This document discusses violence against women and provides information on several related topics: 1. It defines different types of violence against women including physical, sexual, psychological, and financial abuse. 2. Contributing factors to domestic violence are discussed such as cultural norms, economic dependence, legal issues, and political underrepresentation of women. 3. The impacts of violence against women are outlined from both short-term health consequences to long-term effects on children who witness abuse in the home. 4. Suggestions are provided for actions communities can take to address this issue through prevention programs, legal protections, empowering women, and engaging men.

1. 1
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2.  Facts about violence against women
 Types of violence against women
 Cycle of Violence
 Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence
 Health consequences of violence
 Impact of Domestic violence on Children
 What can we do???
 Situation in Palestine ????
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3. 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuRC8omEPQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTvSfeCRxe8
Men against Violence Against Women: Stop the
Violence, Start the Change
Violence against women—it's a men's issue
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4. The intentional use of physical force or power, against
oneself, another person, or against a group or
community, that either results in or has a high likelihood
of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-
development or deprivation.
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5. 5
• “ 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 act,
coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or in private life.”.
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women (1993)
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6.  Understanding the extent and consequeses of VAW is important
on multiple levels : legislation, policies and programs.
UN members ….. Collect data from different places regarding the
different type of violence
.
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7. Violence is widely prevalent and is an
underlying cause of injury and ill health
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8. 8
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9.  Violence affects all women regardless of culture, socio-
economic status, ethnicity, ability, age, occupation or
sexual orientation
 Violence is a significant cause of morbidity and
mortality for women
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Significance of the Problem
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10.  Violence against women and girls is one of the most systematic and
widespread human rights violations:
 Worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married
as children. Of those women, more than 1 in 3—or some 250
million—were married before the age of 15.
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11.  About 70% of all human trafficking victims detected
globally are women and girls.
 At least 200 million women and girls alive today
have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting
in 30 countries.
 Around 120 million girls worldwide (over 1 in 10)
have experienced forced intercourse or other
forced sexual.
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12. 1)Physical violence
– Including threats of violence, hitting, slapping,
punching, kicking, burning, cutting or otherwise
harming the body. with fists or weapons, with or
without physical injury
2)Sexual violence
Any form of non-consensual or forced sexual
activity or inappropriate/unwanted touching,
including rape, assault, forced prostitution, incest,
female genital mutilation, sexual harassment, etc.
Types of violence
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13. 3) Psychological or emotional abuse
• Insults, humiliation, put-downs and yelling, and extreme
jealousy(often unfounded) ,verbal abuse, threats, control,
constant criticism, intimidation, humiliation, etc
• These are not crimes under the Criminal Code.
4) Financial abuse (economic abuse / material exploitation)
• Restricting access to family resources, inheritance or
employment opportunities, overwork, denial of
ownership of property, withholding or taking away
earnings, denial of inheritance, withholding education,
unequal pay, not being allowed to work, etc
• Financial abuse is not a crime under the Criminal
Code, unless threat, fraud, coercion is used
Types of violence
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14. 5) Spousal abuse
Intimate partner violence
Physical or sexual violence or psychological or financial
abuse within current or former marital or common-
law relationships.
 It includes: physical aggression, psychological abuse,
forced intercourse and other forms of sexual coercion,
various controlling behaviors.
(Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg, & Zwi, 2002)
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15. 15
• Often linked to
physical abuse
• Withholding
resources, stealing
from the victim, or
using the victim's
name to incur debt
• Use of the victims emotions to
control them - can be through
verbal communication
(threats/insults/criticisms) or non
verbal (isolation/humiliation)
• Use of physical force against
another person in a way that
ends up injuring the person, or
puts the person at risk of
injury.
Physical
Emotional/
Psychological
Sexual
Financial
(Descriptions inspired by Women's’ Refuge website content, 2016).
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16. 1. Cultural factors:
 Notion of the family as the private sphere and under male
control
 Customs of marriage (bride price/dowry)
 Acceptability of violence as a means to resolve conflict
 Cultural definitions of appropriate sex roles
 Belief in the inherent superiority of males
 Values that give men proprietary rights over women and girls
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Gender inequality
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17. 2. Economic factors
 women’s economic dependence on men;
 limited access to cash and credit;
 discriminatory laws regarding inheritance, property
rights, use of communal lands and maintenance after
divorce or widowhood;
 limited access to employment in formal and informal
sectors;
 limited access to education and training for women.
