On March 8, 2013, International Women’s Day, celebrate the role of the women’s movement as a force for human rights (including the abolition of slavery) and nonviolence.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2013 is “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women.”
It is fitting that on February 28, 2013, after considerable delay, the U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval to a renewal of America’s Violence Against Women Act.
According to the Public Affairs Office at the United Nations, “When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.”
A few key historical events:
- On February 28, 1909, promoted by a declaration of the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman’s Day (NWD) was observed in the United States.
- On March 19, 1911, the first International Women’s Day, proclaimed during the 2010 Socialist International meeting, was celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.
- In late February, 1913, as part of a protest against impending war, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day. On March 8, 1917, they engaged in a protest and strike for “Bread and Peace.”
- In December 1977, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a U.N. Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace, which has come to be celebrated annually on March 8. In many countries, but not the United States, International Women’s Day is a national holiday.
- In July, 2010, the U.N. created its UNWomen agency to empower women and promote their human rights.
Among their continuing struggles are women’s efforts on behalf of peace in the Middle East today. See, for example, this video about Israeli and Palestinian women.
Empowering women is a giant step toward embracing and promoting nonviolence.
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology
I watched with pleasure the video of the Palestinian and Israeli women relating to each other with smiles and affection. Alas, it is still a man’s world despite the advances made in granting rights to women, and in a man’s world it seems there must always be dissension and interference and the God-awful use of drones to blast home our country’s point. If a woman were to be elected as our new president –Hilary Clinton, for example –I believe, or at least devoutly hope, the military-industrial complex might not be so successful in orchestrating the next war.
International Women’s Day, a day for women all across the globe to band together with the common goal of ending violence. Most disturbing to me was the fact that 603 million women live in countries that do not consider domestic violence a crime. However, it can be argued that seeing domestic violence, as a crime does not make it go away. For example, in the United States domestic violence is seen as a crime, but women are still being maltreated physically, sexually, and psychologically in large percentages. In fact, there are so many predictors of these behaviors that it quite difficult to prevent violence towards women. For instance, women that find themselves in poverty are at a greater risk for physical maltreatment and unfortunately in the United States there is a very large number of women in poverty. Most disconcerting is the negative remarks very often made about women who do not leave an abusive partner, but there is an ignorance around the establishment of a cycle that becomes almost impossible to get out of. If a woman is in poverty, she is at a great risk to be in a relationship in which she is maltreated, and she may rely on her partner economically or has such a diminished level of self-esteem that she believes no one else would want her, in turn forcing her to stay in the abusive relationship. This is a cycle that many women find themselves wrapped up in and I question whose responsibility is it to stop this from occurring? I do not by any means believe that it is the woman’s fault for getting tangled up in this web, but I do believe that the empowerment of women is of utmost importance. Women can relate to each other and empathize with one another, which brings them that much closer together. When women realize that by having each other to rely on they can take steps towards fulfilling that promise of ending violence against women.
After numerous decades in their fight for equality and justice, women are still not living in a world free of violence and injustices. In fact, much of the violence women face is within the home from their intimate partner, including physical, psychological and sexual domestic violence. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey of 2010 reported that almost one third of women report experiencing some type of physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime. Many women report that even worse than physical abuse is the psychological abuse they suffer from by their intimates. This can include verbal attacks, jealousy, possessiveness, verbal threats, isolation from friends and family, and more. In the same sample previously mentioned, over 40 percent of women experienced some type of physiological maltreatment by their partner in their lifetime, and about 8 percent of women face sexual domestic violence from their partner. These acts of violence leave lasting negative effects on women, including suffering from a number of psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, shame, lower self-esteem, and even suicidal tendencies.
The majority of people in the United States believe that the injustices on women are being helped. While it appears that women are closer to eliminating discrimination in the public eye, they are still facing significant discrimination in other areas. And though the reported rates of domestic violence have shown an overall decrease, the prevailing rates of this maltreatment are still much too high to ignore and demonstrate a major issue in our society.
(Statistics taken from Hynes, Malley-Morrison, and Dutton “Family Violence in the United States: Defining, Understanding, and Combating Abuse”)
The theme for International Women’s Day seems very appropriate for this day and age. “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women.” It seems as though people talk about ending violence, but sufficient action to make a lasting impact rarely cross our paths. It seems that talk is more prevalent than action. With that being said, there have been tremendous strides in awareness and treatment of violence against women, specifically in IPV. There are over 2,000 domestic violence programs in the USA for abused women (Hines, Malley-Morrison, 2013). While this is defiantly a step in the right direction, it seems prevention would be the next area to focus on. Although, because of the nature of abusive relationships and other forms of domestic abuse can be hard to spot, and the victim must be the one to act in order to end the violence. However, taking action is easier said than done. It seems as though we must focus on changing the mindset of both men and women in regards to IPV and violence against women in general. Continuing to empower females and promote equality between both genders, while simple in thought, appears to be one of the factors in aiding prevention of violence and help change the way we raise and socialize men and women. By making strides towards equality both in legislature and mindset, we can then make sure awareness and education can be efficiently utilized to help people sight female abuse and empower them to take sufficient action.
I think one of the most important messages of this video and of International Women’s Day is that both women AND men must unite together to address the issue of violence against women. A very brief clip shows a man and woman shaking hands, as if in agreement to help stop violence against women. Women proved via the feminist movement that they are capable of fighting for and supporting one another’s rights. However, we still live in a “man’s world” where patriarchy dominates so many cultures, especially those in the Western world. Having more men support the movement to end violence against women can only bring more positive attention to the cause.
While much positive progress has been made in shining a light on physical violence against women, men and women alike need to be better educated about the other types of maltreatment that women often encounter. These include stalking, situational violence, psychological abuse and sexual abuse. Though physical abuse may be the easiest for others to recognize on a woman, the other types of maltreatment are less likely to be reported and receive less attention in the media and in research. Much research and support programs are focused on battered women who experience long-term physical violence and in many cases suffer psychological, emotional and sexual abuse at the same time. While it is extremely important we continue on that path, we also need to address the issue of situational violence among couples. This type of violence is more common than battering and both men and women need to step up and address the issue.