Violence against women, children, and men – This book covers the entire syllabus of “Community Health Nursing” prescribed by the Universities of Bangladesh- for Basic and diploma nursing students. We tried to accommodate latest information and topics.
This book is examination friendly setup according to the teachers’ lectures and examination’s questions. At the end of the book previous university questions are given. We hope in touch with the book students’ knowledge will be upgraded and flourished. The unique way of presentation may make your reading of the book a pleasurable experience.
Violence against women, children, and men
Meaning of violence
According to World health Organization (WHO), “The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.”
Violence against women
The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
Forms of violence against women
There are many forms of violence against women, such as
- sexual, physical, or emotional abused by an intimate partner;
- physical or sexual abuse by family members or others;
- sexual harassment and abuse by authority figures (e.g teachers, police officers or employers);
- trafficking for forced labour or sex;
- such traditional practices as forced or child marriages, dowry-related violence;
- honour killings, when women are murdered in the name of family honour;
- systematic sexual abuse in conflict situations.
Health effects of violence
Health consequences can result directly from violent acts or from the long-term effects of violence.
- Injuries- Physical and sexual abuse by a partner closely associated with injuries.
- Death- due to violence, suicide, female infanticide and maternal death from unsafe abortion. Sexual and reproductive health violence against women is associated with sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, unintended pregnancies, gynecological problems, induced abortions, and adverse pregnancy outcomes (miscarriage, low birth weight, fetal death).
- Mental health- violence and abuse increase risk of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep difficulties, eating disorders and emotional disorders.
- Physical health- violence can result in many health problems, such as headache, back pain, abdominal pain, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, limited mobility, and poor overall health.
- Risky behaviours- sexual abuse of a child with higher rates of sexual risk-taking (such as first sex at an early age, multiple partners and unprotected sex), substance use, and additional victimization. Each of these behaviours increases risks of health problems
Risk factors of sexual violence against women
- lower levels of education (perpetration of sexual violence and experience of sexual violence);
- a history of exposure to child maltreatment (perpetration and experience);
- witnessing family violence (perpetration and experience)
- antisocial personality disorder (perpetration);
- harmful use of alcohol (perpetration and experience);
- harmful masculine behaviours, including having multiple partners or attitudes that
- condone violence (perpetration); community norms that privilege or ascribe higher status to men and lower status to women;
- low levels of women’s access to paid employment; and
- low level of gender equlity (discriminatory laws, etc.).
Prevention and response to violence against women
1. Increasing education and opportunities for women and girls.
2. Improving self-esteem and negotiating skills of women and girls.
3. Reducing gender inequities in communities.
4. Work with teenagers to reduce dating violence
5. Programmes that support children who have witnessed intimate partner violence.
6. Mass public education campaigns
7. Work with men and boys to change attitudes towards gender inequities and the acceptability of violence.
8. Advocacy for victims, better awareness of violence and its consequences, among health workers, and wider knowledge of available resources for abused women (including legal assistance, housing and child care) – all these can lessen the consequences of violence.
Violence against children
Violence against children includes all forms of violence against people under 18 years old. For infants and younger children, violence mainly involves child maltreatment (i.e. physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect) at the hands of parents and other authority figures. Boys and girls are at equal risk of physical and emotional abuse and neglect, and girls are at greater risk of sexual abuse. As children reach adolescence, peer violence and intimate partner violence, in addition to child maltreatment, become highly prevalent.
Violence against children affect sustainable development
Violence against children significantly undermines the social and economic development of communities and nations. The global economic costs resulting from physical, psychological and sexual violence against children are estimated to be as high as $7 trillion – roughly 8 per cent of global GDP annually. Increased public expenditure on child welfare, special education, and medical and psychological services for victims account for some of these costs.
Victims coping with the psychosocial and physical effects of violence also face barriers participating in public life and fulfilling their potential. Violence, particularly in schools, undermines children’s ability to learn, with consequences for their education and employment prospects that can pass through generations.
Role of health sector to prevent violence against children
The health sector can play a vital role in responding to and preventing violence against children. This role includes helping to
- identify abuse early,
- providing victims with treatment, and
- referring children to appropriate and informed care.
The health sector must also work to prevent violence from ever taking place. And as the public health approach to prevention clearly stipulates, the first step in preventing violence is to understand it and the health sector has a key role in helping us to measure and understand violence against children.
Violence against men
Violence against men consists of violent acts that are disproportionately or exclusively committed against men or boys. Men are overrepresented as both victims and perpetrators of violence. Sexual against men is treated differently than that committed against women in most societies and is largely unrecognized by law. Violence against men is committed by both males and females, but 65.3% of male homicides are committed by males.
See More: