The Washington Post’s recent article, “For Women in America Equality is Still An Illusion” brought to light some chilling statistics, not simply because it detailed daily inequalities and atrocities born by and committed against women, but also because the horror stories described are taking place in our own neighborhoods. It discussed the rape, murder, poverty, and bias endured by women in the United States, as opposed to the far off lands with which we tend to associate such crimes— it charged us as sufferers of “mass delusion.”

And it’s true: as a working woman in America my focus rarely falls to my own backyard. Short of commentaries such as these, which remind us that “women are shot dead in the street here too,” the plight of women in this country has been given over to a few diligent national women’s groups and concealed behind the glitz of pop culture. It is a movement that has been outsourced to developing countries and branded as the problem of cultures that are not ours. In fact, we are almost required to believe our own hype in order to sell it, for how can we purport to set an example for women’s equality and human rights in other countries if we haven’t achieved it ourselves?

Statistics such as these leave us with a clear message:

More than 1,000 women were killed by their partners in 2005, and of all the women murdered in the United States, about a third are killed by a husband or boyfriend. A leading cause of death for pregnant women? Murder by a partner. In Iraq, women serving in the military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.

The rights, safety, and freedom of women is a movement that decisively needs to expand inward and globalized, not simply exported. And perhaps, casting away our “illusions” and openly recognizing our own struggles can spark a collective movement to advance the situation of women everywhere.

Religion purports to bring peace and indeed holds a lot of potential for peace, yet it enshrines seeds of violence against women in many of its texts and rituals. For example, marriage rituals (in both African cultural and Christian settings) predispose the male partner in the marriage relationship towards violence against the female partner through the customary emphasis on the male domination of the man over and above the woman. It is important to understand the systemic nature of the issue of domestic violence against women: the meaning, causes, and impact, as well as the nature of the ritual violence that sets the stage for it.

In order to promote peace in families, it is necessary to review the domination model of gender relations and move towards a partnership model. The male-domination model of marriage is a primary root cause of violence against women and girls. In my view, it contributes to why some cultures divest women of the right to property inheritance. In the past and to a great extent the present, daughters were denied the rights to inherit their parent’s property. And I think it is related to the fear that the family’s property might go elsewhere. So one way of ensuring that it remains in the family is by directing the inheritance through the male line, assuming the male stays in the family. So even if that male is an imbecile the property goes to him.

Religion and violence against women

And this is the root of a number of other things that women suffer from, like the oppression of widows in terms of depriving them of inheritance of their spouse’s property. Another inequality is male child preference. The denial of women’s rights of inheritance is at the root of all these; and dealing with it will also solve other related problems.

Some people in the gender and development world seem to under-estimate the strategic place religion holds in the lives of the women, regardless of their affiliations. By distancing themselves from looking at its ramifications, they miss an opportunity to understand what controls women’s minds (the belief that ‘this is how God wants it’) and therefore bypass an opportunity of meeting and helping women.

Economic violence against women; the role of globalization

At a recent workshop, a woman participant remarked that among the most vulnerable women on earth are married and the family’s breadwinners. From that participant’s experience and observation, once a man loses his job and ceases to be a strong wage earner, his ego is deflated and he begins to take it out on the woman. Nothing the ‘wage-earning’ woman does will ever please him. The man becomes prone to committing all kinds of violence against her, including berating her and blaming her for his woes.

Now, in the light of what many trans-national companies are currently doing in the wake of globalization:  giving short-term contract jobs (with no job security); down-sizing, laying off staff, and moving to areas/countries with cheaper labor, throwing more and more families into deeper poverty. In this situation women and children are the worst affected. Within and across national borders, women and children are also the ones that get trafficked the most. I understand that the revenue from trafficking surpasses by far, that from arms sales.

