Queen Elizabeth Andreas
Violence against women and girls (VAWGs), also known as gender-based violence (GBV), is any harmful act that is perpetrated primarily against women. It manifests in five (5) different forms: 1. Sexual violence such as rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, 2. Physical violence such as hitting, slapping, and beating. 3. Emotional violence or psychological abuse. 4. Economic violence (denial of resources). 5. Harmful traditional practices such as forced /child marriages and female genital mutilation. Violence against women and girls remains a critical public health concern and the most persistent and pervasive human rights violation in Namibia.
It is connected with the unequal distribution of power between women and men. It remains hidden in a culture of silence as survivors fear for their safety or being stigmatised. Gender-based violence affects men and women. However, women and girls constitute the majority of victims. More than one in three women aged 15 and more has experienced physical and/or sexual violence globally.
Violence against women and girls has profound effects on women and girls, their families, communities, and societies at large. GBV undermines the health, dignity, security and body autonomy of its victims. Victims also suffer sexual and reproductive health consequences including forced/unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, miscarriages, and sexually transmitted infections.
More so, victims also do experience mental health consequences such as depression, suicide ideation and attempt, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Unaddressed health consequences of VAWGs could limit women and girls’ ability to actively participate in formal and informal institutions and benefit from development programmes that are aimed to leverage women’s economic empowerment, overcome gender gaps, and support professional and satisfactory career paths.
Sexual inequities place the burden of GBV on women and girls, and their sexual reproductive health and rights. Masculinity norms support men’s use of violence to discipline and dominate women and girls. Men feel entitled to use coercion and aggression to meet their sexual desires. Harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation reinforce the perception that women’s and girls’ sexuality is mainly for producing children and for men’s pleasure.
Reproductive empowerment is key for women and girls to attain their sexual and reproductive health rights. Reproductive empowerment is a process whereby less powerful women and girls gain more power and control over their sexuality. It encompasses the women and girls’ ability to make decisions about their sexual health, refuse unwanted sexual advances, decide on when to have children, and the number and spacing of children. It also entails the right to choose any method of contraception and advocate for one’s sexual desires and interests, free of violence and coercion.
Ending violence against women and girls is critical to improving the sexual reproductive and health outcomes for women and girls.
There are various National SRHR /GBV policies, laws and guidelines in place to curb the incidences of violence which are as well aligned with the International Human Rights treaties such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Beijing Declaration and its Plan of Action, Maputo Protocol, SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, SADC Model law on GBV.
However, gaps remain in the capacity of ministries, communities and agencies to engage in participatory planning and gender-responsive budgeting. To end violence against women and girls, there is a need to strengthen the multi-sectoral mechanisms and current legal frameworks, bolster linkages to civil society organisations and increase finance to SRHR/GBV programming.
Such a multi-sectoral approach and concerted efforts from all stakeholders will accelerate progress towards ending GBV incidences.