Violence Against Women Notes

Acknowledgment of Aboriginal Land

• Acknowledgment that the lecture is taking place on Aboriginal land, specifically the land of the Kaurna people.
• Gratitude for the ability to connect with the land, study, work, and grow.
• Recognition that it always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Recap of Previous Lecture

• Last week's topic: Gendered violence and different types of masculinity.
• Four types of masculinity: Hegemonic, subordinate, complicit, and marginalized.

Assignment and Assessment Information

• Approximately 55 students are enrolled in the topic.
• Emphasis on the importance of reviewing lectures, instructions, and rubrics.
• Encouragement to attend tutorials for discussions on assignments and structures.
• Flexibility to switch tutorial times if needed.
• Importance of reading through announcements and discussions on Flow for assignment-related questions and case study details.
• Students are required to find a case, write it in a case study format, and connect it to structural, gender-based violence against vulnerable people.

Introduction to Violence Against Women

• Discussion on how worldviews shape understanding of violence.
• Exploration of whether violence against women and gendered violence are the same.
• Violence against women impacts more than just women.
• Examination of the relationship between gender inequality and violence against women.
• Use of the wheel of privilege and power to recognize privileges and relate to others as social workers.

Worldview and Understanding of Violence

• Reference to the book Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
• Recognition that violence against women occurs in all communities, including one's own.
• Despite 91% agreement that violence against women is a problem in Australia, only 47% agree that it is a problem in their own community.

Personal Anecdotes and Experiences

• Sharing of personal experiences working with women rescued from sex trafficking in Mumbai, India.

Facts on Sexual Violence

• One in two women aged 24 to 30 have experienced some form of sexual violence.
• Women who have experienced sexual violence are less likely to complete year 12.
• They are 30 to 45 percent more likely to face financial stress and higher health costs.
• The lecturer's Ph.D. research focuses on how childhood sexual abuse impacts adult relationships in South Asian women.
• Participants in the study reported various chronic health issues like ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, and chronic migraines.
• Lack of research on women's bodies and medications for diverse populations leads to delayed diagnoses and increased healthcare costs.

Workplace Sexual Harassment Facts

• Forty-six percent of migrant and refugee women have experienced at least one form of sexual harassment at the workplace in the last five years.
• Harassment is often perpetrated by men in senior positions.
• Women in temporary or casual roles are more likely to experience workplace harassment.
• Thirty-seven percent of women told no one of their experience.
• Eighty-eight percent of those who did only sought informal support from family, friends, and colleagues.
• Media portrayal of victims deters women from reporting abuse due to scrutiny.

Facts on First Nations

• First Nations women still experience harm as a result of family and domestic violence.
• The Closing the Gap target aims to reduce family violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children by at least 50% by 2031, but there is no update on that progress.
• The full extent of domestic and family violence is difficult to determine due to barriers to reporting, inadequate screening by service providers, incomplete identification of indigenous people in data sets, and problems with existing data.
• The needs of First Nations people have to be where they are the ones who are leading and owning their own research as well.

Facts on Gaza

• (As of March 8, 2024) 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza could not obtain basic services and suffered from malnutrition.
• Two mothers were killed every hour, and 37 mothers were killed every day.
• 9,000 Palestinian women were killed.

Forms of Violence Against Women

• Various forms and manifestations of violence against women exist, with domestic and family violence being just one aspect of it.
• Violence comprises a spectrum, including interpersonal violence such as domestic and family violence, sexual violence, sexual harassment, exploitation, and trafficking.
• Other forms include forced and child marriage, violence perpetrated in the name of honor, practices like prenatal sex selection, and female infanticide.

Honor Killing

• Honor killing is a response to bringing shame to the family, resulting in death.
• Examples:
  • A case of honor killing in Australia involved an immigrant family where a girl was beaten to death for being in love with someone from a different caste.
  • In India, violence against minorities, especially Muslims, is prevalent, with instances of honor killings justified under the guise of \"love jihad.\"
• Organizations exist in India that provide safe houses for couples and women experiencing violence.

Dowry Related Violence

• Dowry-related violence continues to occur, even among privileged socioeconomic classes.

Other Forms of Violence

• Female genital mutilation and acid throwing are also forms of violence against women.
• Acid is easily accessible in some countries, leading to acid throwing attacks on women.

Violence Against Women and Gender Inequality

• Intertwined web involving individual interpersonal relationships, institution and communities, and wider culture.
• Individual thoughts, experiences, and understanding.
• Internalized misogyny and its impact on decisions.

Gendered Disparities in Unpaid Labor

• Women disproportionately shoulder the burden of unpaid labor compared to men.
• In households with children, women typically handle up to 60% of household tasks.
• Gender disparities in unpaid labor translate into economic inequalities between men and women, impacting retirement and inheritance.
• Household inequality stemming from unequal distribution of unpaid labor perpetuates and reinforces systemic gender disparities in various spheres of life, including the economic and social grounds.

Gender Equality and Relationships

• Discussions about relationships inherently involve discussions about gender dynamics.
• Heteronormativity plays a significant role in shaping societal norms around relationships.
• Dominant values and beliefs regarding the family's role and function in society heavily influence perceptions of gender within relationships.
• The relationship between gender inequality and violence against women is not linear.
• Nordic countries like Sweden, Denmark, etcetera, are widely recognized as leaders in gender equality. Yet, they also exhibit a very high rate of domestic and family violence, which is known as the Nordic paradox

Visibility and Privacy

• In the context of family life, privacy is juxtaposed with societal expectations and state involvement.
• Direct state involvement in family affairs is normalized through taxation systems and welfare policies.
• Violence occurring in public spaces, such as that experienced by sex workers or the homeless, is often highly visible and intersects with concerns about public order.
• Violence within private spaces may go unnoticed or unaddressed due to its lack of visibility.
• The Giselle Pelicote case in France highlights the issue of violence within private spaces, with 18 men involved in the abuse but none reporting it.

Prevalence of Sexual Violence

• Stats on sexual violence since the age of 15 are provided.

Key Questions

• Are violence against women and gendered violence the same thing?
  • Technically not, as gender violence factors in violence against men as well.
  • Separating the two is important to see the problem for the problem.
• Does violence against women impact only women?
  • No, it impacts children, young boys, and can be a generational issue.
  • Young girls may repeat the pattern in their own relationships due to trauma.
• What does gender inequality have to do with violence against women?
  • Gender inequality lays the foundation for oppression and normalizes violent behavior.

Upcoming Topics

• Next week's topic: Violence and vulnerability.
• Discussion on age and ability-related privilege, beliefs and assumptions, and how impacts of violence vary across groups.

Barbie Movie Monologue

• Reading of a monologue from the Barbie movie on the impossible standards and contradictions faced by women.