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18. 3. legal factors
 written law and/or by practice; laws regarding divorce,
 child custody, maintenance and inheritance.
 legal definitions of rape and domestic abuse.
 low levels of legal literacy among women.
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19. 4. political factors
 under-representation of women in power, politics, the media
the legal and medical professions.
 notions of family being a private sphere and beyond control of
the state.
 risk of challenge to status quo/religious laws; limited
organization of women as a political force .
 and limited participation of women in organized political
system
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20. 6. Although alcohol and poverty are often identified as
causes, they are triggers or contributing factors to violence.
They are not the root cause of violence
7. increased risk of experiencing intimate partner and sexual
violence include : low education, exposure to violence
between parents, abuse during childhood, attitudes
accepting violence
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• poor financial resources
• few job skills
• less education
• few friends
• history of childhood abuse
• low self-esteem
• guilt
• self-blame
• denial
• Traditional women’s roles
• have children
• Woman stay with the partner for the sake of the children or the
sake of the family bond.
• Financial instability forces
• Family and social suppression
• Lake of resources or community support
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22.  low self-esteem
 dependency
 jealousy
 poor communication skills
 unemployed/underemployed
 abuse alcohol/other drugs
 have witnessed or experienced abuse as children
 If immigrants, are more likely to have been
victims of political violence
 abuse their own children
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Common Characteristics of Abuser
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23. Dynamics of Power and Control
• Controlling behaviour usually starts gradually often with
subtle forms of isolation
• May be jealous, possessive and alternately demanding and
then charming leaving the individual confused and
uncertain, thinking that abuse is their fault
• Progresses to constant fault finding
• Escalates to more frequent episodes and can include overt
physical violence and sexual abuse
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24. violence is not associated with an underlying medical condition. The
cycle of abuse has three phases.
1. Tension building.
◦ Tension is increased.
◦ Breakdown of communication
◦ Victim becomes fearful and feels the need to pacify the abuser.
2. Incident.
◦ Verbal, physical, threats, blaming.
3. Reconciliation.
◦ Abuser apologizes, gives excuses, blames victim, says it wasn't as
bad as the victim claims , gifts…etc
4. Calm
◦ Incident is forgotten (“Honeymoon” phase)
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25. 25
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26.  The impact of violence ranges from immediate to long
term physical, sexual and mental health consequences
for women and girls, including death.
 It also has tremendous personal, societal and economic
costs all around the globe: from greater health care and
legal expenses to productivity losses
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27. Short- and Long-term
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28.  Fetal loss
 Low-birth-weight infants
 Preterm birth
 Lack of control over reproductive decision making
 STD’s & HIV/AIDS
 vaginal bleeding or infection, genital irritation
 Unplanned pregnancies
JOGC, April 2005.
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29.  Can begin or increase due to:
• Jealous nature of the abuser with the growing fetus that begins to
occupy more the woman’s time and attention
• Other family members becoming more attentive
• Abuser may feel a loss of power and control
• Woman’s unavailability for sex
• Some women report that violence diminishes or stops while
pregnant therefore causing them to become pregnant more
frequently.
Universal Screening for Domestic Violence, AWHONN, 2004
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30.  Posttraumatic stress disorder
 Sleep disturbance
 Eroded Self esteem
 Phobias
 Depression
 Substance Abuse
 Anxiety
 Suicide
 Long-term effects on children (increased smoking, drug and
alcohol misuse, and risky sexual behaviors in later life)
JOGC, April 2005.
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31.  Women Denial.
◦ The victim refuses to admit… she may call each incident an “Accident”.
 Guilt.
◦ She new acknowledges there’s a problem, but considers herself responsible
for it.
 Enlightenment.
◦ She no longer assumes responsibility for her husband’s abusive
behavior/treatment. She recognizes that she does not deserve to be beaten.
 Responsibility.
