Violence against women

Introduction
• The problem of violence against women is not new.
• Women in the Indian society have been victims of humiliation,
torture, exploitation etc.,
• Today, women are being gradually recognised as important, powerful
and meaningful contributors to the life of men; but till a few decades
back, their condition was pitiable.
• Ideologies, institutional practices and the existing norms in society
have contributed much to their harassment.
• Some of these behavioural practices thrive even today.

Definition
• Galles – violence as “an act of striking a person with the intent of
causing harm or injury but actually causing it”.
• Straiss – has described a violent act as “an act where there is the high
potential of causing injury”.
• Domenach – has described it as “an act of a person which encroaches
upon the freedom of another”.
• Megargee – has defined violence as “the overtly threatened or overtly
accomplished application of force which results in the injury or
destruction of persons or their reputation”.

Meaning
• The Police Research Bureau, has referred to “crime against women”
under two categories:
• Crime under the Indian Penal Code
• Crime under the local and special law
• The bureau has identified 7 crimes in the first category and 4 crimes
in the second category of crimes.
• The 7 crimes under the IPC are: Rape, kidnapping and abduction, homicide for
dowry, torture (physical and mental), molestation, eve-teasing and
importation of girls upto 21 years of age.
• The 4 crimes under the local and special laws are: commission of sati, dowry
prohibition, immoral traffic and indecent representation of women.

Types of violence against women
• Criminal violence – rape, abduction, murder….
• Domestic violence – dowry-deaths, wife battering, sexual abuse,
maltreatment of widows and/or elderly women…
• Social violence – forcing the wife/daughter-in-law to go for female
foeticide, eve-teasing, refusing to give share to women in property,
forcing a young widow to commit sati, harassing the daughter-in-law
to bring more dowry….

• Rape
• Though the problem of rape is considered serious in all countries, in India it is
statistically not as serious as it is in the western society.
• It is not only the poor girls who become rape victims but even the employees
belonging to the middle class are sexually humiliated by their employers.
• Women inmates in jails are raped by the superintendents, women crime
suspects by the police officers, women patients by hospital personal, maid-
servants by their masters, and women daily wage-earners by contractors and
middle-men.
• Even deaf and dump, lunatic and blind, and women beggars are not spared.

• Abduction and kidnapping
• Kidnapping is taking away or enticing of a minor girl (female of less than 18
years and a male of less than 16 years of age) without the consent of the
lawful guardian.
• Abduction is forcibly, fraudulently or deceitfully taking away of a woman with
an intent of seducing her to illicit sex or compelling her to marry a person
against her will.
• In kidnapping, the victim’s consent is immaterial but in abduction, the victim’s
voluntary consent condones the crime.

• Murder
• Homicide is mainly a masculine crime.
• Though the all-India figures pertaining to murders and their victims on the
basis of sex are not available, it is well known that number of female victims
of homicides in comparison to male victims is low.

• Dowry-Deaths
• Dowry-deaths either by way of suicide by a harassed wife or murder by the
greedy husband and in-laws.
• A girl being harassed, tortured, killed or driven to suicide because dowry.
• Though the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 has banned the practice of dowry
but in reality all that the law does is to recognize that the problem exists.
• It is virtually unheard of for a husband or his family to be used for insisting on
taking a dowry.
• If anything, the demands for dowry have escalated over the years along with
dowry deaths.

• Marital rape
• Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse
without the spouse's consent.
• The lack of consent is the essential element and need not involve violence.
Marital rape is considered a form of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
• Although, historically, sexual intercourse within marriage was regarded as a
right of spouses, engaging in the act without the spouse's consent is now
widely recognized by law and society as a wrong and as a crime.
• It is recognized as rape by many societies around the world, repudiated by
international conventions, and increasingly criminalized.

• Forced marriage
• A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married against
their will.
• Forced marriages are common in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
• A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the
dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other.
• The custom of bride kidnapping continues to exist in some Central Asian countries
such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Caucasus, or parts of Africa,
especially Ethiopia.
• A girl or a woman is abducted by the would be groom, who is often helped by his
friends. The victim is often raped by the would be groom, after which he may try to
negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage.

