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Activism against violence against women aims at decreasing violence disproportionally committed against women.
Activism refers to "a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct, vigorous action, especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue.". [1] In the activism for Violence Against Women (VAW), the objectives are to address and draw public attention to the issues of VAW as well as seek and recommend measures to prevent and eliminate this violence. [2] Many scholarly articles suggest that the VAW is considered a violation of human rights, [3] [4] [5] as well as a public health issue. [6]
In order to better comprehend the anti-violence movements against VAW, there is a need also to understand the general historical background of feminist movements in a holistic manner. Many feminist scholars have categorized these movements into three waves [7] according to their different beliefs, strategies and goals. [8]
The emergence of the first women's movements, or so-called "first wave" of feminism, dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Europe. During this period, feminist movements developed in the context of industrialization and liberal politics, which triggered the rise of feminist groups concerned with gaining equal access and opportunity for women. [7] : 1 This wave marks a period of "suffrage, independence, rights to nationality, work and equal pay" for women. [9]
The second wave of feminism was a series of movements from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. It was noted by feminist scholars that this wave could be characterized as a period of women's liberation and the rise of a branch of feminism known as "radical feminism". [7] : 7–8 This wave of feminism emerged in the context of the postwar period [7] : 8 in society, where other mainstream movements also played a large role; for instance, the civil rights movements, [9] which meant to condemn capitalism, imperialism and the oppression of people based on the notions of race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation. [7] : 9 This wave marks a period of equal rights at home and in the workplace as well as developmental rights [9] for the purposes of people of different races, ethnicities, economic statuses and gender identities.[ citation needed ]
The third wave feminism is the newest wave of feminism, led by young feminists whose understanding and context are of the globalized world order and the technological advances that have come with it. This wave is a transition from the fall of communism [7] : 17 to more complex issues of new kinds of 'warfare'[ clarification needed ], threats, and violence. This new wave also "embraces ambiguity" [7] : 16 and introduces a feminist approach of 'intersectionality' that includes the issues of race, gender, age, and class. [7] : 17 Other than that, the third wave marks a period of feminism dealing with identity politics, and body politics as well as the issues of violence. [10]
The VAW movement was initiated in the 1970s when some feminist movements started to bring the discussion on the issue of violence into the feminist discourse [11] and that many other groups, on the national and international levels, had attempted to push for the betterment of women through lobbying of the state officials and delegates, demanding the conferences on 'gender issues' [9] and thus made the VAW known to a wider range of the population. Therefore, to put this into the theoretical context, VAW can be categorized along with the second and third waves of feminism, as they share a focus on violence.[ citation needed ]
VAW activist movements come in many forms, operating at international, national and local levels [2] and utilising different approaches based on Health and Human Rights frameworks. [12] The movements stemmed mostly from social movements and groups of women who see the need to create organisations to 'lobby' their governments to establish "sanctuaries, shelters" and provision of services that help protect these victims, also called "battered women", from acts of violence. The term "battered women" was used in a number of VAW movements and had its root in the early stage of organizing efforts to tackle the problem of violence against women in many regions of the world such as Africa, Asian Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. [13] : 94 The activist organizations against VAW, both with and without the support of their governments, attempted to develop "innovative efforts" to assist battered women by providing them services such as shelters and centers; drafting and lobbying governments to include the recognition and language of VAW into national legislations and international human rights instruments; advocating to raise the awareness of people via education and training sessions; forming national, regional and international networks to empower the movements; organizing demonstrations and gathering more efforts to end violent acts against women. [13] : 88–89 In addition, many women's rights activist groups see the issue of violence against women as a central focus of their movements. Many of these groups take a human rights approach as the integral framework of their activism. These VAW movements also employ the idea that "women's rights are human rights", transform the concepts and ideas of human rights, which are mostly reckoned to be "Western concepts" and 'vernacularize them into the concepts that can be understood in their local institutions. [14] : 39
On the local or national level, the VAW movements are diverse and differ in their strategic program of intervention. The strategies used in a number of the movements focus on the individual level with the emphases on individuals, relationships and family. Also, many of them take the 'preventive' as an approach to tackle the issues on the ground by encouraging people to "reexamine their attitudes and beliefs" in order to trigger and create fundamental changes in these "deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors". [6] Despite the fact that these strategies can be life changing and helpful to those who participate over a long time frame, the effects on societal level seem to be restricted and of minimal effects. In order to achieve the objectives of the movement, many activists and scholars argue that they have to initiate changes in cultural attitudes and norms on a communal level. [15] An example of activism on the local level can be seen in South Africa. The movements of VAW in this context employ a strategy that is based on the 'prevention' approach, which is applicable on individual and societal levels: in families and communities. This movement encourages the individuals and small populations to rethink their attitudes and beliefs in order to create a possibility to alter these deep-rooted beliefs and behaviours, which lead to the acts of violence against women. [16] Another example is the local level movement in East Africa that employs the prevention approach, which is applicable on a communal level. They call this a "raising voices" approach. This approach employs an 'ad hoc' framework that can be used alongside the individual approach where the strategy is to aggravate the status quo issues onto the individuals' and communities' perception and establish a common ground of interests for them to push for the movement, all in a short time period. [16] In addition, on the domestic level, there seem to be many 'autonomous movements.' [3] Feminist movements (for VAW) can be understood as "a form of women's mobilization that is devoted to promoting women's status and well-being independently of political parties and other associations that do not have the status of women as their main concern". [3]
