Rachel Jewkes

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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. [1] 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 [2] and the WHO's Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee for HIV-AIDS (STAC-HIV). [1] 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. [1] 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. [3] Jewkes moved from England to South Africa in 1994. [4]

Contents

Recent research

A UN-sponsored study coauthored by Jewkes on male violence against women in Asia and the Pacific reported that a high number of men admitted to sexual violence. [5] [6] Survey researchers have questioned the plausibility of some of the findings of this study. [7] In 2013 Jewkes also published on depressive symptoms after sexual assault, [8] the epidemiology of child homicides [9] and intimate femicide-suicide. [10]

Publications

Sexual violence

Homicide and femicide

Women's health

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence</span> Use of physical force or psychological power with the intent to inflict harm

Violence is often defined as the use of physical force or power by humans to cause harm and degradation to other living beings, such as humiliation, pain, injury, disablement, damage to property and ultimately death, as well as destruction to a society's living environment. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines 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." There is growing recognition among researchers and practitioners of the need to include violence that does not necessarily result in injury or death.

Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted sexual act—or attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion—or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of their relationship to the victim. This includes forced engagement in sexual acts, attempted or completed, and may be physical, psychological, or verbal. 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 also be used in the context of the killing of one's own girlfriend. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. Conversely, the killing of a husband or boyfriend is called mariticide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Femicide</span> Murder of women or girls because of their sex

Femicide or feminicide is a term for the murdering of women, often because of their gender. Femicide can be perpetrated by either sex but is more often committed by men. This is most likely due to unequal power between men and women as well as harmful gender roles, stereotypes, or social norms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against women</span> Violent acts against women and girls

Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), is violent acts primarily committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against persons specifically because they are of the female gender, and can take many forms.

Human rights in Mexico refers to moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour in Mexico, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. The problems include torture, extrajudicial killings and summary executions, police repression, sexual murder, and, more recently, news reporter assassinations.

Rape by gender classifies types of rape by the sex and gender of both the rapist and the victim. This scope includes both rape and sexual assault more generally. Most research indicates that rape affects women disproportionately, with the majority of people convicted being men; however, since the broadening of the definition of rape in 2012 by the FBI, more attention is being given to male rape, including females raping males.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rape</span> Type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse without consent

Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability, or is below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes casually inaccurately used interchangeably with the term sexual assault.

Sexual violence refers to a range of completed or attempted sexual acts in which the affected party does not or is unable to consent. Theories on the causes of sexual violence are numerous and have come out of many different disciplines, such as women's studies, public health, and criminal justice. Proposed causes include military conquest, socioeconomics, anger, power, sadism, traits, ethical standards, laws, and evolutionary pressures. Most of the research on the causes of sexual violence has focused on male offenders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Factors associated with being a victim of sexual violence</span>

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:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estimates of sexual violence</span>

Estimates of sexual violence are surveys of victims of sexual violence crime that have been undertaken to estimate the prevalence of sexual violence. The prevalence of sexual violence differs from the reported sexual violence statistics according to the law enforcement agencies due to the dark figure of crime and under-reporting of crime. The surveys use a common methodology to aid comparability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic violence</span> Abuse of members of the same household

Domestic violence is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. The term "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, financial abuse, or sexual abuse, or combinations of these. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual violence in South Africa</span>

The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is among the highest recorded in the world. Police statistics of reported rapes as a per capita figure has been dropping in recent years, although the reasons for the drop has not been analysed and it is not known how many rapes go unreported. More women are attacked than men, and children have also been targeted, partly owing to a myth that having sex with a virgin will cure a man of HIV/AIDS. Rape victims are at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS owing to the high prevalence of the disease in South Africa. "Corrective rape" is also perpetrated against LGBT men and women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin cleansing myth</span> Belief that having sex with a virgin girl cures a man of HIV/AIDS or other STDs

The virgin cleansing myth is the belief that having sex with a virgin girl cures a man of HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases.

Violence against men comprises violent acts that are disproportionately committed against men or boys. Men are overrepresented as both victims and perpetrators of violence. Violence against women is the opposite category, where acts of violence are targeted against the female gender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Africa</span>

The culture, evolution, and history of women who were born in, live in, and are from the continent of Africa reflect the evolution and history of the African continent itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual violence in Papua New Guinea</span>

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is often labelled as potentially the worst place in the world for gender-based violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic violence in South Africa</span>

Domestic violence in South Africa has been viewed as a taboo subject until recently. In 2012, just over one-third of violent crimes committed against women ended in criminal prosecution. Legislation has been passed to help improve the quality of life for victims of abuse and to prevent further abuse from taking place. Although the movement against domestic violence is a relatively new movement, it has been making great strides in the country since the 1990s.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual assault of LGBT persons</span>

Sexual assault of LGBT people, also known as sexual and gender minorities (SGM), is a form of violence that occurs within the LGBT community. While sexual assault and other forms of interpersonal violence can occur in all forms of relationships, it is found that sexual minorities experience it at rates that are equal to or higher than their heterosexual counterparts. There is a lack of research on this specific problem for the LGBT population as a whole, but there does exist a substantial amount of research on college LGBT students who have experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "South African Medical Research Council Contact Page" . Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  2. Gould, Chandre. "On the Record: Professor Rachel Jewkes" (PDF). Institute for Security Studies. ISS. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  3. "Prof Rachel Jewkes receives NRF 'A' rating". University of Witwatersrand. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  4. Shea, Rachel (14 September 2013). "UN Study Looks at High Rate of Rape". Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  5. "Almost a quarter of men 'admit to rape in parts of Asia'". BBC News. 10 September 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  6. Alexander, Ruth (2 November 2013). "How Many Men in Asia Admit to Rape?". BBC News. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  7. Gutbrod H, Erlich A (December 2013). "Implausible incarceration data need to be addressed". The Lancet Global Health. 1 (6): e334–5. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(13)70142-6 . PMID   25104595.
  8. Abrahams N, Jewkes R, Mathews S (July 2013). "Depressive symptoms after a sexual assault among women: understanding victim-perpetrator relationships and the role of social perceptions". African Journal of Psychiatry. 16 (4): 288–93. doi: 10.4314/ajpsy.v16i4.39 . PMID   24051569.
  9. Mathews S, Abrahams N, Jewkes R, Martin LJ, Lombard C (August 2013). "The epidemiology of child homicides in South Africa". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 91 (8): 562–8. doi:10.2471/BLT.12.117036 (inactive 5 December 2024). PMC   3738312 . PMID   23940403.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2024 (link)
  10. Mathews S, Abrahams N, Jewkes R, Martin LJ, Lombard C, Vetten L (July 2008). "Intimate femicide-suicide in South Africa: a cross-sectional study". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 86 (7): 552–58. doi:10.2471/blt.07.043786 (inactive 5 December 2024). PMC   2647481 . PMID   18670666.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2024 (link)