• Wife-Battering
• Violence towards women in the context of marriage becomes more significant
when a husband who is supposed to love and protect his wife beats her.
• For a women, being battered by a man whom she trusted most becomes a
shattering experience.
• The violence can range from slaps and kicks to broken bones, torture, and
attempted murder and even murder itself.
• Sometimes, the violence may be related to drunkenness but not always.
• Bred in Indian culture, a wife rarely thinks in terms of reporting a case of
battering to the police.
• She suffers humiliation in silence and takes it as her destiny.
• Even if she want to revolt, she cannot do it because of the fear that her own
parents refuse to keep her in their house permanently after the marital break
down.

• Sexual abuse
• Sexual abuse is sexual behavior or a sexual act forced upon a woman, man or
child without their consent.
• Sexual abuse is an act of violence which the attacker uses against someone they
perceive as weaker than them.
• It does not come from an uncontrollable sex drive, but is a crime committed
deliberately with the goal of controlling and humiliating the victim.
• Most victims of sexual violence are women – a fact that reflects their social
stance even today, in the 21st century, as inferior to men.
• Sexual violence is another means of oppressing women in a patriarchal society.
• Sexual violence is a social phenomenon that exists in every society that accepts
aggressive behavior and gender inequality.

• Female foeticide
• Female foeticide is the process of finding out the sex of the foetus and
undergoing abortion if it is a girl.
• Although it is illegal, many people continue to practice it.
• Besides this, there are some communities which practice female infanticide -
the practice of killing the girl child once she is born.
• This fact is highlighted by the findings of census 2001 which show that there
are only 933 women in this country for every 1000 men.
• Besides this, Census (2011) data showed a significant declining trend in the
Child Sex Ratio (CSR), calculated as number of girls for every 1000 boys
between age group of 0 - 6 years, with an all time low of 918 in 2011 from
976 in 1961.
• This decline in sex ratio means that we are not just depriving girls of human
rights, we are also depriving them of their right to live.

• Eve Teasing
• Eve teasing is a euphemism used throughout South Asia, which includes (but is
not limited to) India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal for public sexual
harassment or sexual assault of women by men.
• The name “Eve" alludes to the Bible’s creation story concerning Adan and Eve.
• Considered a problem related to delinquency in youth, it is a form of sexual
aggression that ranges in severity from sexually suggestive remarks, brushing
in public places and catcalls, to groping.
• The Indian National Commission for Women has suggested the semantic roots
of the term in Indian English, Eve teasing refers to the temptress nature of Eve,
placing responsibility on the woman as a tease.
• Teasing the girls, passing comment on them, harassing them, troubling them
purposely is called 'eve teasing.'

• Honour killing
• An honor killing or shame killing is the murder of a member of a family, due
to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonor
upon the family, or has violated the principles of a community or a religion,
• usually for reasons such as
• divorcing or separating from their spouse,
• refusing to enter an arranged marriage,
• being in a relationship that is disapproved by their family,
• having sex outside marriage,
• becoming the victim of rape,
• dressing in ways which are deemed inappropriate,
• engaging in non-heterosexual relations or renouncing a faith.

• Sati
• Sati or suttee is the ancient Indian and Nepalese practice of burning a widow
on her husband's funeral pyre or burying her alive in his grave.
• This practice is associated with Hindu traditions. The name is taken from the
goddess Sati, wife of Shiva, who burned herself to protest her father's ill-
treatment of her husband.
• The term "sati" can also apply to the widow who commits the act. The word
"sati" comes from the feminine present participle of the Sanskrit word asti,
meaning "she is true/pure."
• While it has been most common in India and Nepal, examples have occurred
in other traditions from as far afield as Russia, Vietnam, and Fiji.

