International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Do women have human rights? Do children? The United Nations has declared that women and children do have human rights, yet women are disproportionately denied them in the world today: they are beaten to death, burned to death, raped, and tortured at alarming rates. Children also suffer terribly in many parts of the world, as do various minority groups in many areas.

The U.N. recognizes November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It is the beginning of 16 days of activism culminating on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

You know that the United Nations was established in the wake of World War II to help prevent further world wars? Why, then, are they concerned about violence against women? About racial discrimination? About elder abuse?

Wise global leaders have recognized that violence and its close friend denial of human rights are diseases that can spread interminably and infect viciously. One of the most basic steps toward peace and social justice on a global scale is peace and justice (reparative justice, not punitive justice) in the home and the local community. How do we achieve them?

I recently asked students in my family violence seminar what specific, concrete steps THEY could take to reduce family violence. They struggled with the question for several minutes, then provided great answers; for example,

Form a group of people willing to go to the local superintendent of schools and press for anti-violence programs, including anti-family violence programs, in the schools
Talk to our state’s new governor about making anti-violence fliers available at polling places
Donate money to anti-violence causes

How about you? How can you aid in the quest against violence?

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Friday, November 23, 2012, was International Stand Up to Bullying Day, with activities in 25 countries.

November 25 was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a response of the world community to the assassination of three women in the Dominican Republic who dared to become politically active.

Numerous fact sheets provide chilling information about intimate violence, domestic assault, rape, and other atrocities against women by men who are bullies, men who use violence to prove they are “real men.”

Undeniably, being female is a risk factor for violence. So are being disabled, being gay or lesbian, or simply being a different color, religion or ethnicity than the dominant group in a society.

So is being male. Being male can put you at enormous risk of being sent off to wars or killed in myriad other ways by the small minority of people who wield power.

The major incidents of violence in the world are not so much men against women, Muslims against Jews, Jews against Muslims, Christians against non-Christians, or whites against blacks, as they are bullies against weaker opponents.

Bullies take lots of different forms. Disproportionate numbers can be found among the greedy elite who profit from wars and other forms of human misery. They can be found among the desperate and angry poor who cannot envision any alternatives to survival beyond using violence. They can be found in prisons and in the board offices of multinational corporations that sacrifice the well-being and lives of millions in order to increase their profits and their power.

Bullies can also be found among children who hurt pets, torment their siblings, and bully others with impunity. Let’s teach all of our children, as well as the adults in their communities, that bullying is not acceptable. Watch this video to see how bullying can be stopped at the grassroots–in this case by a couple of teenage boys.

Those boys started an anti-violence movement that has reached thousands. What else do you think can be done to stop violence?

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Do we have a right to rights?

Ain’t they a pair: Bullying and violence against women