Related Research Articles
Violence is "the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy". Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation."
Women's health differs from that of men in many unique ways. Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Often treated as simply women's reproductive health, many groups argue for a broader definition pertaining to the overall health of women, better expressed as "The health of women". These differences are further exacerbated in developing countries where women, whose health includes both their risks and experiences, are further disadvantaged.
Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, regardless of the relationship to the victim. It occurs in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread, and is considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common human rights violations.
Uxoricide is the killing of one's own wife. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context of the killing of one's own girlfriend. The killing of a husband is called mariticide.
Femicide or feminicide is a hate crime which is broadly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female", with definitions varying based on cultural context. In 1976, the feminist author Diana E. H. Russell first defined the term as "the killing of females by males because they are female." A spouse or partner is responsible in almost 40% of homicides involving a female victim. In addition, femicide may be underreported. Femicide often includes domestic violence and forced or sex-selective abortions.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is domestic violence by a current or former spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner. IPV can take a number of forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic and sexual abuse. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines IPV as "any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors." IPV is sometimes referred to simply as battery, or as spouse or partner abuse.
Domestic violence occurs across the world, in various cultures, and affects people across society, at all levels of economic status; however, indicators of lower socioeconomic status have been shown to be risk factors for higher levels of domestic violence in several studies. In the United States, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 1995, women reported a six times greater rate of intimate partner violence than men. However, studies have found that men are much less likely to report victimization in these situations.
Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) deals with sexual violence within the context of domestic violence. Intimate partner sexual violence is defined by any unwanted sexual contact or activity by an intimate partner in order to control an individual through fear, threats, or violence. Women are the primary victims of this type of violence.
One of the most common forms of sexual violence around the world is that which is perpetrated by an intimate partner, leading to the conclusion that one of the most important risk factors for people in terms of their vulnerability to sexual assault is being married or cohabiting with a partner. Other factors influencing the risk of sexual violence include:
Domestic violence is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in relationships or between former spouses or partners. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, or sexual abuse. It can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and other violent physical abuse, such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that may result in disfigurement or death, and includes the use of technology to harass, control, monitor, stalk or hack. Domestic murder includes stoning, bride burning, honor killing, and dowry death, which sometimes involves non-cohabitating family members. In 2015, the United Kingdom's Home Office widened the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control.
Pregnancy when coupled with domestic violence is a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) where health risks may be amplified. Abuse during pregnancy, whether physical, verbal or emotional, produces many adverse physical and psychological effects for both the mother and fetus. Domestic violence during pregnancy is categorized as abusive behavior towards a pregnant woman, where the pattern of abuse can often change in terms of severity and frequency of violence. Abuse may be a long-standing problem in a relationship that continues after a woman becomes pregnant or it may commence in pregnancy. Although female-to-male partner violence occurs in these settings, the overwhelming form of domestic violence is perpetrated by men against women. Pregnancy provides a unique opportunity for healthcare workers to screen women for domestic violence though a recent review found that the best way in which to do this is unclear. Reducing domestic violence in pregnancy should improve outcomes for mothers and babies though more good quality studies are needed to work out effective ways of screening pregnant women.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to domestic violence:
Life expectancy in Nicaragua at birth was 72 years for men and 78 for women in 2016. While communicable diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika continue to persist as national health concerns, there is a rising public health threat of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, which were diseases previously thought to be more relevant and problematic for more developed nations. Additionally, in the women's health sector, high rates of adolescent pregnancy and cervical cancer continue to persist as national concerns.
Domestic violence in India includes any form of violence suffered by a person from a biological relative but typically is the violence suffered by a woman by male members of her family or relatives. Although Men also suffer Domestic violence, the law under IPC 498A specifically protects only women. Specifically only a woman can file a case of domestic violence. According to a National Family and Health Survey in 2005, total lifetime prevalence of domestic violence was 33.5% and 8.5% for sexual violence among women aged 15–49. A 2014 study in The Lancet reports that although the reported sexual violence rate in India is among the lowest in the world, the large population of India means that the violence affects 27.5 million women over their lifetimes. However, an opinion survey among experts carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the most dangerous country in the world for women.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is often labelled as potentially the worst place in the world for gender-based violence.