Several regions of the world have come together to address violence against women. In South America, the Southern Cone Network Against Domestic Violence has worked extensively to address sexual and domestic violence since 1989. The Latin American and Caribbean Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, formed in 1990, includes representation from twenty-one different countries and has been instrumental in increasing the visibility of VAW. [13] : 88 In September 1999, the Heads of States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met and drafted the "Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children," a document condemning violence against women and children, and resolved a set of 13 methods of addressing it, reaching into the legal; social, economic, cultural, and political; social service; and education, training, and awareness building sectors. [17]
On the transnational or regional level, the anti-violence movements also deploy different strategies based on the specificities of their cultures and beliefs in their particular regions. On this level, the activist movements are known as "transnational feminist networks", or TFNs. [3] : 556 The TFNs have a significant effect, like the autonomous movements on the national level, in shaping sets of policies as well pushing for the recognition and inclusion of language of VAW in the United Nations human rights mechanisms: the international human rights agreements. [3] Their activities are ranging from lobbying the policy makers; organizing demonstrations on the local and regional levels; to creating institutional pressure that could push for changes in the international institutional measures. [3]
On an international level, the movements that advocate for women's rights and against VAW are the mixture of (civil society) actors from domestic and regional levels. The objectives of these VAW movements focus on "creating shared expectations" within the domestic and regional levels as well as "mobilizing numbers of domestic civil society" to create "standards in global civil society". [3] : 556 The global women's movement works to transform numbers of international conventions and conferences to "a conference on women's rights" by pushing for a "stronger language and clearer recognition" of the VAW issues. In addition, the United Nations also plays a vital role in promoting and campaigning for the VAW movements on the international level. For instance, in 2008 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon initiated and launched a campaign called "UNiTE to End Violence against Women". This campaign "calls on governments, civil society, women's organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls". [18] Moreover, this campaign also announces every 25th of the month to be "Orange Day" or "a day to take action to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls". [18]
Each level of activism is intertwined and has the common purpose to end violence against women. Activism on local levels can significantly affect national, transnational, and international levels as well. In a scholarly article on Combating Violence Against Women, the authors illustrated from their research analysis on how the norms of international society can shape and influence policy making on the domestic or national level and vice versa. They argue that there are three mechanisms which have effects on the making of national policies as well as global agreements and conventions: "1) the influence of global treaties and documents such as CEDAW on women's rights" on the national policies, "2) the influence of regional agreements on VAW (particularly after certain tipping points are reached)" on both domestic policies and international conventions and "3) regional demonstration effects or pressure for conformity captured as diffusion within regions" on the international norms and agreements. [3]
In November 2021, Iamhere international, a group focused on increasing counter-speech on social media, started a 16-day campaign all forms of gender-based violence, particularly cyber violence. [19] [20]
Artists worldwide have addressed violence against women, highlighting the unique manifestations of violence across cultural and political histories. For example, Argentinian Italian artist Natalia Saurin (2020) responds to the Italian newspaper's use of love narratives to justify partner homicide in her mixed media postcard series, "Ti Amo Troppo". [21] In the United States, street artist Sophie Sandberg encourages individuals to chalk their experiences of harassment in the places in which they occurred. [22] Augmented reality comic "Priya's Shakti" addresses victim-blaming attitudes in India in response to the 2012 Delhi gang rape of a middle-caste college-educated woman. Through the utilisation of Hindu mythologies, "Priya's Shakti" tells the story of a rape survivor in a controversial heroic role inviting Indian society to reckon with patriarchal societal views. [23] Artworks addressing violence against women span across artistic mediums and illuminate the issue of violence against women and provoke change in laws and government. In "And So I Stayed" [24] (2021), a documentary film addressing unjustly incarcerated survivors of domestic violence in the United States, co-directors Natalie Pattillo, and Daniel Nelson confront the lack of legal understanding of abused women. As a result of the film, Pattillo and Nelson assembled a short film for the court case of Tanisha Davis, a survivor of domestic violence who was unable to receive leniency for the killing of her boyfriend despite years of physical and emotional abuse. [25] In 2021, Tanisha Davis was released from prison, thanks to the "Domestic Violence Survivor's Justice Act" [26] and Pattillo and Nelson's nuanced portrait of Davis through their short film.
