Stop violence against women

I have previously written on this subject in other platforms before. 

Today, I witnessed a young man melting out serious beating on his pregnant wife and was about using a mortar to hit her when we quickly intervened. This convinced me to write once again on this crucial subject.

Abuse of women is any use of psychological, physical or sexual force, actual or threatened, in an intimate relationship. Intimate relationships include a current or former spouse, and an intimate, or dating partner. Violence is used to intimidate, humiliate or frighten victims, or to make them feel powerless.

Men can also be abused, but the term 'women abuse' recognizes that women are most often the victims of abuse and men are most often the perpetrators.
Abuse against women occurs in families of all socioeconomic, educational and cultural backgrounds and is found in both rural and urban settings. 

When women and girls are oppressed by violence and intimidation, businesses and government agencies are impacted — from employee absences, security costs, prosecution of alleged perpetrators, and increased poverty from a shrunken workforce of female citizens unable to work at their full capacity. 

Further, women who have experienced violence are at a higher risk of HIV infection. A critical survey several years ago among South African women showed that those who were beaten by their partners were 48% more likely to be infected with HIV than those who were not beaten. 

Abuse can include physical violence, emotional abuse, sexual interaction without consent, or rape, economic control, political disenfranchisement, denial of the right to education, as well as denial of independent movement or action.
Simply, it is any form of violence against women and girls because they are women and girls, which specifically means it’s a form of gender violence.
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states that: "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and 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."[1]

Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website that: Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.

Violence against women is considered as a violation of human rights [2] as well as a public health issue [3]

Challenges faced by women in obtaining justice may include:

*Lack of criminalization of acts of abuses, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced rape, child marriage

*Not being aware of the existing laws

*Challenge of making a case in court

As an advocate, i solemnly pledge to mitigate and halt this pernicious phenomenon.

Women and girls are not to be battered, trampled on and abused.  They are to be loved, empowered, given leadership roles, allowed to make tough decisions, vote and be voted for.

Keno Ekpokpobe 

Public Health Researcher

CITATION 

.^[1] "A/RES/48/104 - Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women". United Nations General Assembly. Retrieved2014-08-06.

^[2]Robinson, N. P. (2006). "Origins of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: The Caribbean Contribution". Caribbean Studies. 34 (2): 141–161. JSTOR 25613539.

 ^[3] Michau, L. (2006). "Approaching Old Problems in New Ways: Community Mobilisation as a Primary Prevention Strategy to Combat Violence against Women". Gender and Development. 15 (1): 95–109. JSTOR 20461184.doi:10.1080/13552070601179144

Some part of this article was culled from "Understanding the Rights of Women and Girls" by U.S Department of State