Tackling Gender-Based Violence

By Saanvi Awasthi

Gender-based violence refers to violence directed against a person based on their gender or violence that is disproportionately perpetrated against persons of a particular gender. It can include violence against women, domestic violence against women, men, or children living in the same domestic unit. It also causes severe harm to families and communities. Although more often women and girls are the main victims of gender-based violence.

Cultural factors: Patriarchal and sexist views legitimise violence to ensure the dominance and superiority of men. Other cultural factors include gender stereotypes and prejudice, normative expectations of femininity and masculinity, the socialisation of gender, an understanding of the family sphere as private and under male authority, and acceptance of violence as part of the public sphere, and/or as an acceptable means to solve conflict and assert oneself.   

Legal factors: A victim of gender-based violence is perceived in many societies as shameful and weak, with many women still considered guilty of attracting violence against themselves through their behaviour. This partly accounts for enduring low levels of reporting and investigation.

Economic factors: The lack of economic resources creates patterns of violence and poverty that become self-perpetuating, making it extremely difficult for the victims to extricate themselves. When unemployment and poverty affect men, this can also cause them to assert their masculinity through violent means.

Political factors: The under-representation of women and LGBTQ people in power and politics means that they have fewer opportunities to shape the discussion and to affect changes in policy or to adopt measures to combat gender-based violence and support equality. Women’s and LGBT+ movements have raised questions and increased public awareness around traditional gender norms, highlighting aspects of inequality. For some, this threat to the status quo has been used as a justification for violence.

Violence against women is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical harm, carnal harm, psychological harm, economic harm, or suffering to women. It includes domestic violence, harassment, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and online violence. Violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world. It knows no social, economic, or national boundaries. Worldwide, an estimated one in three women will experience physical or carnal abuse in her lifetime. Gender-based violence undermines the health, dignity, security, and autonomy of its victims, yet it remains shrouded in a culture of silence. Victims of violence can suffer carnal and reproductive health consequences, including forced and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, traumatic fistula, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, and even death.

A Dark and Bitter Reality

Gender-based violence in India is defined as physical, and psychological harm, which is still a major public health problem despite numerous policies and programs. It is also a fact that human rights violations are committed against men as well as women.

Violence against People with Disabilities-Social discrimination based on gender and disability increases the vulnerability to gender-based violence for both men and women with disabilities. However, women and girls with disabilities are at an increased risk because of emotional, and physical abuse. It was determined that the earlier instruments did not give due consideration to gender-based violence in India and that a specific definition of this crime was lacking.

Gender-based violence in India against transgender individuals has multifaceted factors that increase their vulnerability. Gender role attitudes are one of the key determinants that increase vulnerability to gender-based violence among transgender individuals. Several societies control people’s sexuality through practices such as institutionalization, forced sterilization, and marriage restriction. Additionally, transgender individuals are socialized to be agreeable to receive care. Such socialization creates internalized oppression and compliance, hindering them from reporting abuse and encouraging them to remain in abusive situations. Such social norms that promote societal devaluation of transgender individuals increase their vulnerability to gender-based violence.

Gender-Based Abuse of Infants and Girl Child- In a country like India, there is a social preference for boys, leading to girls’ neglect in response to longstanding cultural traditions favouring males. This gives rise to abortions of female’s foetus where the gender of the foetus is identified through the use of ultrasound technique, malnourishment of girls, or even infanticide, which leads to the deliberate killing of female infants soon after birth. Therefore, the female-to-male ratio is lower than expected, pointing to a violation of the natural course of events.

Gender-Based Violence During The Pandemic

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, emerging data and reports from those on the front lines, have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, have intensified. When COVID-19 hit, the risk of gender-based violence (GBV), especially within the home, increased further. People were instructed to stay at home during a time when households were facing great financial and emotional stress. Indeed, one year into the pandemic, a systematic review found that the overwhelming majority (between 70 and 80 percent) of studies showed an increase in violence against women (VAW) and children since March 2020. In many households, coronavirus has created a ‘perfect storm of social and personal anxiety, stress, economic pressure, social isolation, including with abusive family members or partners, and rising alcohol and substance use, resulting in increases in domestic abuse.

Meanwhile, India too recorded an increase of 250 percent of domestic violence cases, according to the National Commission for Women. Domestic violence counselors there reported being unable to reach women and girls who were grievously injured or suicidal or those whose partners controlled their access to phones. The pandemic has exposed the systematic failure of governments around the world to protect women and girls and LGBTQIA+ people from violence against them, Even though 146 UN member states have formally declared their support for action against GBV in their COVID-19 response and recovery plans, only a handful have followed through. Of the $26.7 trillion that governments and donors mobilized to respond to the pandemic in 2020, just 0.0002% has gone into combating Gender-Based Violence.

Conclusion: 

The outcome of gender-based violence is long-lasting for its victims and rampant for the often inadequate responses. Hence, it is crucial to maintain the sense of urgency in gender-based violence cases, even during crisis situations. It is maintained that there is a need for a holistic response model to deal with the issue of gender-based violence during current and possible future pandemics. Health professionals, media, and community efforts must be combined to effectively deal with the issue of gender-based violence. Moreover, continuous and rigorous efforts are required to end the stigma associated with gender-based violence.