Again, while many governments claim to be countering trafficking, they condone prostitution, which is the very engine that drives the trafficking of women. They do not appear to be as strict about trafficking of women as they are about drug trafficking. Those parts of the world that use capital punishment for drug-trafficking also have the highest rates of trafficking in women.

Therefore, we call upon the United Nations to hold such governments to account. There is no better organ to do this than the United Nations.

Following a series of special blog-posts on Global Voices Online to raise awareness and voices around the cause, we’ll see in this post some Brazilian bloggers’ opinions about women’s rights.

Little Lulu

Renowned Brazilian blogger Lúcia Freitas gives her contribution by posting a call for bloggers to support a campaign against violence in the LuluzinhaCamp, a collective of women bloggers inspired on the Little Lulu comics:

General call! From November 25th through December 10th we invite you to join us in the struggle to put an end to the violence against women. We’re going to write blog posts, tweet, take photos and remind that women are human beings and deserve respect – by the way, everyone does…

“Lulus against violence”. Photo by Gabi Butcher©, used under a Creative Commons license

Srta. Bia hears the call and adds her voice to the LuluzinhaCamp campaign, saying:

A women is assaulted every 15 seconds in Brazil. Most of the times, the aggressor is her partner, a relative or a close person. Since they’re little, girls suffer from violence and discrimination against them. Organizations advocating women’s rights fight to eliminate the gaps and anachronisms of the law, but the changes need to reverberate in the society, in the way women are seen.

She carries on:

Freedom is what the Mirabal Sisters fought for; freedom is what we fight for everyday. Freedom to be the woman I want to be, a politicized woman or not, a woman who was children or not, a woman who aborts or not, a woman who shaves herself or not, a woman who has sex with whoever she wants or not, but above all things, a woman who should be respected and who cannot suffer any type of violence in any way, be it physical or psychological, just because they are women. Nothing justifies violence against anyone.

“Do your bit”. Photo by Gabi Butcher©, used under a Creative Commons license.

A hot topic

The violence against woman debate is a hot topic in Brazil. Just recently, a series of events involving a student from Bandeirantes University in the state of São Paulo triggered many blog posts on the society’s prejudice against the feminine body. On the occasion, tourism student Geisy Arruda wore a short pink dress to go to a regular classroom. Her story, however, touches on more than a 20-year-old woman’s choice at clothing: she ended up catching the attention of many students, who considered the dress offensive. Hundreds of them started ridiculing and cursing the girl, as well as threatening to assault her that day.

Too provocative

Geisy Arruda was eventually expelled from the University under the argument that her “provocative” behaviour was not compatible with the school’s rules, but after the international mass media found the case profitable and Geisy became a celebrity on TV and on the Internet, the university admitted her back as student. So far, the heckling students have not been punished. Denise Arcoverde in Síndrome de Estocolmo [Stockholm Syndrome, pt] mentioned the case in her blog. In one particular occasion, she wrote:

In this video, the scene of the girl being escorted by the police. I was so shocked with this story that I had palpitations of anger. I’ve seen a lot of sexism, idiocy, but nothing like this violence. It was an emotional rape that cannot go unpunished.

As we discussed on Twitter, Bandeirantes University is not guilty of the mean-spirited attitude of their students, but it is responsible for not having controlled the situation and for allowing the girl to be humiliated when she left escorted by the police. If she was my daughter I would sue the university and ask millions in compensation for damages.

“Those who are free fear not being ridiculous”. Photo by Gabi Butcher©, used under a Creative Commons license.

The idea of femininity

The Corpos em Revolta blog [Bodies in Revolt, pt] depicts the different types of violence suffered by women and asks the readers to take part in this struggle:

While believing the idea of femininity and the ideal of beauty are socially built concepts and tools of control, the Anti-Sexist Collective Bodies in Revolt shows its repudiation on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to all forms of misogyny, chauvinism, sexism, homophobia, and racism that victimize and detract women.

