Gender-based
Violence: Some Theoretical Considerations
The social construction of “womanhood”, i.e. the gender role of women has
historically defined women’s role in a given society, which usually connotes
a derogatory and negative position of women. While men and women are biologically
different, their social roles are constructed based on this biological difference.
The prescribed roles of women which are perceived as being entirely “women’s
work” support and reinforce women’s domestication through various rituals
and cultural practices. Women are, therefore seldom treated as “human beings”
and do not receive equal treatment in society as men do.
The nature of gender-based violence may be multifaceted and multi-dimensional.
Gender-based abuse and discrimination is often sanctioned or tolerated by
society that perceives it as a means of teaching “unruly” wives or daughters
to be obedient. The occurrence of gender-based violence does not depend
on the level of advancement of a particular society but exists in all types
of societies, be it industrial, non-industrial or even post-industrial.
It is only the intensity and the number that varies in this respect. Sexual
abuse, rape, marital rape, infanticide and discrimination at the workplace
due to gender – all are general features faced by women everywhere in the
world. The perpetrators of such acts are however not social outcasts, but
near and dear ones. On the other hand, as women are generally treated like
“properties” of a family or community, dishonouring a woman is equated to
dishonouring the family she belongs to. Therefore, women may face violence
both from her internal and external domain.
Gender-based Violence: Definition
It is not easy to define the term “gender-based violence”. Physical abuse
against women is often justified by society itself where it is identified
as a question of male dignity. Rape is often used as a method and tool to
torture and uproot certain groups of people from a designated area. We have
seen the purposeful use of rape as a military weapon to oust Muslims from
Bosnia Herzegovina, where there were reports of rapists being recruited
by the Serbs. Women are subject to mandated virginity tests, forced prostitution,
abortion and genital mutilation.
While, the term “violence” is often equated with physical violence, gender-based
violence may take various forms like physical, sexual and psychological.
The term encompasses a broader sense, which includes all forms of violence
carried out against women. In this respect, the Asia-Pacific forum on Women,
Law and Development (APWLD) has defined gender-based violence to be any
act “involving use of force/coercion with an intent of perpetuation/promotion
of hierarchical gender-relations in all social structures: family, community,
work place and society”.2
However, the most comprehensive definition is the one adopted by the Declaration
on the Elimination of Violence against Women at the General Assembly of
the UN (Resolution 48/104), which from the very outset crosses the threshold
between private and public violence. It declares:
“‘Violence against women’ means 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 acts, coercion or arbitrary
deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”.3
The Declaration, in Article 2, proceeds to define the issue more concretely:
“Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited
to, the following:
(a) physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family,
including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related
violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional
practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to
exploitation;
(b) physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general
community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation
at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women
and forced prostitution;
(c) physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned
by the State, wherever it occurs.”4
Gender-based Violence and the United Nations:
Violence against women has been a global phenomenon from time immemorial
varying only in terms of severity and manifestations. It is a gross violation
of the human rights of women and has gained such importance through the
constant lobbying of women activists’ worldwide. With the recognition of
women’s unpaid contribution in the economy and the need to incorporate women’s
perspectives in development planning, women’s issues gradually came to the
forefront of decision-making procedure.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 already contained the
principle of equality of the human race, but largely failed to achieve it
due to the deeply embodied unequal relationship between men and women starting
from the cultural-social to all other spheres of human life. In paragraph
11 of the Forward Looking Strategies (FLS) for the Advancement of Women,
taken up at the Third World Conference on Women and Development at Nairobi
in 1985, the term equality was defined as –
“Equality is both a goal and a means whereby individuals are accorded equal
treatment under the law and equal opportunities to enjoy their rights and
to develop their potential talents and skills so that they can participate
in national political, social and cultural development, both as beneficiaries
and as active agents. For women in particular, equality means the realisation
of rights that have been denied as a result of cultural, institutional,
behavioural and attitudinal discrimination”.5
The issue of gender-based violence has also been a “taboo” subject for discussion
at any level and even among women themselves. Although issues like wife
battering-burning, female foeticide and infanticide, rape, incest, trafficking
and forced prostitution of women and girl children are human rights violations
they were taken up by the United Nations at the policy level much later.
Even the FLS of the Nairobi Conference pronounced very little about gender-based
violence. However, the FLS made a significant connection between gender-based
violence at the personal level and the use of violence in international
relations between states by saying “violence against women exists in various
forms in everyday life in all societies. … Such violence is a major obstacle
to the achievement of peace and other objectives of the (United Nations)
Decade (for Women)”.6
The magnitude of the issue was undertaken within the UN system and soon
after the Nairobi Conference, the subject became one of the priority issues
on the agenda of the intergovernmental Commission on the Status of Women
and in the work of the Division for the Advancement of Women. The first
concrete outcome of the effort was a comprehensive book, Violence against
Women in the Family, published in 1980. This work was in fact followed by
another work by the Commission on the Status of Women to the UN Economic
and Social Council in 1988 on Efforts to Eradicate Violence against Women
within the Family and the Society. Throughout the 1980s, attention on the
issue of gender-based violence was being rapidly drawn at the level of policy
planners and the issue was picked up both at the UN General Assembly and
the Security Council. The first General Assembly resolution that directly
concerned the issue was taken up in 1985 on an initiative of the Seventh
UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of the Offenders.
The Resolution 40/36, which highlighted the issue of “Domestic Violence”,
pronounced about “battered family members” and the “offenders”.
However, the most significant progress in this respect was defining the
scope of gender-based violence in 1993.
Historically, the rape of women in war has drawn occasional attention by
the international community. The incident of rape during war is usually
considered an inevitable by-product of a larger phenomenon. Thus, although
reports of mass rape of women in Bosnia Herzegovina were revealing to the
international community, it was still argued whether rape and other forms
of sexual abuses during wartime fall within the broader jurisdiction of
universal human rights. The UN Security Council, on the other hand, took
a significant step by recognising wartime rape as a criminal offence. The
Security Council on December 18, 1992, at the Resolution 798, unanimously
condemned the rape of women in wartime. Rape of women has always been a
general feature of wars but was seldom taken into cognisance by any international
body. In May 1993, the Council also decided to establish an international
tribunal to try the violators of human rights, including those who committed
massive, organised and systemic detention and rape of women.
|
Table
1: Selected Conventions Pertaining to Women's Issues |
| Adopted |
Convention
(till 1993) |
In Force |
Ratification |
| 1949 |
Convention
for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and the
Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others |
1951 |
68 |
|
1951
|
Equal
Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value |
1953 |
120 |
| 1952 |
Convention
on the Political Rights of Women |
1954 |
104 |
| 1958
|
Discrimination
in Respect of Employment and Occupation |
1960
|
118 |
| 1960
|
International
Convention against Discrimination in Education |
1962 |
82 |
| 1962
|
Convention
on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age of Marriage, and
Registration of Marriages |
1964 |
41 |
| 1979
|
Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women |
1981
|
131 |
| 1981
|
Convention
concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment
for Men and Women Workers: Workers with Family Responsibilities |
1982
|
20
|
|
|