Rachel Jewkes is Executive Scientist: Research Strategy in Office of the President and former Unit Director of the Gender and Health Unit of the South Africa Medical Research Council, based in Pretoria, South Africa. She also serves as Director of the What Works to Prevent Violence Global Programme, as well as of the Secretary of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative. She has been a member of the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence in South Africa and the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board and the WHO's Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee for HIV-AIDS (STAC-HIV). Jewkes studied Medicine, receiving a Masters in Community Medicine (MSc) and a Doctorate in Medicine (MD) from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London. She is an Honorary Professor in the faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and is an A-rated researcher with the South African National Research Foundation. Jewkes moved from England to South Africa in 1994.
Domestic violence in Kenya constitutes any harmful behavior against a family member or partner, including rape, assault, physical abuse, and forced prostitution. Domestic violence in Kenya reflects worldwide statistics in that women are the overwhelming majority of victims. Over 40% of married women in Kenya have reported being victims of either domestic violence or sexual abuse. Worldwide, over 30% of "ever-partnered women" aged 15 and older have experienced physical or sexual partner violence. The distinct factors and causes of this high percentage have often not been studied due to lack of data.
Emily M. Douglas is a political scientist conducting research on child and family well-being, the child welfare system, fatal child maltreatment, domestic violence and divorced families, and corporal punishment. She is a full professor and the chair of the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy at Montclair State University.
Charlotte Helen Watts, is a British mathematician, epidemiologist, and academic. Since 2006, she has been Professor of Social and Mathematical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She was also the Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK's Department for International Development from 2015 to 2020. Her research interests include HIV and gender-based violence.
Heidi Stöckl is a German researcher and sociologist at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Her research investigates gender-based violence and human trafficking. She has previously worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and with the World Health Organization on the design and implementation of strategies to end violence against women.
References
- ↑ Abraham Rodriguez, Activists from Nicaragua tell SF audience of country's violent turmoil, Mission Local, September 7, 2018.
- ↑ Cameron Dodd, Woman who successfully sued county sheriff's office released from ICE custody.
- 1 2 3 4 George Washington University, The Global Womens Institute, Mary Ellsberg, PhD
- ↑ Mary Carroll Ellsberg, Candies in Hell: Research and Action On Domestic Violence Against Women in Nicaragua, Umeå Universitet, 2000.
- ↑ John Lantigua, "Mary Ellsberg: As a North American, I find it extremely painful that my government is financing the atrocities that surround me every day", The Washington Post, May 31, 1987.
- ↑ Mary Ellsberg, A Massacre, Not a Coup: A Response to Misinformation on Nicaragua, Pulse, August 3, 2018.
- ↑ Ellsberg M, Peña R, Herrera A, Liljestrand J, Winkvist A. Candies in Hell: Women's Experiences of Violence in Nicaragua. Social science & medicine. 2000 Dec 1;51(11):1595-610.
- ↑ Mary Ellsberg and Manuel Contreras, No safe place: A lifetime of violence for conflict-affected women and girls in South Sudan, Global Womens Institute, 2017
- ↑ Garcia-Moreno C, Jansen HA, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts CH. Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. The lancet. 2006 Oct 7;368(9543):1260-9.
- ↑ Abramsky T, Watts CH, Garcia-Moreno C, Devries K, Kiss L, Ellsberg M, Jansen HA, Heise L. What factors are associated with recent intimate partner violence? Findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. BMC public health. 2011 Dec;11(1):109.
- ↑ Ellsberg M, Jansen HA, Heise L, Watts CH, Garcia-Moreno C. Intimate partner violence and women's physical and mental health in the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence: an observational study. The Lancet. 2008 Apr 5;371(9619):1165–72.