Misogyny manifests itself in all cultures and in all levels of society, and is often accompanied by physical abuse of women and girls. It is deeply rooted and often sanctioned by religion and custom. From an early age, girls are indoctrinated with a sense of their own low worth and an expectation of continuous male control and abuse. Some grow up endorsing and even contributing to violence against other women. It is now nearly 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which all member states of the UN except Saudi Arabia are party, proclaimed the equality of all people, and the entitlement to all of the rights and freedoms it lists “without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex…” and yet in much of the world women are still denied their human rights and are subject to multiple forms of abuse.

Gender-based violence is defined by the UN to include spousal battery; sexual abuse; dowry-related violence; rape, including marital rape; female genital mutilation; trafficking and forced prostitution; forced pregnancy; forced sterilisation or abortion; and forced use of or denial of contraception; among other kinds of abuse.

To quote the 2005 report of the United Nations Population Fund [1], “Violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 as cancer. And its toll on women’s health surpasses that of traffic accidents and malaria combined.

“…Survivors often experience life-long emotional distress, mental health problems and poor reproductive health. Abused women are also at higher risk of acquiring HIV…The impact of violence may also extend to future generations: children who have witnessed abuse, or were victims themselves, often suffer lasting psychological damage.

“The cost to countries is high as well: increased health care expenditures; demands on courts, police and schools; and losses in educational achievement and productivity. In Chile, domestic violence cost women $1.56 billion in lost earnings in 1996, more than 2 per cent of the country’s GDP. In India, one survey showed that women lost an average of seven working days after an incident of violence. Domestic violence constitutes the single biggest health risk to Australian women of reproductive age, resulting in economic losses of about $6.3 billion a year. In the United States the figure adds up to some $12.6 billion annually.”

In many cultures violence against women is seen as a normal part of the relations between the sexes. Many women as well as men think that women who suffer physical or sexual assaults are themselves to blame for the violence they have suffered. Women who have been beaten or raped often feel ashamed and as a consequence are reluctant to complain to anyone. Certain forms of violence such as wife-beating, genital mutilation or forced marriage may be so well rooted in the culture that girls and women feel powerless to fight against them. If they do complain, they may well suffer even worse abuse from those in authority; in male-dominated societies women are not usually supposed to complain of abuse.

The trouble lies in the fact that in many cultures, women are defined solely by their reproductive function. They have no rights over their bodies or choice in their sexual activity. Chastity is emphasised as a virtue above all others. Virginity at the time of marriage is a must, and an obsession with a woman’s virginity goes as far as constituting the basis of male honour. In many countries forced marriages and child marriages and sometimes female genital mutilation are undertaken to ensure the protection of the girl’s virginity. In some cultures women are regarded as property, being passed on marriage from the ownership of a father or brother to that of a husband.

Women’s lack of economic independence often forces them to put up with spousal violence. Unequal inheritance laws for men and women, women’s lack of access to land, to education and to control of their comings and goings all help to keep them in a state of subservience to violent men. Much violence against women has to deal with the attempted control of female sexuality. The protection of women from violence must be accompanied by the recognition of the reproductive rights and freedom of women.
Male-dominated religion further muddies the waters. The worst examples are found in some Islamic regimes, where rape victims may be accused of zina (illicit sex) and punished accordingly, even to the extent of being condemned to death by stoning.
Rape is also widely committed in situations of conflict. It has now very belatedly been recognised as a war crime, but this recognition is so far largely academic, and does nothing to help the victims. Recent reports of the terrible situation in Darfur have highlighted the incidence of brutal rapes, but such abuses occur during conflicts elsewhere as well [3].

Another source of violence is the widespread trafficking of girls and women from one country to another for the purposes of sexual slavery. Every year about 500 000 women are trafficked out of Eastern and Central Europe. In South Asia large numbers of young girls are trafficked, often being sold by their parents to their exploiters.

In cultures where family honour is based on the chastity and the sexual subordination of women, so-called “honour killings” take place. Women may be killed for adultery, for being a rape victim or for trying to marry someone thought unsuitable by the family. So well entrenched is the idea that female sexuality reflects on the family and ought to be under its control that female family members may even take part in the killing.

India has a special problem of dowry murders. Every year about 15 000 young brides are burnt to death by their new families because of dissatisfaction with the amount of dowry money or goods they bring to the marriage. The number of dowry burnings has been reduced as a result of changes in the law, but they still continue.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is another form of abuse against girls and women. FGM causes a great deal of physical suffering and ill health to the woman and any children she may bear. About 100 million women now alive have suffered this appalling abuse, and about 2 million girls undergo it every year.

As HIV infections continue to increase worldwide, women are often particularly at risk because of their lack of power or ownership of their own bodies. Even if they escape infection, they may be widowed early and face a very uncertain future in a culture where they may be denied property and inheritance rights.

The invasion of Afghanistan occurred in response to the terrorist attacks on the USA. But a claimed side-effect of the invasion was to put an end to the terrible treatment of women under the Taliban regime. Has the invasion produced better conditions for Afghani women? In a few cases it may have , but the country has a new, hard-line Islamic constitution, and attitudes to the rights of women have hardly improved. I would urge anyone who is interested in this issue to visit the website of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). [2] Forced and child marriages are still widespread. Women are still beaten, raped and murdered. Some girls set fire to themselves in an attempt to escape from a life of violence.

In almost all cultures, there is an apathetic acceptance of violence towards women. That is the way the world works. It may even be so ordained by God. It may seem obvious that men, being usually physically stronger than women and (in their own estimation) superior in every other way, should have the right to control and chastise women. Police and judges often think that wife-beating is justified. Judges and politicians put emphasis on avoiding break-up of the family rather than on protecting women. We have to move to a culture where the human rights of women are taken seriously.

Women continue to fight courageously for their rights. But rapid progress will not come without the support and active participation of men in the struggle. Byron Hurt, an American former football player, is one man who is working for this cause, raising awareness among other men, particularly black men like him. He says, “I can see how sexism not only affects women in a negative way but how it affects men in a negative way as well. It damages us as men, because we are not free to be who we are, as human beings, not just as men.” [4]

All the contributors to the section are women. Obviously, women have a stake in finding solutions to this problem. But it is not just a subject for women. All Humanists, male and female, have an interest in human rights and we need to be critically aware of the violence going on around us. Girls and women make up half the human race, with an enormous amount to contribute to society. If we accept the concept of universal human rights, then these rights must be fully enjoyed by women as well as men.

References

1 UNFPA State of World Population 2005: The Promise of Equality, United Nations Population Fund, New York 2005.

2 http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?IndepthId=20&ReportId=62814

3 http://www.rawa.org/index.php

4 Racism, Class and Masculinity: The Global Dimensions of Gender-Based Violence, Panel sponsored by INSTRAW and UNICEF, New York, 2001, http://www.un-instraw.org/en/images/stories/EMV/racism_panel.pdf