• Acid attack
• Acid throwing, also called an acid attack, a vitriol attack or vitriolage, is a form
of violent assault defined as the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive
substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim,
torture, or kill".
• Perpetrators of these attacks throw corrosive liquids at their victims, usually
at their faces, burning them, and damaging skin tissue, often exposing and
sometimes dissolving the bones.
• The long term consequences of these attacks may include blindness, as well
as permanent scarring of the face and body, along with far-reaching social,
psychological, and economic difficulties.

Causes
• Research has sought causal factors at various levels of analysis,
including
• Individual,
• Dyadic,
• Institutional, and
• Social.
https://www.nap.edu/read/5127/chapter/5#91

Individual influences for violence against
women
• Alcohol
• Every category of aggressive act (except throwing objects) has a higher
prevalence among people who have been drinking.
• Alcohol use has been reported in between 25 percent and 85 percent of
incidents of battering and up to 75 percent of acquaintance rapes.
• It is far more prevalent for men than their female victims.
• Considerable research links drinking and alcohol abuse to physical aggression,
although adult consumption patterns are likewise associated with other
variables related to violence (such as witnessing physical violence in one's
home of origin).

women
• Psychopathology and Personality Traits
• A number of studies have found a high incidence of psychopathology and
personality disorders, most frequently antisocial personality disorder,
borderline personality organization, or posttraumatic stress syndrome, among
men who assault their wives.
• A wide variety of psychiatric and personality disorders have also been
diagnosed among sexual offenders, most frequently some type of antisocial
personality disorder.
• Distinctive personality profiles have been reported for rapists and sexually
aggressive men.

women
• Attitudes and Gender Schemas
• Cultural myths about violence, gender scripts and roles, sexual scripts and
roles, and male entitlements are represented at the individual level as
attitudes and gender schemas.
• These hypothetical entities are expectancies that give meaning to and may
even bias interpretation of ongoing experience, as well as provide a structure
for the range of possible responses.
• Once a violence-supportive schema about women has developed, men are
more likely to misinterpret ambiguous evidence as confirming their beliefs.
• Sexually aggressive men more strongly endorse a set of attitudes that are
supportive of rape than do nonaggressive men, including myths about rape
and the use of interpersonal violence as a strategy for resolving conflict.

Dyadic influences for violence against women
• An individual man carries out violence against a woman in a dyadic context
that includes features of the relationship, characteristics of the woman,
and their communication.
• The stage of relationship between a man and woman may determine, in
part, the probability of violence.
• Anecdotal evidence from battered women suggest that a man often
refrains from physical violence until a women has made an emotional
commitment to him, such as moving in together, getting engaged or
married, or becoming pregnant.
• It is suggested that the emotional bond between the couple once formed,
may contribute to the man's sense of entitlement to control his partner's
behavior as well as diminish the facility with which the woman can leave
the relationship without ambivalence.

Institutional influences for violence against
women
• Family, Schools, and Religion
• Families are where all socialization begins, including socialization for all types
of violent behavior.
• Studies of violent criminals and violent sex offenders have found these men
are more likely than other adults to have experienced poor parental
childrearing, poor supervision, physical abuse, neglect, and separations from
their parents.
• One-third of children who have been abused or exposed to parental violence
become violent adults.
• Sons of violent parents are more likely to abuse their intimate partners than
boys from nonviolent homes.

Institutional influences for violence against
women
• Media
• Many feminist writers have suggested that pornography encourages the
objectification of women and endorses and condones sexual aggression
toward women.
• Both laboratory research and studies of television lend support to this view.
• Exposure to pornography under laboratory conditions has been found to
increase men's aggression toward women, particularly when a male
participant has been affronted, insulted, or provoked by a woman.
• Sexual arousal to depictions of rape is characteristic of sexual offenders.
• Even exposure to non-explicit sexual scenes with graphic violence has been
shown to decrease empathy for rape victims.