And they add information about a demonstration scheduled to take place on November 29 to celebrate their struggle:

We do not believe in femininity standards nor do we accept aesthetic standards! We’re in favor of diversity of bodies and personalities, of the subversion of sexist values that control our relationships! We propose a society where there are no distinction of gender, color, ethnicity, sexuality or any other form of inequality backed by the market society!

To mark that date, Bodies in Revolt will stage a symbolic act in Redenção Park this Sunday, November 29, at 3pm. Bring your revolt and take part in it!

They remain silent

Finally, we read the following message on the Instituto Humanitas Unisinos blog:

Women have been suffering violence from the men around them (partners, fathers, brothers, sons) for a few centuries and on a daily basis, they remain many times silent and feeling guilty for what happens, or many times they don’t realize this is violence, and in particular against them, because they are women. Just recently, in the last years, social and individual aggression against us has been named and fought; with the advance of the feminist, social and women movements, there has been far more recognition of it as an specific way to deprive someone of their rights to  exercise citizenship.

Photo by Gabi Butcher©, at Luluzinha Camp, used under a Creative Commons license.

The photos that illustrate this piece are from a LuluzinhaCamp meeting in São Paulo on November 22. See the full gallery of positive thinking portraits taken by Gabi Butcher, from DiaPositivo Fotografia blog. And happy 2010!

This article was originally published in Global Voices Online.

A summary of Bangladesh’s situation, a video filmed and posted by CaroOxfam

Sufia holds her child while she brings to memory the most painful day of her life, the day she lost her son. She recalls that her home was being flooded with water and when she turned to nurse her newborn baby, her five-year -old son was carried away by the flood. “I could not find my son, I searched so hard,” says Sufia breaking into tears in the video filmed and posted by Oxfam. Sadly, to lose a loved one to the extreme weather conditions in Bangladesh is not an uncommon situation.

Bangladesh is one of the most affected countries by climate change in the world. Although Bangladesh’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emission is low, floods and natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent. Its vulnerability lies on its geographic location as a coastal country and its high population density.

On the blog The Daily IIJ, Bangladeshi blogger Jahangir Akash highlights the alarming numbers of affected Bangladeshis:

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is the city most threatened in Asia by climate change. If things continue as they are, in the future, the economy will fail and human life itself will be threatened. At present, there are 10.3 million people living in Dhaka. In 2025, the population will have increased to 20.5 million.

A country under water

In her blog Anushay’s point Bangladeshi blogger Anushay Hossain posts about how unsettling it was to grow up in a country that was going under water:

I grew up knowing my country was drowning. My childhood memories are full of flashing images of annual monsoon rains making rivers out of our roads, lakes out of our rice paddy fields, washing away farmers’ harvests, pushing the rural population into our already overpopulated capital city. The rumor in the playground was that in twenty years Bangladesh would be completely underwater. Today that statement is no longer a rumor, but very much a reality.

During natural disasters women are more likely to suffer the consequences than men. Jean D’ Cunha, regional program director of the United Nations Fund for Women based in Thailand said that some women in Bangladesh died during a flood in 2001 because their traditional long dress and burka hindered their movements and prevented them from escaping the rising waters. But despite their disadvantages, Bangladeshi women find ways to adapt to climate change’s impacts.

Blogger Ben Beaumont writes in the Oxfam blog about Hasina, a woman who had to move six times due to floods. Now she is the president of a local women’s group called Shanti Mohila Committee in the Shariatpur district. Each member of the group collaborates a small amount of money to both prepare for the floods and assist women afterwards:

What struck me most was the energy and passion of this group of 20 or so women. (…) women in this community haven’t always been so vocal – in conservative, rural areas like this, women often play very traditional roles, and stay at home with the family. But now, Hasina and her friends are full of confidence – earning and saving money as day labourers, and providing for their families(…)And, as the floods get more unpredictable, it’s the women who are at the centre of their community’s response.

