For thousands of years, women have played or have been forced to play a secondary role in society and often in the family for various reasons including violence. Fortunately, the trend towards gender equality is growing in thought, word and deed and in Sri Lanka there is a legal provision that 25% of Parliamentarians and other Local Councils should be women.
But that is only in law for various reasons including the reluctance of women themselves to move into positions of authority. But we need to follow world trends and women themselves must make a determined effort to come to higher positions in politics, business and other fields.
Though some chauvinistic men may not agree, most Sociologists believe that women are less likely to be tempted by the evils of bribery and corruption, commissions and kickbacks. There are plenty of reasons why we need to have women in high places. But for that purpose, we need to actively work to reduce harassment or violence against women and girls. Five years ago, the #MeToo movement, founded by activist Tarana Burke in 2006, exploded and sparked global mobilization creating a moment of urgency in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls.
Since then, unprecedented awareness and momentum have been created thanks to the relentless work of grassroots activists, women’s human rights defenders and survivor advocates worldwide to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
At the same time, there has been a rise in anti-rights movements, including anti-feminist groups, resulting in shrinking space for civil society, a backlash against women’s rights organizations and a rise in attacks against women human rights defenders and activists.
Supporting and investing in strong, autonomous women’s rights organizations and feminist movements is key to ending violence against women and girls. On November 25, the United Nations marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and girls. In a statement, the world body says this year’s theme is “UNiTE! Activism to End Violence against Women & Girls!” The international day will mark the launch of the UNiTE campaign from Nov 25 to Dec 10 — an initiative of 16 days of activism concluding on the day that commemorates International Human Rights Day.
This campaign, led by the UN Secretary-General and UN Women since 2008, aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world, calling for global action to increase awareness, promote advocacy and create opportunities for discussion on challenges and solutions. According to the UN this year’s campaign UNITE! Activism to End Violence against Women & Girls will aim to mobilize all society to become activists for the prevention of violence against women, to stand in solidarity with women’s rights activists and to support feminist movements around the world to resist the rollback on women’s rights and calling for a world free from violence against women and girls
Explaining why we need to eliminate violence against women and Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.
In general terms, it manifests itself in physical, sexual and psychological forms, encompassing: intimate partner violence--battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, femicide; sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, cyber- harassment; human trafficking--slavery, sexual exploitation; female genital mutilation and child marriage.
To further clarify, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
The UN says the adverse psychological, sexual and reproductive health consequences of violence against women and girls affect women at all stages of their life. For example, early-set educational disadvantages not only represent the primary obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls; down the line, they are also to blame for restricting access to higher education and even translate into limited opportunities for women in the labour market.
While gender-based violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, some women and girls are particularly vulnerable - for instance, young girls and older women, women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, migrants and refugees, indigenous women and ethnic minorities, or women and girls living with HIV and disabilities, and those living through humanitarian crises.