Societal influences for violence against
women
• Sexual Scripts
• Expectations about dating and intimate relationships are conveyed by
culturally transmitted scripts.
• Scripts support violence when they encourage men to feel superior, entitled,
and licensed as sexual aggressors with women as their prey, while holding
women responsible for controlling the extent of sexual involvement.
• Parents socialize daughters to resist sexual advances and sons to initiate
sexual activity.
• By adolescence, both boys and girls have been found to endorse scripts about
sexual interaction that delineate a justifiable rape.
• For example, approximately 25 percent of middle school, high school, and
college students state that it is acceptable for a man to force sex on a woman
if he spent money on her.

Societal influences for violence against
women
• Cultural Mores
• Ethnographic and anthropologic studies determine the critical role that
sociocultural mores play in defining and promoting violence against women.
• Anthropologists have found cultural differences in the amount of and
acceptability of intimate partner violence in different societies.
• A review of 14 different societies found that physical chastisement of wives
was tolerated in all the societies and considered necessary in many societies,
but the rates and severity of wife beating were found to range from almost
nonexistent to very frequent.
• These differences seem to be related to negative sanctions for men who
overstepped "acceptable" limits, sanctuaries for women to escape violence,
and a sense of honor based on nonviolence or decent treatment of women.

Consequences
• The consequences of violence against women are far broader than
the impact on the women victims.
• Their families and friends may be affected.
• In the case of intimate partner violence, there is increasing evidence
of the negative impact on children of exposure to violence in the
family.
• Society suffers economically, both in the use of resources and in the
loss of productivity due to fear and injury.
• Understanding the consequences of violence is necessary for planning
and implementing interventions to deal with those consequences.

Consequences
• Consequences to Victims
• Both rape and intimate partner violence are associated with a host of short- and
long-term problems, including physical injury and illness, psychological
symptoms, economic costs, and death.
• It should be noted that part of what is known about the consequences of
violence against women comes from studies of women who were seeking help,
so it may not be representative of all victims.
• It is possible that these women suffered more severe trauma than women who
do not seek help, and so represent the worst cases.
• Victims who may either be at high risk for violence or face special challenges in
recovery.

Physical Consequences
• Rape and Sexual Assault
• Surveys of adult females have found that women characterize the ''typical"
rape as entailing a high risk of physical injury and of death.
• However, the data show that between one-half and two-thirds of rape victims
sustain no physical injuries; and only about 4 percent sustain serious physical
injuries.
• Even though serious physical injury is relatively rare, the fear of injury or
death during rape is very real.
• Rape can also result in transmission of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) to
the victim, or in pregnancy.

Physical Consequences
• Intimate Partner Violence
• A woman is more likely to be injured if she is victimized by an intimate than
by a stranger.
• Victims of battering suffer from a host of physical injuries, from bruises,
scratches, and cuts to burns, broken bones, concussions, miscarriages, stab
wounds, and gunshot wounds to permanent damage to vision or hearing,
joints, or internal organs to death.
• Bruises and lacerations to the head, face, neck, breasts, and abdomen are
typical.
• Victims of partner violence were 13 times more likely to have injuries to the
breast, chest, or abdomen than were accident victims, and three times as
likely as non-battered women to sustain injuries while pregnant.

Psychological consequences
• Victims of intimate partner violence and rape exhibit a variety of
psychological symptoms that are similar to those of victims of other
types of trauma, such as war and natural disaster.
• Following a trauma, many victims experience shock, denial, disbelief,
fear, confusion, and withdrawal.
• Assaulted women may become dependent and suggestible and have
difficulty undertaking long-range planning or decision making.
• Although a single victimization may lead to permanent emotional
scars, ongoing and repetitive violence is clearly highly deleterious to
psychological adjustment.

Psychological consequences
• One way of systematizing some of the psychological responses
evidenced by women victims of partner assault and rape is the
diagnostic construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• As early as 1974, Burgess and Holmstrom described what they
termed "rape trauma syndrome" to describe the psychological
aftermath of rape.
• Today, many assaulted women, like other victims of trauma receive
diagnoses of PTSD.
• Rape and physical assault are both more likely to lead to PTSD than
other traumatic events affecting civilians, including robbery, the tragic
death of close friends or family, and natural disaster.

