The Global Epidemic of Violence Against Women

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In today’s global society violence against women is a grave issue of epidemic proportions. “Violence against women takes a variety of forms, all of which are violations of the fundamental rights of women,(50 Nnadi)” and the unequal position of women compared to men directly relates to violence against women, including sexual abuse (UN).Through this patriarchy women’s lack of individual rights and freedoms has been the largest correlating aspect to violence against women. Some key examples of how a lack of women’s rights has created ideal circumstances for violence against women to take over include Crimes of Honor, Genital Manipulation, Femicide, Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence, Widowhood Practices, Human Trafficking, and Sex Selective Abortions. All of these factors of violence are, “embedded in unequal power relations between men and women hinged on patriarchal learning’s of society” (49 Nnadi).
The Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Laws (CIMEL) and International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) describe Crimes of “Honor” here to encompass;
“[A] variety of manifestations of violence against women, including “honour killings,” assault, confinement or imprisonment, and interference with choice in marriage, where the publicly articulated “justification” is attributed to a social order claimed to require the preservation of a concept of “honour” vested in male (family and/or conjugal) control over women and specifically women’s sexual conduct: actual, suspected or potential. (524 Cusack)”
Although the meaning above is well written and covers much of the issues associated with crimes of “Honor” the concept of honor can be seen as employed not only by regulating women’s sexuality and sexual be...

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...bal society. Without proper reforms and new societal constructs little will change for this epidemic.

Works Cited

Peterman, Amber, PhD., Tia Palermo PhD., and Caryn Bredenkamp PhD. "Estimates and Determinants of Sexual Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo." American Journal of Public Health 101.6 (2011): 1060-7.ProQuest. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Nnadi, Ine. "An Insight into Violence Against Women as Human Rights Violation in Nigeria: A Critique." Journal of Politics and Law 5.3 (2012): 48-56. ProQuest. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Watts, Charlotte, and Cathy Zimmerman. "Violence Against Women: Global Scope and Magnitude." The Lancet 359.9313 (2002): 1232-7. ProQuest. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Cusack, Simone and Rebecca J. Cook. "Honour": Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence against Women (review). Human Rights Quarterly 29.2 (May 2007): 524-33. Muse. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

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