◦ Accepts that her husband will not and cannot stop his violent behavior. The
battered woman decides she will no longer submit to it and starts a new life.
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32.  International studies reveal that approximately 20% of women and
5–10% of men report being victims of sexual violence as children.
 Children are most vulnerable to domestic violence done on their
mothers.
 They may feel angry, guilty, insecure, alone, frightened,
powerless or confused.
 They may have ambivalent feelings towards both the abuser and
the non-abusing parent.
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on Children
Impact of Domestic violence
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33. Childhood Violence and Adult Health
Felitti et al, 1998; Anda et al, 2006
Anxiety x 2.4
Severe obesity x 1.9
Alcoholism x 7.2
Illicit drug use x 4.5
Current smoker x 1.8
Perpetrating partner violence x 8.8
Any cancer x 1.9
• Abuse (Physical, sexual, emotional)
• Neglect (Physical, emotional)
• Household Dysfunction (mother treated violently, substance
abuse, mental illness, parental separation / divorce,
incarcerated household member
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34.  The social and economic costs of intimate partner and
sexual violence are enormous and have ripple effects
throughout society.
 Women may suffer isolation, inability to work, loss of
wages, lack of participation in regular activities and
limited ability to care for themselves and their children.
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35.  Direct costs: value of goods and services used in treating or
preventing violence ( Medical - Police - Criminal justice
system - Housing - Social services)
 Non-monetary costs: pain and suffering - Increased morbidity
- Increased mortality via homicide and suicide - Abuse of
alcohol and drugs - Depressive disorders
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1.6 million people die each year through violence
Estimated economic cost of $151 billion
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36. 1. A comprehensive approach is needed, involving a wide
range of stakeholders. It must cover the development of laws
and policies, prevention of violence before it happens and
access to essential services for survivors, as well as include
data collection and research.
2. Social mobilisation is also necessary to change social norms
and behaviours, including men and boys, traditional and
religious leaders, private sector and other relevant
stakeholders.
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37. 3. Awareness-raising campaigns on the extent and impact of
violence are an important component of prevention efforts. They
need to be complemented with educational programmes and
community mobilization to generate sustained results.
3. Increasing women's participation in political processes has shown
to result in better legislative outcomes for women and a more
responsive state.
4. Additionally, perhaps the greatest indicator of strong legislation
on ending violence against women has been correlated with the
existence of a strong women's civil society movement.
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38.  UN entities continue to support the Member States of the UN
to further advance the global legal and policy framework in
addressing violence against women and girls.
 The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which is
managed by UN Women on behalf of the UN System,
provides support to innovative approaches to stem and prevent
the pandemic of violence. Since its inception, the fund has
provided grants to 426 initiatives in 136 countries, amounting
to a total of USD 116 million.
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39.  While most men do not use violence against women, when
violence does occur it is largely perpetrated by men
 Men have a positive role to play in helping stop violence against
women
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40. Victim identification, care and support programmes
• Screening and referral
Identifying and supporting victims of violence
• Advocacy support
Support and guidance to victims, e.g. counselling,
education, legal aid.
• Psychosocial interventions
Treat emotional & behavioural problems linked to
victimisation.
• Protection orders
Prohibit perpetrators from further abusing their
victims
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41.  There are a growing number of well-designed studies looking
at the effectiveness of prevention and response programmes
 More resources are needed to strengthen the prevention of and
response to intimate partner and sexual violence, including
primary prevention, i.e. stopping it from happening in the first
place.
 Regarding primary prevention, there is some evidence from
high-income countries that school-based programmes to
prevent violence within dating relationships have shown
effectiveness
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42.  Support her by acknowledging the problem
 Affirm that the abusive behaviour is not acceptable
 Assist her to gain access to community resources
 Help her to identify options
 Assist her to develop an escape plan
(Youngkin & Davis, 2004)
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43.  Blame the victim
 Question her in front of the abuser
 Minimize, deny or trivialize what she says
 Confront the abuser
 Suggest joint counselling
 Alienate her by criticizing her partner
 Criticize a woman who chooses to stay
RNAO, March 2005.
