What is Gender Based Violence?

According to UNICEF, Gender-based violence (GBV) is the most pervasive yet least visible human rights violation in the world. It includes physical, sexual, mental or economic harm inflicted on a person because of socially ascribed power imbalances between males and females. It also includes the threat of violence, coercion and deprivation of liberty, whether in public or private. 
In the recent, GBV has been recorded more on the female gender than on the male. In all societies, women and girls have less power than men – over their bodies, decisions and resources. Social norms that condone men’s use of violence as a form of discipline and control reinforce gender inequality and perpetuate gender-based violence. Across the globe, women and girls – especially adolescents – face the greatest risk.

A statistics from UNICEF states, “ Between 2005 and 2020, parties to conflict raped, forcibly married, sexually exploited, and committed other grave forms of sexual violence against at least 14,200 children. This sexual violence disproportionately affects girls, who were 97 per cent of cases from 2016 to 2020”.

Forms of Gender Based Violence

Gender-based violence takes numerous forms: Intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, trafficking for sexual exploitation, female infanticide, and ‘honour’ crimes are common – with intimate partner violence occurring at staggering rates in every country. Girls and women may also experience gender-based violence when they are deprived of nutrition and education.

The following are more forms of Gender-Based Violence

Physical violence

Any act which causes physical harm as a result of unlawful physical force. Physical violence can take the form of, among others, serious and minor assault, deprivation of liberty and manslaughter.
Sexual violence

Any sexual act perfomed on an individual without their consent. Sexual violence can take the form of rape or sexual assault.

Psychological violence

Any act which causes psychological harm to an individual. Pyschological violence can take the form of, for example, coercion, defamation, verbal insult or harassment. A lot more of individuals go to the extent of gas-lighting others thereby debasing their psychology.

Economic violence

Any act or behaviour which causes economic harm to an individual. Economic violence can take the form of, for example, property damage, restricting access to financial resources, education or the labour market, or not complying with economic responsibilities, such as alimony. Most women in Africa have suffered this form of abuse as their husbands deprive them financial freedom in view to keep them constantly under his control.

 Causes of Gender-Based Violence 

The main cause of the violence is the perpetrator him or herself: it is very important to keep in mind that a person who has been affected by gender-based violence is never responsible for the perpetrator’s actions.

There is no single factor that can explain gender-based violence in our societies, but rather a myriad of factors contribute to it, and the interplay of these factors lies at the root of the problem. 

Four types of factors can be identified


LEGAL

ECONOMIC

POLITICAL

Cultural factors

Patriarchal and sexist views legitimise violence to ensure the dominance and superiority of men. Other cultural factors include gender stereotypes and prejudice, normative expectations of femininity and masculinity, the socialization of gender, an understanding of the family sphere as private and under male authority, and a general acceptance of violence as part of the public sphere (e.g. street sexual harassment of women), and/or as an acceptable means to solve conflict and assert oneself.

Religious and historical traditions have sanctioned the physical punishment of women under the notion of entitlement and ownership of women. The concept of ownership, in turn, legitimises control over women’s sexuality, which, according to many legal codes, has been deemed essential to ensure patrilineal inheritance.

Sexuality is also tied to the concept of so-called family honour in many societies. Traditional norms in these societies allow the killing of women suspected of defiling the honour of the family by indulging in forbidden sex or marrying and divorcing without the consent of the family. Norms around sexuality also help to account for the high numbers of homeless LGBT+ young people, and for the prevalence of hate crimes against them, on the grounds that they are considered a “threat” to societal norms. The same norms around sexuality can help to account for the mass rape of women.
 

Legal factors

Being a victim of gender-based violence is perceived in many societies as shameful and weak, with many women still being considered guilty of attracting violence against themselves through their behaviour. This partly accounts for enduring low levels of reporting and investigation.

Until recently, the law in some countries still differentiated between the public and private spaces, which left women particularly vulnerable to domestic violence.

The Istanbul Convention ensures the right for everyone, particularly women, to live free from violence in both the public and the private spheres. While most forms of gender-based violence are criminalised in most European countries, the practices of law enforcement in many cases favour the perpetrators, which helps to account for low levels of trust in public authorities and for the fact that most of these crimes go unreported.

The decriminalisation of homosexuality is still very recent in many societies. While progress has been achieved in many states by adopting equal marriage, this has sometimes led to a backlash, for example by strengthening opinions holding the traditional family to be the union between a man and a woman, or where countries have adopted laws that forbid “homosexual propaganda”.
 

Economic factors

The lack of economic resourcesgenerally makes women, but also LGBT+ people particularly vulnerable to violence. It creates patterns of violence and poverty that become self-perpetuating, making it extremely difficult for the victims to extricate themselves. When unemployment and poverty affect men, this can also cause them to assert their masculinity through violent means.
 

Political factors

The under-representation of women and LGBT+ people in power and politics means that they have fewer opportunities to shape the discussion and to affect changes in policy, or to adopt measures to combat gender-based violence and support equality. The topic of gender-based violence is in some cases deemed not to be important, with domestic violence also being given insufficient resources and attention. Women’s and LGBT+ movements have raised questions and increased public awareness around traditional gender norms, highlighting aspects of inequality. For some, this threat to the status quo has been used as a justification for violence.


Conclusion

Diverse schools of thought have blamed the attitude of most abusers on Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). A person is prone to  IED via both nature and nurture so it can’t be tagged the vital reason why the abuser will continuously and inhumanely abuse people. 
It also advised that governments across the world will enact laws that will punish abusers. 
Proper rehabilitation should be ensured for the abused in order to clear their psychology off the hurt and save them from future hurtful attitudes they may develop.