Gender-based violence is a convoluted concept with no single explanation or solution. Abiodun Raufu, Omolade Olomola, and Edidiong Mendie bring to light the different dimensions of gender-based violence in Africa, such as the challenges of patriarchy, the limits of the law, and the cultural acceptance of violence against women in the private sphere. In spite of the different forms and causes of violence, it is universally recognized as a destructive force that has extensive consequences for both individuals and society. In order to combat violence, it is important to understand its root causes and foundational issues to facilitate workable solutions through a range of strategies, including education, prevention, and intervention programs. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in criminology, sociology, legal studies, African studies, and more.
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.
The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have led to a rise in gender-based violence. In this paper, we explore the economic consequences of violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa using large demographic and health survey data collected pre-pandemic. Relying on a two-stage least square method to address endogeneity, we find that an increase in the share of women subject to violence by 1 percentage point can reduce economic activities (as proxied by nightlights) by up to 8 percent. This economic cost results from a significant drop in female employment. Our results also show that violence against women is more detrimental to economic development in countries without protective laws against domestic violence, in natural resource rich countries, in countries where women are deprived of decision-making power and during economic downturns. Beyond the moral imperative, the findings highlight the importance of combating violence against women from an economic standpoint, particularly by reinforcing laws against domestic violence and strengthening women’s decision-making power.
Based on original empirical research, this book explores retributive and gender justice, the potentials and limits of agency, and the correlation of transitional justice and social change through case studies of current dynamics in post-violence countries such Rwanda, South Africa, Cambodia, East Timor, Columbia, Chile and Germany.
Representing the work of some of the best-known theorists and researchers in masculinities and feminism in South Africa, this highly original work is comprised of a collection of papers presented at the "From Boys to Men" conference held in January 2005. Based on rich ethnographic studies in South Africa and elsewhere in in the continent, this collection addresses the argument that because South African feminine studies are fraught with problems, boys and men should be included in all research and intervention work studying gender equality and transformation. Chapters examine several issues of the African male psyche, such as varying identifiers of manhood, teenage masculinity, paternal responsibility, and the impact of HIV/AIDS in the region.
South African women's still-increasing presence in local, provincial, and national institutions has inspired sweeping legislation aimed at advancing women's rights and opportunity. Yet the country remains plagued by sexual assault, rape, and intimate partner violence. Hannah E. Britton examines the reasons gendered violence persists in relationship to social inequalities even after women assume political power. Venturing into South African communities, Britton invites service providers, religious and traditional leaders, police officers, and medical professionals to address gender-based violence in their own words. Britton finds the recent turn toward carceral solutions—with a focus on arrests and prosecutions—fails to address the complexities of the problem and looks at how changing specific community dynamics can defuse interpersonal violence. She also examines how place and space affect the implementation of policy and suggests practical ways policymakers can support street level workers. Clear-eyed and revealing, Ending Gender-Based Violence offers needed tools for breaking cycles of brutality and inequality around the world.
This book brings together a unique blend of researchers, civil society and community activists all working on different aspects of conflict sexual violence on the African continent. The contributions included here offer a detailed reading of the social and political climate within which some patterns of sexual violence unfold, and the increased policy and institutional responses shaping post-conflict environments. The chapters are organized around three main themes: the continuities between conflict sexual violence and post-conflict insecurity; the troubling category of "victim" and its representation in post-conflict settings; and the international contexts – such as international programming, aid and justice interventions – that shape how conflict sexual violence is addressed. The authors come to the topic from various academic disciplines - anthropology, gender studies, law, and psychology - and from different non-academic contexts, including civil society organizations in affected regions, and policy and activist organizations in the Global North. Collectively the chapters in this volume offer complex and detailed analysis of some of the debates and dynamics shaping contemporary understandings of conflict sexual violence, highlighting, in turn, new insights and emerging topics on which further research and advocacy is needed.
Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.
