| Intensify efforts to end all forms of violence against women and girls |
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By Shamillah Wilson
In most countries, on any given day newspaper headlines alerts us to the reality that women still face attacks on their bodies on a daily basis. In the context of the rise of aggressive capitalist neo-liberalism and increasing fundamentalisms throughout the world, women and girls are vulnerable to violence that is perpetrated by intimate partners, family members, and members of the broader public space. At the moment, the global economic crisis has also impacted on the increased risk of societal and domestic violence for women. This violence is known to us by many names, including sexism, femicide, forced early marriage, honour killings and the assault on women’s bodies in the context of conflicts and wars. In addition, violence against women is also strongly linked to women's vulnerability to HIV infection, and vice versa; and is also the reason behind the increasing numbers of infected women. The inability of international and in most cases national human rights standards, increased awareness, activism and interventions at many levels begs the question as to why we are still not able to provide effective protection from violence for women and girls. An answer may lie in the fact that we have broken up our strategies and interventions into bite sized pieces, instead of combining it under the banner of addressing all levels of the problem, that ultimately comes down to dismantling patriarchal power within the state and society? This means challenging notions of masculinity based on policing women's sexuality and /or on sustaining male supremacy in public and private life. Violence is not only an act of individual men but is embedded in the way manhood is constructed, reinforced and challenged under societal pressures, social approval mechanisms and crisis situations. In an era of political correctness and gender mainstreaming, we have disguised the political nature of our work. The fact of the matter is, women and girls are under attack because of their gender and in some cases their perceived power. So, with this realisation then, how do we move forward? A starting point is acknowledging that we need to do more. The more will require a real commitment by all actors (states, civil society, women’s rights activists, as well as women and girls themselves) to come together to assess new strategies. However, we also have to effectively move from the talking to action. Then we should be vigilant in terms of ensuring accountability. In other words, we should demand accountability by donors, by our states and also by civil society as a whole to transform power relations. So for this 16 Days of Activism, lets commit to intensify all efforts to end all forms of violence against women and girls. Not just for 16 days but for 365 days of the year. Shamillah Wilson is the Communications Associate for the Women WON’T wait Campaign. She is a feminist based in South Africa. Watch out for our forthcoming 16 Days of Activism blogs: 25 Nov, Intensify efforts in ending all forms of violence against women and girls (Shamillah Wilson, South Africa) The Women Wont Wait campaign is an international coalition of organizations and networks working to promote women's health and human rights in the struggle to address HIV and AIDS and end all forms of violence against women and girls. . Members of WWW: Action Aid; African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET); Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID); Akina Mama wa Afrika; Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL); Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE); Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM); GESTOS-Soropositividade, Comunicação & Gênero; International Community of Women Living with HIV&AIDS Southern Africa (ICW-Southern Africa); International Women’s AIDS Caucus; International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC); Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network; Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA); Program on International Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health; SANGRAM; VAMP; and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA). Become a fan of our facebook page: |
The commemoration of the 16 days of activism against gender based violence provides an opportune moment to reflect on how far we have come in addressing gender based violence. Whilst we can certainly celebrate gains such as the many legal instruments at the global and in varying degrees at the national levels and acknowledgement of the extent of the problem, we also have to admit that our collective efforts has not necessarily resulted in the scale of impact envisaged.