In their lives, about 35% of women worldwide have been the victim of violence
Human rights violations and the public health epidemic of violence against women make it difficult to combat worldwide problems like HIV/AIDS and poverty. It has no limits of nationality or culture and horrifies the lives of many women. The US must take extensive action to stop violence against women in light of the International Violence Against Women Act. With the passage of this law, the US government has made a major step toward ensuring that women can exercise their fundamental human rights in a setting free from violence.
GBV results from societally imposed gender standards
These are the social norms on the responsibilities of men and women in the society. The males are socialized to be aggressive, unemotional, dominant and controlling. There arise a general view and acceptance of men as superior in the Society. Women, on the other hand, are perceived to be emotional and submissive. These characteristics portray their roles as weak and dependent on men. These social norms have brought about unequal power relationships between the masculine and the feminine. The general shared cultural beliefs define the extents and limits of tolerable social behavior. The social norms determine the degree to which the society values violence or sets it as normal (Palermo et al, 2014). The values of individuals in the community develop based on these patterns. The violence exists across a wide range of forms. They include sexual harassment, domestic violence, stigma, threats, unfair treatment, and oppression. It occurs in many countries across the globe, but the focus here is in the US and India, where it is highly prevalent.
The violence against women and girls has adverse consequent effects for the survivors, their communities, and families
It hinders their ability to access education, earn a living and play active roles in political and social fields. Consequently, it hinders development and leads to the increase in poverty levels. It is not a single domain issue but arises from deeply embedded structural systems of power and inequality. According to (Palermo et al, 2014) there is a very close relationship between gender-based violence and economic empowerment. The percentage of women in the financial sector is wanting. Fear of violence in the workplace infringes on their opportunities to earn income and contribute to the country's GDP. Working women that are violated at home experience days off and lose revenue as a result. Ending gender-based violence boosts a country's economic development.
Organizations involved in curbing Gender Based Violence
Palermo et al, (2014) states that stopping the violence calls upon raising awareness and social engagement. Governmental and non-governmental institutions are actively involved in sensitizing rights for women in the society. Women organizations and governments have worked to control this issue of global importance. However, women still lack access to essential services that they are entitled to access. In response to this, United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in collaboration with UN Women initiated a joint global program to develop guidance to improve the survivors' access to the services (World Health Organization, 2013). Also, it ensures that the quality of the services are up to the task and focus on health, governance, and justice.
UNFPA plays a significant role in instituting sexual and reproductive health programs that address gender-based violence
The effectiveness is based on the fact that health services are among the first services sought out by the survivors of the ordeals. This is a critical role in reaching for women and girls. Also, even women in remote areas are likely to seek maternal health services at a point in their lives (World Health Organization, 2013). This makes healthcare a crucial access point for assistance on violence related issues.
For more than 20 years, the USAID has partnered with non-governmental organizations and governments to strengthen prevention efforts against GBV
Improve services accessed by the survivors who are victims of GBV and increase awareness of the prevalence of the problem and the impact it has on the society and economy as well. USAID has been tirelessly working to respond to and prevent GBV in more than 40 countries across the globe.
Strategies USAID and UNFPA use in the fight against Gender Based Violence
According to the (World Health Organization, 2013), since the year 2012, it has managed to reach out to more than 5 million survivors and provided them with lifesaving interventions. It has also instituted scale-up target innovations, whereby it has awarded more than $17 million to 15 nations through its GBV incentive program (Palermo et al, 2014). For instance, in India, USAID through its GBV funds initiative, supports a program to increase the identification of GBV and give referral, guidance, and counseling to survivors. It achieves this through a mobile application used by front-line health caregivers to assist them to identify the clinical signs of GBV among the women they interact with in their line of duty. After identification, the application gives them a platform where they can then counsel and refer the survivors to trusted support organizations.
In El Salvador, it has supported and established seven assistance centers for GBV victims
They provide services such as counseling and medical treatment to vocational training. These support has mapped them among fully integrated multi-institutional domestic violence service providers in the US. They have resulted in the reduction of impunity and a study in one of the centers showed that out of 99 cases received, 97 of them resulted in convictions.
In some African countries such as Uganda, it has come up with activities
Such as radio serial drama, which is a toolkit that makes use of activity cards, games, and discussion guides to help young groups to understand gender norms and to foster understanding on reproductive health issues. The project also trains village health workers to improve reproductive health services.
Supported programs by UNFPA provide knowledge and information about the women's rights
In addition to medical supplies to cushion the effects of the acts of violence against these women. For instance, in Rwanda, it is working with UN agencies to address the needs of the survivors. UNFPA is also at the forefront in stemming out early marriages and Female genital mutilation which is a prevalent practice in many African communities. It worked at a global level in 135 countries to address GBV and invested over $93 million in 2015 for the purpose of eliminating gender-based violence.
Advocacy Strategies I would take
I would network and build coalitions with organizations that work in line with the issue, in a bid to ensure a multi-sectoral response. As a section of an overall referral mechanism, it would include other doctors and facilities, the police as well as women crisis centers. Networking can result in increased efficiency in service provision. For instance, other organizations may become referral centers to provide the patient with comprehensive support services. Also, I would advocate for the employment of a system for evaluation and monitor the impact of interventions implemented to improve an organization's response to gender-based violence. The system would be very effective in ensuring that services provided are of high quality, which ensures accountability of healthcare givers. I would also work to provide patients and staff with information materials. They would include checklists for colleague nurses on the steps for intervention, posters in public areas and leaflets to inform patients of their legal rights. Some of the patients become victims because they are unaware of their rights. According to (Teofelus, 2013), these materials would reduce the instances by approximately 18 percent, which is a remarkable step to the positive side. Other than the interventions above, I would also push for the provision of adequate and modern infrastructure to that is patient oriented to improve service to the public. Each patient ought to be assessed in private rooms in the absence of the partner. Recordkeeping systems should also be efficient for easy retrieving of data or providing information to the staff concerning the limits of confidentiality that exist. The data storage would also provide reference materials for the staff. Educating staff and building their skills on how to identify and attend to GBV. The target is to create a conducive climate to discuss the issues faced by the victims. I would prefer to spread the training across the board to all employees. The training would feature the familiarizing with the local context to ease communication with the survivors of the ordeals. As a result, the victims would feel at ease to speak up and share their experiences. It would, therefore, be easier to collect data and even put in place preventive mechanisms to avoid future occurrences of the same.
References
Palermo, T., Bleck, J., & Peterman, A. (2014). Tip of the iceberg: reporting and gender-based violence in developing countries. American journal of epidemiology, 179(5), 602-612.
Teofelus, E. (2013). Gender based violence. Sister Namibia, 25(3), 30-31.
World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. World Health Organization.