The "Violence Against Women Art Map" came to fruition in 2021 as part of a Pennsylvania State University research study by Lauren Stetz to visualize artists' responses to violence against women. Featuring 24 artists globally, the map highlights the diverse ways in which women experience violence as a result of intersectional identity, culture, and history. The interactive digital map was co-created through a participatory action arts-based research methodology, using artist interviews and their artworks. Through visual mapping, artists addressing violence against women through their work connected transnationally for the purpose of coalition building. [27]
Second-order sexual harassment (SOSH) is the harassment suffered by those who stand with and support victims of violence against women. [28] Addressing this type of sexual harassment is necessary to protect victims of gender violence. Based on scientific evidence, the most effective strategies for addressing gender violence involve promoting bystander intervention, [29] [30] highlighting the importance of safeguarding individuals who offer support to the victims. To empower victims to report and alleviate their sense of isolation, society must ensure the protection of those actively supporting them in breaking the silence. [31] There is pioneer legislation in the world regarding legal issues. In 2020 the Catalan Parliament passed the first legislation in the world against this form of violence under the name of Second-Order Violence. [32] In 2013, the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights. [33] The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms. [34] The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is also a global initiative with a target to eliminate all forms of violence against women. [35]
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that societies prioritize the male point of view and that women are treated unjustly in these societies. Efforts to change this include fighting against gender stereotypes and improving educational, professional, and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women.
Pro-feminism refers to support of the cause of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who actively support feminism and its efforts to bring about the political, economic, cultural, personal, and social equality of women with men. A number of pro-feminist men are involved in political activism, most often in the areas of gender equality, women's rights, and ending violence against women.
Feminist sociology is an interdisciplinary exploration of gender and power throughout society. Here, it uses conflict theory and theoretical perspectives to observe gender in its relation to power, both at the level of face-to-face interaction and reflexivity within social structures at large. Focuses include sexual orientation, race, economic status, and nationality.
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), is violent acts primarily or exclusively committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against women or girls specifically because they are female, and can take many forms.
The men's movement is a social movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, primarily in Western countries, which consists of groups and organizations of men and their allies who focus on gender issues and whose activities range from self-help and support to lobbying and activism.
Michael G. Flood is an Australian sociologist and a professor at the Queensland University of Technology School of Justice. Flood gained his doctorate in gender and sexuality studies from the Australian National University. His areas of research are on violence against women, fathering, pro-feminism, domestic violence, the effects of pornography on young people, safe sex among heterosexual men, men's movements as a backlash to the feminist movement, men's relationships with each other and with women, homophobia, men's health, and gender justice. He is a regular contributor to and is regularly quoted in the media on these and other issues.
Global feminism is a feminist theory closely aligned with post-colonial theory and postcolonial feminism. It concerns itself primarily with the forward movement of women's rights on a global scale. Using different historical lenses from the legacy of colonialism, global feminists adopt global causes and start movements which seek to dismantle what they argue are the currently predominant structures of global patriarchy. Global feminism is also known as world feminism and international feminism.
A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought.
Feminism has affected culture in many ways, and has famously been theorized in relation to culture by Angela McRobbie, Laura Mulvey and others. Timothy Laurie and Jessica Kean have argued that "one of [feminism's] most important innovations has been to seriously examine the ways women receive popular culture, given that so much pop culture is made by and for men." This is reflected in a variety of forms, including literature, music, film and other screen cultures.
Feminist ethics is an approach to ethics that builds on the belief that traditionally ethical theorizing has undervalued and/or underappreciated women's moral experience, which is largely male-dominated, and it therefore chooses to reimagine ethics through a holistic feminist approach to transform it.
