they are now, there will be no such thing available for women. This is all about POWER and the ability to enslave women and bend them to their beliefs and rules.

When I went to college, I enrolled in a Women's Studies course (this was in 1988) and in my Women in Literature class, we were to read a book about women's rights and write a paper on it.  I read A Handmaid's Tale  by Margaret Atwood.  This book scared the pants off of me because I truly believed that it was a foretelling of the future for women. 

If you have seen the Hulu version only, you have missed some of the most egregious parts of the book.  But, still, if you saw at least the first few episodes, you understand why I was so moved and afraid.  Tell me, now that we are seeing this come to pass, was I wrong?  

I don't think so.  I can only hope that the youth of our nation wake up and see that they are in danger.  The youth movements of the 60s changed laws and if the youth of today could also form together, I think they could wield the same power.  I can only hope for the best.  My time has passed and no matter what happens, it probably won't affect me, but it will affect my daughters.  

                            (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

 Some articles to check out if this interests you:

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/mar/01/commentary-the-religious-war-on-women-2/

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/05/03/nothing-christian-about-war-on-womens-reproductive-rights.html

https://bigthink.com/articles/the-religious-war-on-women-continues/

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2023-03-08/the-link-between-religicide-and-violence-against-women

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/28/laura-bates-witch-hunts-never-stopped-now-theyre-online