Hey guys! There have been a lot of incidents of violence towards women and young girls and it has been quite a topic in our society. Elizabeth Peters who is the IFMSA PC for gender based violence and also the owner of ElizabethTPeters.com has decided to shed more light on this topic. Please let us not only learn from this post but share with others. Enjoy, comment and subscribe and also please check out ElizabethTPeters.com, you won’t regret it!
Violence Towards Women
Violence towards women and girls is one of the most frequent violations of the fundamental rights in the whole world. It does not know any borders, not economic, nor social or geographical. Worldwide, statistics estimate that a woman out of three will be a victim of physical or sexual violence during her lifetime. Violence against Women according to the UN Declaration on elimination of violence against Women (Article 1) refers to “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 deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”. Although gender-based violence (GBV) puts in danger a woman’s health, dignity, safety and autonomy, it remains cushioned by a culture of silence. In fact, many women choose to stay silent rather than fight for their rights. This is the result of many factors: culture and traditions (always favoring men over women), the lack of assistance (psychological or medical), legal (loopholes in legal texts), and lack of education, just to name a few. Today, the women who are victims of violence report consequences to the physical, psychological and social levels. The answer concerning reasons why these women do not speak about it or file a complaint, reveals to what extent violence has become a normal part of life. Indeed, in some societies up to 55% of victims declare that the violence is an ordinary fact which does not deserve that we speak about it for fear of aggravating the situation and because of the shame to speak about it. So from what we’ve spoken about, GBV is definitely a menace that every society could certainly do without, but as earlier stated, it’s supported by the ideology that it’s “normal” so the change literally begins with each and every one of us, right from what we believe is okay and acceptable. We need to start questioning what are our norms, and asking ourselves – is this fair? Food for thought xo
Written by Elizabeth T Peters
Instagram: @softskinnedLiz
Twitter: @softskinnedLiz
Blog: www.ElizabethTPeters.com
