16/07/2022
Gender-based Violence: Culture, society and psychology.
By Hassan Idris
In discussing s*xual and gender-based violence, it is of utmost importance to distinguish between s*x and gender. S*x is the biological predisposition of being a male or female, while gender refers to a social construction which is socially created. Itโs s*xual and gender-based violence because itโs violence against the s*xual predisposition of somebody, accompanied by social and cultural norms against oneโs gender. S*xual and gender-based violence can be violence against men by men, men by women, women by men or women by women. But Iโll be more concerned with violence against women by men.
Culture and Gender-Based Violence
The role culture plays in s*xual and gender-based violence is perilous because most s*xual and gender-based violence cases revolve around social and cultural norms that are culturally made by society. Social norms are contextually and socially derived uncontested intentions of ethical behaviours. S*xual and gender-based violence persists as one of the extensively prevalent and ongoing issues confronting women and girls globally.
Disputes and other humanitarian emergencies spot women and girls at heightened risk of numerous forms of s*xual and gender-based violence. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) 2015 Guidelines for Integrating S*xual and Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action defines s*xual and gender-based violence as โany fatal act that is perpetrated against a personโs will, and that is based on socially ascribed (i.e., gender) differences between females and males.
What Makes up Gender-Based Violence?
Gender-based violence comprises conduct that imposes physical, s*xual or mental harm or hardship, perils of such acts, intimidation and other deprivations of freedom. These destructive acts can transpire in public and in private. Toxic social norms that strengthen s*xual and gender-based violence include womenโs s*xual virtue, conserving family respect over womenโs safety, and menโs sovereignty to discipline women and children.
Itโs paramount for us to know that women are at enormous risk of s*xual and gender-based violence. We have seen circumstances where women are endangered by parental violence and violence during adolescence, and survivors always report adverse effects on physical, mental and reproductive health. Yet, often time hostile health and social effects imposed on women are never dealt with because often women do not divulge s*xual and gender-based violence to providers or key health care or other services (e.g., safety, legal, traditional authorities) because of social norms that accuse the woman for the onslaught.
Personal Experience with Gender-Based Violence
I can recall a friendโs elder brother who molested and beat his wife mercilessly because she served his mother food with her left hand. To him, itโs against his culture, and he had to beat his wife till she was hospitalised. Another man beat his wife because she cooked food for him while she was on her menstrual period, which he claimed went against his culture and traditional norms. There are many cases where women are badly hit because of their biological predispositions and cultural norms that give men more power.
Social and Psychological Impacts of Gender-Based Violence.
S*xual and gender-based violence have caused a lot of physiological, psychological and sociological injuries to numerous women. All indicate and enhance inequities between men and women and jeopardise victimsโ health, self-respect, protection and freedom. Moreover, it incorporates various human rights infringements, including s*xual exploitation of teenagers, r**e, home cruelty, s*xual battering and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and multiple other dangerous traditional practices.
Any one of these abuses can leave deep mental wounds; ravage the well-being of women and girls in a widespread manner, encompassing their reproductive and s*xual health, and in some specimens, results in death.
It is a Human Rights Violation
Violence against women is the most vastly yet subtlest renowned human rights intimidation in the world. It is an exhibition of historically unequal hegemony approaches between men and women, which have directed to dominance over and unfairness against women by men and to the impediment of the comprehensive advancement of women. Brutality against women is one of the crucial social tools by which women are impelled into a subordinate roles compared with men.
This violence may have contemplative effects, both direct and indirect, on a womanโs reproductive health, including undue pregnancies and insufficient acceptance of family planning information and contraceptives, unsafe abortion or damages unremitting throughout a legitimate abortion after an undesirable pregnancy, drawbacks from recurring rent, high-risk pregnancies and deficiency of follow-up care, s*xually transmitted infections, including HIV, continual gynaecological problems as well as mental hardships.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to curtail and reduce s*xual and gender-based violence, fundamental deterrence programs that promote change by dealing with the elementary causes and drivers of s*xual and gender-based violence at a population level should be enacted. Such programs traditionally included endeavours to economically empower girls and women, enhanced legal penalties, enshrining womenโs rights and gender equivalence within national legislation and policy, and other measures to promote gender equality and reduce s*xual and gender-based violence.
Hassan Idris wrote from Kogi State, Nigeria, via [email protected].
