Understanding Gender Based Violence

This edited book brings together the voices and insights of survivors, practitioners, educators and researchers working to prevent and minimise the harms of gender-based violence, with a specific focus on equipping health professionals and social workers to support victim-survivors. Practitioners can, and often do, play a critical role supporting victim-survivors of gender-based violence; however, this work has historically been carried out by those in specialist roles and there remains gaps and inconsistencies in education and training for qualifying and post-qualified professionals. This book makes a valuable contribution to addressing these gaps. It provides practitioners with a comprehensive resource on contemporary debates and research in the field of gender-based violence. To support readers’ learning, each chapter contains reflective exercises and draws clear links between research, theory and practice. The book is structured into four sections. The first section considers the ‘rise’ of gender-based violence in policy and practice, and questions to what extent this once marginalised perspective has become embedded in health and social work training and education. The second section of the book explores some of the expressions, contexts and implications of gender-based violence. Each chapter considers the role of health care professionals and social workers and invites the reader to reflect on their (potential) role in these areas. The third section of the collection focuses on one of the most common forms of gender-based violence that health and social work professionals are likely to encounter: physical, psychological, sexual and financial violence by an intimate partner, who may also be a parent. Finally, the fourth section showcases innovative responses to supporting victim-survivors and challenging systems that contribute to gender inequality. The intention of this book is to equip health care professionals and social workers with critical, practical and ethical resources to help them work with victim-survivors and, where possible, engage in transformative efforts to end the harms of gendered inequalities and violence.

This book aims to bring together the pioneering research on gender based violence that has been conducted by the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. Topics discussed include violence in young people’s relationships, prostitution policy, disabled women’s experiences of domestic violence, men as victims of domestic violence, feminist movements and methodological concerns. This book will have a wide appeal, as each individual chapter builds on and contributes to existing global and national concerns about gender based violence. The book starts with an exploration of key theoretical, conceptual and methodological issues in researching gender based violence, then moves on to look at specific national (UK) based empirical studies. The final section brings together a wide range of research from diverse contexts, ranging from China, Iran, India and refugee camps in Rwanda. The book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, students and practitioners who have an interest in this area, as well as for policymakers around the world. It will also be of interest to the general reader who wants to learn more about what is now a highly topical issue.

Gender-based sexual violence is a widespread public health problem affecting people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds. Although both women and men experience sexual trauma across countries and contexts (e.g., military vs. civilian), prevalence rates of sexual trauma are higher among women, and women and girls may often be targeted due to their sex and rigidly held beliefs about gender roles. Experiences of sexual violence can have a myriad of negative outcomes for survivors, including implications for mental health and physical health difficulties. The content of this book encompasses a foundation for understanding the impact of gender-based sexual violence, common mental and physical health difficulties associated sexual assault, and trauma-informed care. This volume also addresses evidence-based psychotherapies for trauma survivors as well as emotional difficulties that may affect providers who work with this population (e.g., burnout, secondary traumatic stress). After reading this book, the authors hope readers have a deeper understanding of gender-based sexual violence and can meaningfully apply the practical skills provided throughout this text, whether in support of loved ones or in their daily work. Finally, the authors hope all readers experience decreased stigma, including self-stigma, related to gender-based violence.

The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Violence provides both a comprehensive and authoritative state-of-the-art overview of the latest research in the field of gender and violence. Each of the 23 specially commissioned chapters develops and summarises their key issue or debate including rape, stalking, online harassment, domestic abuse, FGM, trafficking and prostitution in relation to gender and violence. They study violence against women, but also look at male victims and perpetrators as well as gay, lesbian and transgender violence. The interdisciplinary nature of the subject area is highlighted, with authors spanning criminology, social policy, sociology, geography, health, media and law, alongside activists and members of statutory and third sector organisations. The diversity of perspectives all highlight that gendered violence is both an age-old and continuing social problem. By drawing together leading scholars this handbook provides an up-to-the-minute snapshot of current scholarship as well as signposting several fruitful avenues for future research. This book is both an invaluable resource for scholars and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom and will be of interest to students, academics, social workers and other professionals working to end gender-based violence.