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44. 11/15/2022 44
Violence against women in Palestine

45.  23.3% of women who had ever been married reported that they
had been exposed to physical violence,
 61.7% to psychological violence, and 10% to sexual violence
(PCBS,2011).
 Approximately 15 % of married women in Gaza experienced incidents
of sexual abuse by husbands over the previous year. More than half
of these experienced it repeatedly
 50 % of Palestinian women and 63% of Palestinian men agreed that a
woman should tolerate violence to keep the family together.
(UN- WOMEN in plaestine 2018)
 In 2010, ICHR documented nine women who had been killed
under the pretext of "family honour“.
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46.  The most common types of VAW in Palestine include:
domestic violence
sexual harassment
early marriage and femicide
public and private spheres including streets,workplaces,
homes and high-density areas such as refugee camps,
particularly in Gaza.
(UN- WOMEN in plaestine 2018)
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47.  The outdated and discriminatory laws in
Palestine hinder survivors of violence from
accessing gender-responsive services and
obtaining justice. In addition, survivors of
violence often face social stigma, and are
blamed as responsible for the violence
occurred to them.
 (UN- WOMEN in plaestine 2018)
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48. Women in Palestine?
National Strategy to Combat Violence Against Women
2011
-
2019
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49. 49
To achieve lasting change, it is important to enact legislation and
develop policies that:
 address discrimination against women;
 promote gender equality;
 support women; and
 help to move towards more peaceful cultural norms
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50. 1. To adopt the concept of combating VAW into the ministry’s vision
and mission, and to translate the concept into one of the
ministry’s strategic goals.
2. To introduce special manuals and curricula on how to deal with
VAW in medicine and public health schools and colleges.
3. To set out documented mechanisms that explain how to deal with
VAW cases in health centers, including the reception, referral and
follow-up of VAW cases.
4. To build a database on VAW cases received in health centers
5. To include special sections in health centers for receiving VAW
cases in order to maintain confidentiality and safety.
6. To train staff on the mechanisms of documenting reports of VAW
in which psychological harm is included.
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51. 11/15/2022 51

52.  Globally, how prevalent is physical and sexual
intimate partner violence and/or sexual violence by
a non-partner?
A. 1 in 6 women experience this
B. 1 in 4 women experience this
C. 1 in 3 women experience this
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53. 11/15/2022 53

54. 11/15/2022
 Childhood experiences of violence can be a risk
factor to perpetrate and/or experience violence
as an adult
A. True
B. False
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55.  Research shows that men who experience abuse and neglect
or have witnessed family violence in their childhood are
more likely to perpetrate intimate partner violence and
studies also show that women who experience or have
witnessed family violence in their childhood are at increased
risk of experiencing intimate partner violence. The data
suggest that violence is a learned behavior.
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56. 11/15/2022
 Sometimes it is women’s own fault if they
are raped
A. True
B. False
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57. 11/15/2022
 Harmful gender norms stigmatize women who are raped by
blaming them. However, perpetration of rape is about men’s
abuse of power and of domination over women. Norms that
blame women for being raped must change and perpetrators
must be held accountable for their actions. Norms must also
make it unacceptable for men to abuse power and dominate
women.
An exhibition “What she
wore” showing clothing of
women and girls who have
experienced sexual
violence.
Women are never to blame.
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58. 11/15/2022
 Health care providers cannot offer anything for
women experiencing violence true/false
A. True
B. False
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59. 11/15/2022
 Women who are abused are more likely to seek health
services than those who are not, even if they don’t explicitly
disclose such violence. Therefore health services are an
important entry point for women experiencing violence to
access health care and psychological support and referrals that
they need.
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60. 11/15/2022
 These 7 strategies are effective for preventing
violence against women:
◦ R –relationship skills strengthened
◦ E –empowerment of women
◦ S –services ensured
◦ P –poverty reduced
◦ E –environments made safe
◦ C –child and adolescent abuse prevented
◦ T –transformed attitudes, beliefs, and norms
A. True
B. False
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61. 11/15/2022
 Violence against women is preventable. Increasing
evidence on what works to prevent violence against
women shows that these 7 strategies are important to
successful programming to end violence against women
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62. November 25
International Day to End
Violence Against Women
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