|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Summary
Gender-based violence, rooted in inequality and harmful societal norms, disproportionately affects women and girls, but can be addressed through education, legal reforms, empowerment, and inclusive decision-making to achieve gender equality.
According to the Beijing Declaration platform for action, male violence against women violates and nullifies the human rights and fundamental freedom of women. It is a behaviour involving physical force with the intention to hurt. Gender-based violence is violence perpetrated against an individual based on their gender or gender identity.
It is one of the most prevalent human rights violations and is deeply rooted in gender inequality, abuse of power and harmful practices. Women and girls are disproportionately more affected, with men being the perpetrators. This violence can either occur in a private or public setting.
In Nigeria and across the world, gender-based violence has become a global problem, which affects women of all ages, cultures and backgrounds, and it can take on any form of violence, such as physical, sexual, psychological, economic and other harmful practices.
Gender inequality, gender stereotypes and the archaic cultural norms of society are the foundations upon which male violence against women is built. While male violence affects women and girls, the exposure to different phases and environments in which they spend life exposes them to various forms of male-centred violence such as rape, child marriage, female genital mutilation, trafficking, honour killing or femicide.
However, male violence against women is one of the most prevalent forms of gender-based violence, which may have long-term effects on survivors or the victims, such as chronic physical injury, emotional distress, forced or unwanted pregnancy, difficulty in childbirth, STIs and can even lead to death. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women will experience physical or sexual violence, which may be intimate partner or non-partner violence.
To address gender-based violence, there is a need for us to educate everyone on the dangers, empower the women and girl child through means of support, adopt a legal framework that could put solid policies in place, include women in decision making and engage and educate the male allies. If we can all accelerate our actions, we can achieve the fifth sustainable development goal— Gender equality.