Violence against women is one factor in the growing wave of alarm about violence in American society. High-profile cases such as the O.J. Simpson trial call attention to the thousands of lesser-known but no less tragic situations in which women's lives are shattered by beatings or sexual assault. The search for solutions has highlighted not only what we know about violence against women but also what we do not know. How can we achieve the best understanding of this problem and its complex ramifications? What research efforts will yield the greatest benefit? What are the questions that must be answered? Understanding Violence Against Women presents a comprehensive overview of current knowledge and identifies four areas with the greatest potential return from a research investment by increasing the understanding of and responding to domestic violence and rape: What interventions are designed to do, whom they are reaching, and how to reach the many victims who do not seek help. Factors that put people at risk of violence and that precipitate violence, including characteristics of offenders. The scope of domestic violence and sexual assault in America and its conequences to individuals, families, and society, including costs. How to structure the study of violence against women to yield more useful knowledge. Despite the news coverage and talk shows, the real fundamental nature of violence against women remains unexplored and often misunderstood. Understanding Violence Against Women provides direction for increasing knowledge that can help ameliorate this national problem.

This book offers new perspectives on gender-based violence in three regions where the subject has been taboo in everyday discourse often due to patriarchal cultural norms that limit women’s autonomy. The contributions to this book provide rare insight into not only the levels and the socio-demographic determinants of domestic violence, but topics ranging from men’s attitudes toward wife beating; domestic violence-related adolescent deaths, and women’s health problems due to sexual and physical abuse. With a comprehensive introduction that provides a comparative international research framework for discussing gender-based violence in these three unique regions, this volume provides a key basis for understanding gender-based violence on a more global level. Part I, on Africa, covers men’s attitudes towards domestic violence, the impact of poverty and fertility, the association between adolescent deaths and domestic violence, and the link between domestic abuse and HIV. Part II, on the Middle East, covers the importance of consanguinity on domestic violence in Egypt and Jordan, the effects of physical abuse on reproductive health, and the link between political unrests and women’s experience and attitudes towards domestic violence. Part III, on India, shows how sexual abuse puts women at risk of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections, as well as the role of gender norms in wife abuse and the role of youth aggressive behavior in nonconsensual sex. With such a deep and broad coverage of factors of intimate partner abuse, this book serves as a reference document for researchers, decision-makers, and organizations that are searching for ways to reduce gender-based domestic violence. This book is of interest for researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, as well as Sociology, Social Work, Public Health and Human Rights.

Gender-based violence undermines the core values of human rights on which the Council of Europe is based and to which its member states have subscribed Gender-based violence refers to any type of harm that is perpetrated against a person or group of people because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Gender-based violence can be sexual, physical, verbal, psychological (emotional), or socio-economic and it can take many forms – from verbal violence and hate speech on the internet, to rape or murder. Statistics show that gender-based violence affects women disproportionately. Gender-based violence undermines the core values of human rights on which the Council of Europe is based and to which its member states have subscribed. It is a problem in all member states and affects millions of women and men, young people and children, regardless of their social status, cultural or religious background, sexual orientation or gender identity. Preventing, addressing and combating gender-based violence are intrinsic to human rights education, youth work and non-formal learning activities which support young people on their path to autonomy as active citizens, mindful of everyone’s human rights. The issues that are addressed through this work are all relevant to young people’s lives, and they relate directly to the world in which young people live. Gender Matters is a manual to address gender-based violence with young people. It provides insights into gender and gender-based violence, background information to key social, political and legal issues and, especially, educational activities and methods for education and training activities with young people. Gender Matters should be used as a practical resource in guiding young people to become more aware of their own actions and the actions of others. It contributes to a better understanding of how to stay safe and secure and how to support those who have experienced violence in their lives. It will not suffice to eradicate gender-based violence. However it is a necessary and urgent step towards dignity for all.

The nature of human security is changing globally: interstate conflict and even intrastate conflict may be diminishing worldwide, yet threats to individuals and communities persist. Large-scale violence by formal and informal armed forces intersects with interpersonal and domestic forms of violence in mutually reinforcing ways. Gender, Violence, and Human Security takes a critical look at notions of human security and violence through a feminist lens, drawing on both theoretical perspectives and empirical examinations through case studies from a variety of contexts around the globe. This fascinating volume goes beyond existing feminist international relations engagements with security studies to identify not only limitations of the human security approach, but also possible synergies between feminist and human security approaches. Noted scholars Aili Mari Tripp, Myra Marx Ferree, and Christina Ewig, along with their distinguished group of contributors, analyze specific case studies from around the globe, ranging from post-conflict security in Croatia to the relationship between state policy and gender-based crime in the United States. Shifting the focus of the term “human security” from its defensive emphasis to a more proactive notion of peace, the book ultimately calls for addressing the structural issues that give rise to violence. A hard-hitting critique of the ways in which global inequalities are often overlooked by human security theorists, Gender, Violence, and Human Security presents a much-needed intervention into the study of power relations throughout the world.