Violence against women has been described as “perhaps the most shameful rights violation, and the most pervasive.” Increasingly we are learning that violence significantly effects women’s physical and psychological health. Millions of girls and women suffer from violence and its consequences because of their sex and their unequal status in society. Violence against women (often called gender-based violence) is a serious violation of women human rights.
Women who have experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence suffer a range of health problems, often in silence. Females of all ages are victims of violence, impart because of their limited social and economic power compared with men. While men also are victims of violence, violence against women are characterized by its high prevalence within the family, its acceptance by society; and its serious long-term impact on women’s health and well-being. The United Nations has defined violence against women as “any set of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or private life. Globally, at lest one in three women has experienced some form of gender-based abuse during her lifetime. Violence against girls and women can begin before birth and continue throughout their lives into old age. Women are reluctant to discuss abuse and may accept it as part of their role.
The various forms of violence against women and their prevalence are described as under:
Between 12 and 25 percent of women have been forced by an intimate partner or ex-partner to have sex at some time in their lives.
Like many other developing countries and developed countries of the world violence against women are on the rise in Bangladesh also. A recent report (October ’12) says that there has been, a constant rise in violence against women in Bangladesh.
The government’s mass awareness programme against such violence, as well as other initiatives has failed to provide the much-needed social safety net for women, alleged women activities.
According to a study by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP), a leading rights organisation, 410 women were raped in the past 10 months, most of them were gang raped. The rights group has compiled reports of crime against women, from more than a dozen national newspaper.
According to it, 89 rape victims had died between January and September this year. They were mostly gang raped, in 119 such incidence, across the country this year. Another study carried out by the National Domestic Women Workers Union (NDWWU) on killing of domestic workers in 2012, shows that three domestic workers were raped by the relatives of their masters, between January-August this year. Rights activists allege that owing to social obligations and legal, loopholes, violence against women has increases alarmingly in Bangladesh over the years.
A total of 1,836 women died last year (2011) as a result of violence and various forms of repressions according to a report of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association. Among them, 569 died in domestic violence, 281 for dowry and 153 died following rape and sexual abuse. Besides, 101 domestic help were killed by their employers while four died in political violence. Another 2,989 women were victims of repression.
The findings of the report showed that violence against women increased sharply in 2011 compared to 2010, when a total of 1,180 women and girls were killed and 1,757 felt victim to repression.
Bangladeshi women usually faces 5 kinds of violence:
Physical violence- It includes all aggressive acts inflicted on the body of a victim by an aggressor, such as pinching, beating, pushing, pulling the hair, burning, throwing acid etc.;
Sexual violence- It includes physical attack on victims and rape;
Psychological violence- This type of violence is committed by using psychological weapons such as verbal threats of violence, use of abusive language, excessive control, curtailing of movement, verbal insult, threat of divorce and so on;
Workplace violence- Even at the workplace women are ignored, ridiculed, deprived of financial and maternity benefits and face sexual harassment;
Social violence- Socially derailed young boys also often tease the school and college going girls. Sometimes these situations push the victims to commit suicide.
Increasingly we are learning that violence significantly effects women’s physical and psychological health which include among others physical injuries ranging from cut injuries to deep wounds and burn including acid burn, genital and non-genital injuring during rape, affecting victims with STDs and HIV, risk of unintended, pregnancy which may result in death to the foetus and the mother during illegal and unsafe abortion.
Direct health effects of rape: Include increased stress and concern about health. Rape not only increases a women’s risk of specific types of mental health problems, but also leads to general stress, anxiety and worry. Chronic concern can negatively affect health.
A traumatic event like rape has been directly associated with substance abuse, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. These disorders may be associated with victim’s overall neglect of her health, such as avoiding adequate health care.
Compiled by Dr M R Bhuiyan
Source: Various studies and newspaper reports