In two days’ time, on March 8, we will
be commemorating International Women’s Day (IWD). What will you do to mark
this important day?
The IWD adopts different local themes in different countries, but the UN is
clear about the priority for this year: “A
promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”.
It is not hard to understand why. According to UN Women, “Seven out of 10 girls worldwide will be
beaten, raped, abused or mutilated in their lifetime”.
The violence starts at birth, and in India and China, even before that.
“Gendercide” — defined as “the
systematic killing of members of a specific sex” — is prevalent in
these two countries. It accounts for 200 million “missing” girls — aborted,
killed or abandoned simply because they are girls.
Although the words “It’s a girl!” should be an exclamation of joy, as Evan
Grae Davis says in his documentary of the same name, these are, instead,
the three deadliest words in some countries. In a TED talk
(itsagirlmovie.com), he points out that 200 million — the number that could
be determined since records began a few decades ago — is more than the
total number of fatalities in World Wars I and II, plus all the major
genocides of the 20th century.
And the stats are particularly bad in Asia, Evan adds. The traditional
preference for boys means the one-child policy in China has led to forced
abortions, female infanticide and the underreporting of female births.
As a result, there are now 37 million more men than women in China, and 1
million more boys are born per year than girls. Unsurprisingly, sex
trafficking has reached epidemic proportions, with 70,000 child bride
kidnappings.
In 2011, the Thompson Reuters Foundation conducted a global survey of
perception of threats ranging from domestic abuse and economic
discrimination to female feticide, genital mutilation and acid attacks.
Afghanistan came first on the list, followed by Congo, Pakistan, India and
Somalia. In South Asia, fears of gang rapes, honor killings, dowry deaths
and human trafficking are also common.
Since the Arab Spring uprisings, cases of sexual harassment, abuse and rape
have skyrocketed in Morsi’s Egypt. Protests against this rise have been to
no avail, being met instead with more abuse, harassment and, yes, even more
rape.
But don’t think that Western nations are free from sexual violence; far
from it. In the US, 12 million women and men are subjected to sexual
violence annually. Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) shows that 24 people become victims of rape or physical violence
every minute. In fact, nearly one in five women have been raped; 80 percent
of female rape victims were raped at the age of 25 or younger; 97 percent
of rapists don’t spend a single day in jail; and 99 percent of rapists are
men. Rape is considered one of the most underreported crimes in the US.
How is Indonesia doing? Although the reform era promised democratization
and respect for human rights, violence against women (VAW) has, in fact,
increased since 1999. Of all forms of violence against women in Indonesia,
sexual violence has increased the most, especially domestic violence and
sexual assaults in public places (especially on public transportation
vehicles). In some cases, the violence has been carried out by state
officials: regents, mayors and lawmakers.
Dian, a Jakarta researcher just returned from Makassar, Sulawesi, told me
there were cases there of girls being raped and impregnated by their own
fathers. Amazingly, this is not regarded as a criminal or violent act. Even
if such cases are reported to the authorities, they are dealt with
according to kekeluargaan (“familyness”) — a great Indonesian catch-all
term that means to resolve conflicts by avoiding conflict. In this case,
the baby is cared for by the family, a husband is found for the rape victim
… and the father-rapist walks away, scot-free.
And what about the recent case of a deputy principal at a Jakarta high
school who threatened to fail a female student if she refused him oral sex?
He is just one of many public officials in Indonesia who use their power to
abuse women.
Is there any hope of this situation ever ending? Perhaps. Remember the
outrageous statement made by Mohammad Daming Sunusi, a justice candidate
for the Supreme Court, who said the death penalty should not be applied to
rapists, as both the rapist and the victim may have enjoyed the
intercourse? The public outcry over what he considered a joke spelled the
end of his career. Damning indeed!
In India, however, it took the fatal rape of 23-year-old physiotherapy
student in December 2012 in Delhi (dubbed the “rape capital” of India) to
shake the nation out of its complacency about women’s rights.
In the US, the Violence against Women Act (VAWA) was passed on Feb. 28. It
had been adopted in 1994 and had expired in 2011. The new act is a revised
version, and includes new protections for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender) community.
On Valentine’s Day this year, there were marches in Afghanistan, human
chains in Bangladesh, a debate in the British House of Commons and various
events in countries from Australia, Germany and Kyrgyzstan to Somalia to
support the “One Billion Rising” campaign. This is a global campaign
initiated by Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler. Check out its
“Billionaire of Moments” Facebook page.
All this is good news, but it will take more than just campaigns and laws
to fight the global scourge that holds back not just women but also the
nations to which they belong. We are all responsible for VAW. It starts
with us, not just once a year on IWD, but every day.
So, join the global movement, say no to violence (saynotoviolence.org), and
keep the promise! ●
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