Consequences to family and friends
• Children in families in which the woman is battered are at risk of both
physical and sexual abuse.
• Even if children are not themselves abused, living in a family in which
there is violence between their parents puts children at risk.
• These children have been found to exhibit high levels of aggressive
and antisocial, as well as fearful and inhibited, behaviors.
• Other studies have shown that children who have experienced
parental violence have more deficits in social competence and higher
levels of depression, anxiety, and temperament problems than
children in nonviolent homes.

Consequences to society
• Fear of Crime
• Criminologists recognize that one social consequence of crime that affects
many people beyond those who have been directly victimized is fear of crime.
• The consequences of fear of crime are real, measurable, and potentially
severe.
• Because women fear crime more than men, these consequences are
disproportionately borne by women.
• Women's fear of crime seems to be driven primarily by their fear of rape.
• Women perceive rape as a very serious crime—at least as serious, if not more
so, than murder.

Consequences to society
• Economic Effects
• Existing data give some indication of the social consequences and attendant
costs of violence.
• Straus (1986) estimated that intra-familial homicide cost $1.7 billion annually;
• Meyer (1992) calculated the medical costs and lost work productivity of
domestic violence at $5 to $10 billion per year;
• The Bureau of National Affairs (1990) estimated the annual cost of domestic
violence to employers for health care and lost productivity at $3 to $5 billion.
• Though alarming, the limited data available on women victims of violence and
exclusion of sexual violence from these studies suggest that these figures may
significantly underestimate the economic toll of violence.

Laws that protect women and their rights
• The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
• Special Marriage Act, 1954
• Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
• Indian Divorce Act, 1969
• Indecent Representation of Women(Prevention) Act,1986
• Maternity Benefit Act,1861
• Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,1971
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
• National Commission for Women Act, 1990
• Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

Law that protect women and their rights
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
• According to the International Research Centre for Women, almost 47
percent of girls are married before the age of 18. Currently, India ranks 13
in the world when it comes to child marriages. Since child marriage has
been steeped into the Indian culture and tradition since centuries, it has
been tough eliminating it.
• The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act was made effective in 2007. This act
defines child marriage as a marriage where the groom or the bride are
underage, that is, the bride is under 18 years of age or the boy is younger
than 21 years.
• Parents trying to marry underage girls are subject to action under this law.
Since the law makes these marriages illegal, it acts as a major deterrent.

Special Marriage Act, 1954
• The objectives of this act is to provide – a special form of marriage in
certain cases, provide for registration of certain marriages and, to
provide for divorce. In a country like India and with the diverse
religions and cast, when people from different faiths and caste chose
to get married they do it under the Special Marriage Act.
• It is not applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and also
extends to intending spouses who are Indian nationals and living
abroad.

Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
• According to this act, taking or giving of dowry at the time of the marriage
to the bride or the bridegroom and their family is to be penalised. Dowry
system, giving and taking of dowry, is a norm in India. Dowry is often asked
of the bride and her family by the groom and his family. The system has
taken strong roots because women after marriage move in with their
spouse and in-laws. Also, over the centuries, the lack for economic
independence of women and the taboo towards divorce has resulted in
bride burning. When demands for dowry even after marriage are not met
by the girl’s families, many women are tortured, beaten and even burnt.
• It is one of the major challenges that our society is grappling with. Women
openly complaining about it has helped to spread the word and encourage
other women to take a stand.

Indian Divorce Act, 1969
• The Indian Divorce Act allows the dissolution of marriage, mutual
consent, nullity of marriage, judicial separation and restitution of
conjugal rights.
• Family Courts are established to file, hear, and dispose of such cases.
Indecent Representation of Women(Prevention) Act,1986
• This Act prohibits indecent representation of women through
advertisement or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any
other manner.

Maternity Benefit Act,1861
• This act regulates the employment of women and maternity benefits
mandated by law.
• It states that a woman employee who has worked in an organisation
for a period of at least 80 days during the 12 months preceding the
date of her expected delivery is entitled to receive maternity benefits,
which includes maternity leave, nursing breaks, medical allowance,
etc.

