Gender Based Violence on woman in the pak

violence on woman

1. Gender based violence Chapter VIII

2. Some important definitions (some repeated) Gender Gender is a concept that describes the socially-constructed differences between females and males throughout their life cycles. Gender, together with factors such as age, race and class, influence, inter alia , the expected attributes, behavior, roles, power, needs, resources, constraints and opportunities for people in any culture. Gender is also an analytical tool that allows us to achieve a better understanding of factors of vulnerability with a view to more appropriately responding to need. Sex Sex describes the physical and biological differences between males and females. It is determined biologically and cannot be changed (without surgical intervention).

3. …cont Child Sexual Abuse : The term child sexual abuse generally is used to refer to any sexual activity between a child and closely-related family member or between a child and an adult or older child from outside the family. It involves either explicit force or coercion or, in cases where consent cannot be given by the victim because of his or her young age, implied force. Forced marriage: Forced marriage is the marriage of an individual against her or his will. Child marriage: Child marriage is a formal marriage or informal union before the age of 18.

4. …cont Domestic violence is a term used to describe violence that takes place between intimate partners ( spouses etc.) as well as between other family members . It is defined by WHO as behavior by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors . Gender-based violence is an umbrella term for any harmful act that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to a woman, man, girl or boy on the basis of their gender. GBV is a result of gender inequality and abuse of power. GBV includes but is not limited to sexual violence, domestic violence, trafficking, forced or early marriage, forced prostitution, sexual exploitation and abuse and denial of resources, opportunities and services

5. …cont Sexual abuse is any actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under equal or coercive condition. Sexual exploitation means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. Some types of forced prostitution can fall under this category. Sexual violence is act/ acts of a sexual nature committed against any person by force, threat of force or coercion. Coercion can be caused by circumstances such as fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power. The force, threat of force or coercion can also be directed against another person.

6. Kinds of & theories on violence

7. Kinds of violence Structural violence is injustice and exploitation built into a social system that generates wealth for the few and poverty for the many, stunting everyone’s ability to develop their full humanity. By privileging some classes, ethnicities, genders, and nationalities over others, it institutionalizes unequal opportunities for education, resources, and respect. Structural violence forms the very basis of capitalism, patriarchy, and any dominator system .

8. …cont Cultural violence is the prevailing attitudes and beliefs that justify and legitimize the structural violence, making it seem natural. Feelings of superiority/inferiority based on class, race, sex, religion, and nationality are inculcated in us as children and shape our assumptions about us and the world. They convince women that this is the way things are and they have to be . Those of you who have studied sociology can understand this even better.

9. …cont Direct violence war , murder, rape, assault, verbal attacks is the kind we physically perceive, but it manifests out of conditions created by the first two invisible forms and can’t be eliminated without eliminating them. Direct violence has its roots in cultural and structural violence; then it feeds back and strengthens them. All three forms interact as a triad. Cultural and structural violence cause direct violence. Direct violence reinforces structural and cultural violence.

10. Theories of violence against women Theoretically, a number of possible mechanisms link women’s status to violence against women. First , when men dominate family, political, economic, and other social institutions both in number and in power, the policies and practices of these institutions are likely to embody, reproduce, and legitimate male domination over women. Men’s power will be considered right and “natural” not only in these institutions but also throughout the society in general.

11. …cont Second , in male-dominated institutions, violence is a tool that men can use to keep women out or subordinate and thereby maintain male power and control. Given the male-constructed and male-defined policies and practices of these institutions, such violence is not likely to be punished or stopped. On the contrary, it may be subtly or overtly condoned and encouraged (You can refer to: Walby , 1990)

12. Building a theoretical argument in exam Women’s fear plays an essential role in this process of being violated. Criminologists have been perplexed by what they have termed the “ fear-victimization paradox ” Although men are more likely than women to be victims of violent crime, women are more fearful than men (Pain, 1997). Although some have assumed that women’s fear is unwarranted and irrational, others have found reasons for women’s fear. The “ shadow theory ” explains women’s fear as a fear of sexual violence, a form of violent crime to which men generally are not vulnerable. It is argued that women’s fear is indeed related to their perceived vulnerability.

13. …cont According to feminist theory, it is through fear that men are able to control women’s behavior, keep women out or confine their participation, and thereby maintain control of social institutions. Not every man must be violent toward every woman in order for violence to control women’s behavior. Rather, knowing that some women are victims of horrific violence is enough to control the behavior and limit the movement of all women in a society. The creation of a culture of fear secures men’s status over women.

14. Theories: The sexism perspective The sexism perspective can be traced back to Dobash’s (1979) early feminist work on wife beating. Like other feminists, sexism scholars contend that the ultimate reason explaining women’s violence in intimate relations is asymmetric relations of power between men and women within patriarchal societies. Violence is the most extreme expression of patriarchy, as a sexist cultural system of domination subjugating women to men: directly , through cultural norms of deference and obedience backed if necessary by the use of force; or indirectly , by shaping women’s opportunities and constraints in basic institutions such as the family and work that reinforce women’s subordination

15. Family violence perspective Argues that patriarchy is just one among a complex constellation of factors related to inequality structures creating conditions conducive to violence This ‘socio-economic’ view criticizes sexism scholars’ omission of factors such as social class that, independently or together with gender, predict violence in the family. Insofar as these factors specify, rather than question, the quasi-necessary role of sexism in violence, this view is indistinguishable from the sexism perspective. However, in its most common version it reverses causality, considering sexism a possible outcome of family conditions, and grants to family conditions the quasi-necessary status otherwise assigned to sexism. In this view, the multiple manifestations of violence in the family result from its location in the social structure and the stressful conditions stemming from it

16. Dependency theory Belongs to a wider perspective that analyses the impact of women’s socio-economic resources on violence. (not couples’, as in the family violence perspective) Dependency theory stresses on women’s absolute resources. It analyses how low opportunities and multiple constraints stemming from women’s positions in the socio-economic structure affect women’s control over their lives, making them dependent on their male partners, and raising the probability of experiencing violence. It posits the existence of a patriarchal structure of power that manifests either as a cultural system of sexist domination or as a socioeconomic structure of vulnerabilities, either of which can lead to women’s victimization.

17. ..cont To put it another way, this view takes a bi-dimensional approach to patriarchy, stressing on: its cultural and socio-economic expressions and the need to consider both for explaining violence against women in intimate relations. By itself, neither expression is necessary to experience violence, but when taken together, they lead to violence

18. Exchange theory Focuses on women’s resources relative to men’s. In its radical form, it is indifferent to gender and analyses how resources facilitate the exertion of power by whoever has more. In Gelles ’ words , males exert violence on women ‘because they can ’. Relate sociology’s George Simmel here. Recent views that focus on women’s violence on men belong to this symmetric approach (Refer here to: Straus , 2006). Exchange theory considers women’s inferiority to be ‘quasi-necessary’ for suffering violence from the dominating partner, although perhaps not sufficient, as other factors may specify the conditions that facilitate it.

19. Status inconsistency perspective Can be traced back to work by O’Brien (1971), Rodman (1972) and Gelles (1974) on how differences in occupational and educational attainment favoring women in intimate relations disrupt traditional patriarchal roles, leading to violence on women. This theory is also feminist and is built around patriarchy. It is less vulnerable than the culturalist perspective to criticisms of one-dimensionality. Violence is not just the outcome of a sexist cultural system of domination: it is the key expression of the power system on which patriarchy is based. When the patriarchal balance of power remains unchallenged, it manifests in sexism or dependency. But when the male partner has lower socio-economic status or fewer resources than his wife, violence serves to restore the traditional order