Bangladeshi women’s march

Blogger Jess Mccabe also posts on the blog The F Word about Bangladeshi women coming together as an outstanding example of women taking a stand on climate change’s issues:

Back in November 2008, around 2,000 women took to the streets of Dhaka, in Bangadesh, wearing masks of G8 leaders, to call for action on climate change.

(…)

‘Protect our agriculture, protect our country, protect our lives from the damaging effects of climate change’, they chanted, waving their fists to make their demands.

The words of blogger Anushay reflect the positive steps Bangladeshi women have taken towards adaptation to global warming, but outline the urgent need for women around the world to get involved and take a stronger stand:

Back home in Bangladesh, the list of innovative ideas to combat and more importantly, adapt to climate change is endless. (…) But there has to be more. Women may be in the frontlines of climate change, but they are not only its victims. Their personal and intimate experience of the harsh impacts of climate change means that within them lies very real solutions to combat it. If the voices from the women’s rights movement don’t pick up this issue, loudly, clearly and unanimously, climate change will not only drown out countries, but the agents of change, women, with it. And that is simply not an option.

There is an urgent need to eradicate trafficking, a form of violence against women and girls, often including rape and physical abuse.

• What are some of the best practices in preventing trafficking of women?
• How do we protect victims from further abuse and violence?

Join the conversation

Have your say and participate in the Conversations for a Better World
and Women Watch forum on violence against women. We are hosting a dialogue for those affected, interested or working on violence against women. Become a conversation starter and tell us what’s on your mind.

Women should not be subjects to abuse. Children should not be exploited. Submit your story and let the world know how we can end this human rights violation.

You can help generate an important dialogue that can be shared worldwide. We are looking for opinion pieces, videos, photo-essays, stories, research-findings, and best practices. You can also leave a comment at the bottom of this text.

Why we are doing it

The international community has just finished Violence Against Women Awareness month (October), and the challenges are still there. At least one in three women experiences some form of violence in their lifetime according to the UN Secretary-General’s In-Depth Study on Violence against Women.

Trafficking occurs both for sex-work and non-sex work. According to Globalrights.org, “Trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transporting, providing or obtaining, by any means, any person for labor or services involving forced labor, slavery or servitude in any industry…”

Stay tuned for a summary of this conversation. If you missed the first week of the violence against women conversation, it is not too late to join. We’re getting closer,  and your incredible work is a big part of why.

• Domestic violence is one of the severest forms of violence against women
• Most of the cases of abuse go unnoticed or unreported
• Society and traditions, in some cases, sanction abuse by creating conditions for the victims to accept violence as a norm
• Countries where domestic violence is most prevalent either lack proper legal frameworks to proscribe abuse or mechanisms to implement laws against abuse
• Male population is generally apathetic to the consequences of this abuse even when many among them would not like to indulge in such a practice
• There is no proper education of sexual relations as well as of responsibilities of adults who decide to live in a permanent relationship. Any such education would inevitably include the education of the rights of women and children as individuals
  

I would suggest the following inter-related areas to address this problem:

• Empowerment: Although this includes political, economic and social empowerment of women, the most important point is to empower young girls to reject violence psychologically. This can be done through education and training of girls and boys, not merely in formal institutions, but also through domestic training by their mothers, aunts, elder sisters and other older members of family seeking to inculcate the respect of women as a fundamental family value.
• Awareness: This should be coupled with mass awareness targeting male members of society. In my country, media has played a great role in deepening an aversion for violence particularly domestic abuse against women. In addition, religious scholars may also play a great role in strengthening the understanding against abuse.
• Establishment of legal framework and implementation: Good legal framework, sanctioning penalties and providing protection, need to be evolved where there is none. The implementation of such framework will enhance the number of reported cases and highlight the gravity of the issue
• Human rights education: Human Rights education must be made a compulsory part of curriculum through secondary school.

This is a response to the blog-post “A call to action: Your views on domestic violence”.