In at least 2-3 fully developed paragraphs, briefly discuss violence against women. In doing so, speak about International and global agendas on this issue. Hint: Look to the week one readings.
Note: The essay response given should reflect upper-level undergraduate writing in accordance with current APA standards. The essay response is to include in-text citation(s) in proper APA format. In-text citations are to correspond to a source in proper APA format listed after the essay response.
APA cover page, abstract, page number, headers and is double spaced in 12’ Times Roman Font. Additionally the paper conforms to the specific number of required written pages and neither goes over or under the specified length of the paper.
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Violence against Women
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Abstract
The paper presents an overview of the statistics of women violence and the extent of spread across the world. Almost each country across the world has been affected and the problem continues to grow. The causes of violence against women are diverse, but the common include economic issues, traditional practices, early marriage and illiteracy. The violence has caused an increased suffering among women by negatively impacting their health well-being. The affected women face challenges in their normal life due to violence that comes with negative implications. However, the issue has drawn international concerns and introduced the measures to eliminate the issue.
Keywords: Violence, women, international, solutions
Violence against Women
Violence against women, also known as gender-based violence (GBV) has become an issue of concern and hence needs quick measures for management or prevention. Therefore, it is defined as any act that can cause sexual, physical, or psychological harm to women and increases suffering and pain. The violence against women can also involve the acts of coercion or deprivation of liberty. According to the World Bank (2019), violence against women has become a pandemic and the numbers reported are staggering. Data reported by World Bank indicated that 35% of women globally have experienced either physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner and sometimes from non-partner sexual violence. The global data indicates that 7% of the women have been assaulted by people who are not their partners, while 38% of the murder cases are committed by the partners (The World Bank, 2019). Hash cultural practices such as female genital mutilation have become dominant, especially in a developing country, and this has seen approximately 200 million women being affected. Therefore, it is critical to examine the causes of violence against women, effects, and recommendations for solutions.
The violence against women is commonly propagated by intimate partners and this can occur at an individual level or in wider society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are several risk factors that are connected to violence against women and include lower levels of education, child maltreatment, witnessing of family violence, harmful use of drugs such as alcohol, and suspected cases of infidelity (World Health Organization, 2017). The issues surround the social life of the people, and some are contributed by the psychological factors. A quantitative study carried out by Khatri & Pandey (2013) found that violence against women can be due to illiteracy or low economic status of women, or dependence on males. The other factors are lack of participation in the process of decision making, values, traditional beliefs, early marriage, and norms. The causes of violence has raised more serious issues that have called for the intervention of international bodies such as WHO, United Nations through United Nations Human Rights, World Bank, among others to try and find solutions to the issue.
Violence against women has led to adverse effects and inflicted pain and suffering among women. According to Islahi & Ahmad (2015), violence has led to negative effects on physical health, whereby injuries and physical abuse have been recorded as a result of violence. The data from WHO indicates that 42% of the women are subjected to violence experience injuries. Some injuries are serious and therefore require the interventions of the specialists. The reproductive health of women is also affected following the increase in the risk of infections, injuries, or the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases (Islahi & Ahmad, 2015). The effects have burdened women and eventually leading to high medical costs and other social needs. Violence can also lead to other effects such as depression, post-traumatic disorders, suicide attempts, difficulty in sleeping, among others. The cases are worse and therefore present more discussions on how to control the violence and improve the well-being of women.
Solutions have been integrated to reduce violence or end it. More efforts have been made by international bodies such as WHO. The WHO has worked with collaborating partners to measure and document the extent of violence in several countries across the world as the means of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (World Health Organization, 2017). The organization has also undertaken several interventions and measures such as testing with the aim of reducing the violence. The WHO has also supported the development of the global plan that has significantly helped in the reduction of violence against women. The international day of violence elimination (November 25) is also celebrated to address the issue that women go through. In doing so, it has helped in solving several cases that have recently increased significantly during this period of COVID-19 (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2020). The United Nations, under the Human Rights Office, has set up the mechanisms that are helping in eliminating the violence against women (United Nations Human Rights, 2020). Some of the steps include the prohibition of gender-based violence and the development of the legal frameworks that have a goal of promoting the rights of women, prevent as well as protect women from violence. With more interventions in place, violence against women will be a thing of the past.
In conclusion, statistics show that violence against women is a global issue. The violence is mainly propagated by people who are closely related, such as partners. The effects of violence are adverse and mainly related to health concerns and the well-being of women. The international bodies have integrated measures for finding the solution, and the interventions have seen a positive impact in eliminating the vice.
References
Khatri, R. B., & Pandey, B. K. (2013). Causes of violence against women: a qualitative study at Bardiya district. Health Prospect, 12(1), 10-14.
Islahi, F., & Ahmad, N. (2015). Consequences of Violence against Women on Their Health and Well-being: An Overview. An International Journal of Kolkata Centre For Contemporary Studies (KCCS) , 1(6). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328353648_Consequences_of_Violence_against_Women_on_Their_Health_and_Well-being_An_Overview
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (2020, November 24). International day for the elimination of violence against women, November 25. https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2202
United Nations Human Rights. (2020). OHCHR | violence against women. https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/women/wrgs/pages/vaw.aspx
The World Bank. (2019, 25). Gender-based violence (Violence against women and girls). World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialsustainability/brief/violence-against-women-and-girls
World Health Organization. (2017, November 29). Violence against women. WHO | World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