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,1971
• The Act came into effect into 1972, was amended in 1975 and 2002.
• The aim of the Act is to reduce the occurrence of illegal abortion and
consequent maternal mortality and morbidity.
• It clearly states the conditions under which a pregnancy can be ended
or aborted and specifies the persons qualified to conduct the same.

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition
and Redressal) Act, 2013
• To ensure women’s safety at workplace, this Act seeks to protect
them from sexual harassment at their place of work. Thirty-six
percent of Indian companies and 25 percent among MNC’s are not
complaint with the Sexual Harassment Act according to a FICCI-EY
November 2015 report.
• Sexual harassment at workplace also includes – the use of language
with sexual overtones, invasion of private space with a male colleague
hovering too close for comfort, subtle touches and innuendoes.

National Commission for Women Act, 1990
• The National Commission for Women (NCW) is a statutory body of
the Government of India, established in January 1992.
• Lalitha Kumaramangalam was appointed its Chairperson in 2014.
• The NCW represents the rights of women in India and provides a
voice for their issues and concerns.
• The National Commission for Women Act aims to improve the status
of women and worked for their economic empowerment.

• Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
• This Act prevents discrimination in terms of remuneration.
• It provides for payment of equal recompense to men and women
workers.
• It is necessary to know these and other laws in place to protect the
interests of women.
• Only if you are aware of your rights can you fight against any injustice
meted out to you at home, at the workplace, or in the society.

Some other laws
• The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
• The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
• The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013
• The Indian Penal Code,1860
• The Indian Evidence Act,1872

Remedial Measures
• 1. Use Social Media
• 2. Report
• 3. Be media literate and critical
• 4. Interrupt sexist/homophobic and
transphobic language
• 5. Interrupt abuse
• 6. Stop street harassment
• 7. Come up with an action plan
• 8. Recognize the role of gender in violence
• 9. Stop Victim Blaming
• 10. Stop rape culture
• 11. Call gender violence what it is-not bullying
• 12. Educate yourself on the roots of violence
• 13. Create safe spaces to discuss gender violence
• 14. Confront yourself/your ideas
• 15. Stop stereotyping men’s and women’s roles
• 16. Remember violence is a choice
• 17. Be Supportive
• 18. Be aware of resources for girls and women
• 19. Talk to others about ending violence and be a
mentor
• 20. Understand consent

Remedial Measures
• 1. Use Social Media -Social media has an empowering effect send articles,
with the click of a button, you can spread the word. Youth do not need the
mainstream media to voice their views!.
• 2. Report – Report photos that exploit girls and young women when you
see them on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.
• 3. Be media literate and critical -Be critical of what you see otherwise it
become normalized and we are desensitized! The media regularly uses
images of violence against women and objectifies girls and women to sell
products. Women are also objectified in movies, music and magazines. If
you see an add or commercial that is sexist and degrading towards women
– write or e-mail the company and don’t by their products.

Remedial Measures
• 4. Interrupt sexist/homophobic and transphobic language - Words are
powerful, especially when spoken by people who have power over others.
We live in a society where words are used to put girls and women down.
Gendered name-calling is used and sends the message, that, girls and
women are less than fully human. When girls and women are seen as
inferior, thus, it becomes easier to treat them with less respect and ignore
their rights. Changing the way you speak can change the way you think.
• 5. Interrupt abuse – If you see a guy push a girl into her locker at
school/college that you say something to stop him from continuing to be
abusive. If you are at a party and one of your peers or friends is intoxicated
and being lead away by a guy[s] stop him from being alone with her and
help her get home.

Remedial Measures
• 6. Stop street harassment - Don’t engage in any forms of sexual
harassment, such as catcalling, and unwanted touching. And don’t let
your friends and peers engage in those behaviors either! It’s not just
enough that you don’t engage in those behaviors, be empowered to
speak up against friends and peers who do! Don’t look the other way!
• 7. Come up with an action plan – Plan ahead what you would do in
situations where either, people you know or strangers, are being
abusive and/or sexist. Sometimes it’s easier to interrupt and stop the
abuse when you know what you will say and how you will approach
the situation before hand.