Feminism in Thailand is perpetuated by many of the same traditional feminist theory foundations, though Thai feminism is facilitated through a medium of social movement activist groups within Thailand's illiberal democracy. The Thai State claims to function as a civil society with an intersectionality between gender inequality and activism in its political spheres.
The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's liberation, reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The movement's priorities have expanded since its beginning in the 1800s, and vary among nations and communities. Priorities range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country, to opposition to the glass ceiling in another.
The feminist movement in Malaysia is a multicultural coalition of women's organisations committed to the end of gender-based discrimination, harassment and violence against women. Having first emerged as women's shelters in the mid 1980s, feminist women's organisations in Malaysia later developed alliances with other social justice movements. Today, the feminist movement in Malaysia is one of the most active actors in the country's civil society.
Indigenous feminism is an intersectional theory and practice of feminism that focuses on decolonization, Indigenous sovereignty, and human rights for Indigenous women and their families. The focus is to empower Indigenous women in the context of Indigenous cultural values and priorities, rather than mainstream, white, patriarchal ones. In this cultural perspective, it can be compared to womanism in the African-American communities.
Fourth-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began around the early 2010s and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women, the use of Internet tools, and intersectionality. The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and the marginalization of women in society.
Feminism in South Africa concerns the organised efforts to improve the rights of the girls and women of South Africa. These efforts are largely linked to issues of feminism and gender equality on one hand, and racial equality and the political freedoms of African and other non-White South African ethnic groups on the other. Early feminist efforts concerned the suffrage of White women, allowing them to vote in elections beginning from 1930s, and significant activism in the 1950s to demand equal pay of men and women. The 1980s were a major turning point in the advancement of South African women, and in 1994, following the end of the apartheid regime, the status of women was bolstered by changes to the country's constitution. Since the end of apartheid, South African feminism is a contribution associated with the liberation and democratization of the country, however, the movement still struggles with the embedded conservative and patriarchal views within some segments of South African society.
White feminism is a term which is used to describe expressions of feminism which are perceived as focusing on white women but are perceived as failing to address the existence of distinct forms of oppression faced by ethnic minority women and women lacking other privileges. Whiteness is crucial in structuring the lived experiences of white women across a variety of contexts. The term has been used to label and criticize theories that are perceived as focusing solely on gender-based inequality. Primarily used as a derogatory label, "white feminism" is typically used to reproach a perceived failure to acknowledge and integrate the intersection of other identity attributes into a broader movement which struggles for equality on more than one front. In white feminism, the oppression of women is analyzed through a single-axis framework, consequently erasing the identity and experiences of ethnic minority women the space. The term has also been used to refer to feminist theories perceived to focus more specifically on the experience of white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied women, and in which the experiences of women without these characteristics are excluded or marginalized. This criticism has predominantly been leveled against the first waves of feminism which were seen as centered around the empowerment of white middle-class women in Western societies.
Feminism of the 99% is a contemporary, grassroots, radical feminist movement, which recognises intersectionality and advocates activism for and by all women - including those who have been overlooked by other feminist movements. It was proposed by a collective of prominent American feminists in an appeal published in Viewpoint Magazine in February 2017, and built upon the mobilisation of women seen in the 2017 Women's March in January. The appeal simultaneously called for an International Women's Strike on 8 March 2017. It is a successor to the accumulated intellectual legacy of feminist movements such as radical feminism, Marxist feminism, Black feminism and transnational/decolonial feminism, and asserts that gender oppression is not caused by a single factor, sexism. They insist that it is rather a multifaceted product of the intersections of sexism, racism, colonialism and capitalism.
Carceral feminism is a critical term for types of feminism that advocate for enhancing and increasing prison sentences that deal with feminist and gender issues. The term criticises the belief that harsher and longer prison sentences will help work towards solving these issues. The phrase "carceral feminism" was coined by Elizabeth Bernstein, a feminist sociologist, in her 2007 article, "The Sexual Politics of the 'New Abolitionism'". Examining the contemporary anti-trafficking movement in the United States, Bernstein introduced the term to describe a type of feminist activism which casts all forms of sexual labor as sex trafficking. She sees this as a retrograde step, suggesting it erodes the rights of women in the sex industry, and takes the focus off other important feminist issues, and expands the neoliberal agenda.
Violence against women are acts of violence committed against women.