Remedial Measures
• 8. Recognize the role of gender in violence - While boys and men do
experience abuse it is important to remember that the majority of
victims of abuse are female and the majority of perpetrators of
violence are boys and men.
• 9. Stop Victim Blaming – Don’t blame girls and women for how they
choose to dress or judge their behavior. Violence can’t be prevented
through limiting the freedoms of girls. This only allows the violence to
continue because perpetrators become invisible, and those who
witness remain silent.

Remedial Measures
• 10. Stop rape culture – One way to stop rape culture is by not allowing
people to perpetuate rape culture through minimizing/normalizing
rape through jokes. When a friend or peer tells a joke about being
violent against girls and women in some way, say you don’t find it
funny and let them know that it is not okay.
• 11. Call gender violence what it is-not bullying - Using the term
bullying to label violence against girls and women masks the truth of
what’s happening. When someone you know at schools/colleges is
experiencing gender violence either in a dating relationship or from
their peers at school, by labeling it correctly you are stopping a culture,
which normalizes and minimizes violence against girls and women.

Remedial Measures
• 12. Educate yourself on the roots of violence -Violence against girls
and women stems in male dominance and the socialization of men.
Become educated on the roots of violence against girls and women!
Read books and articles, join a group at school and attend any
training available to you. Learn about the myths and realities of
gender violence and understand how our society condones it.
• 13. Create safe spaces to discuss gender violence – Create an after
school/college club or group where you can openly discuss your views
and experiences and support your peers.

Remedial Measures
• 14. Confront yourself/your ideas - Reflect on your beliefs and why
you have those beliefs and your actions, and opinions. Be honest and
admit your faults and commit to changing the way you think and act.
• 15. Stop stereotyping men’s and women’s roles -Social roles and
expectations may affect a man’s decisions about relationships. Men
are taught that expressing feelings is not masculine. Examining your
social role and learning ways to express feelings directly and non-
violently can help to create deeper and more meaningful
interpersonal relationships. You don’t have to prove yourself.

Remedial Measures
• 16. Remember violence is a choice - Don’t make excuses for friends
and peers who are violent. Stop supporting the notion that violence is
due to mental illness, lack of anger management skills, alcohol and
drug use, stress, etc.
• 17. Be Supportive - When girls tell you about violence they have
experienced in their lives believe them. It is extremely rare for girls to
make up a story about rape or abuse. You may be the first and only
person she tells. Believe her and support her decisions, without being
judgmental.

Remedial Measures
• 18. Be aware of resources for girls and women -Support girls and women
by providing information on where they can get further support and safety.
Familiarize yourself with the resources for girls and women in your
community, including women’s centers, counseling centers and health
service organizations. Be a positive resource for girls close to you by
sharing information and making referrals.
• 19. Talk to others about ending violence and be a mentor – Volunteer
your time to preventing violence by speaking to others. This brings
awareness to the issue, which will motivate others to act.
• 20. Understand consent - Boys and young men need to be respectful when
entering into a sexual relationship and should not feel entitled to girls and
women’s bodies. Just because you are a ‘nice guy’ does not mean you
should have any expectations.

The overall Remedial Measures are
• Create laws and enforce existing laws that protect women from
discrimination and violence, including rape, beatings, verbal abuse,
mutilation, torture, “honor” killings and trafficking.
• Educate community members on their responsibilities under
international and national human rights laws.
• Promote the peaceful resolution of disputes by including the
perspectives of women and girls.
• Strengthen women’s ability to earn money and support their
households by providing skills training for women.

The overall Remedial Measures are
• Sensitize the public to the disadvantages of early and forced child
marriages.
• Highlight the value of girls’ education and of women’s participation
in economic development.
• Encourage women to participate in the political process and educate
the public about the value of women’s votes.
• Raise public awareness of the poor conditions some women face,
particularly in rural areas.

Violence against women

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