Highlight 12/2022 – International and European governance structures need to adopt a different approach to tackle gender violence and harassment
Jake Van Grieken, 21 March 2022
Last year saw a global increase in cases of domestic violence and reported-rape against women. According to the WHO, 30% of the global population of women who have been in a relationship have been subjected to violence or sexual violence by their intimate partner. The global statistics show that 38% of female murder victims were killed by their intimate partners. Gender related violence is endemic and its consequences are devastating. Women who survive sexual violence are twice as likely to suffer depression, three times more likely to have an abortion and one and a half times more likely to suffer from a sexually transmitted infection, including HIV.
The WHO and UN Women published RESPECT (2019) a framework document aimed at policy makers that outlines possible practical steps and interventions. The report identifies a number of contributing factors that are associated with sexual violence against women, these include: harmful masculine behaviours, community norms that ascribe higher status to men, low levels of gender equality and low levels of access to paid employment for women. The findings of this report underline the imperative need to take action and propose solutions.
The EU and the UK have already embraced many of measures and created a legal framework to promote equality, yet the problem persists. The kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in London by a serving police officer brought the issue of systematic misogyny to the fore. A UN Women UK survey revealed that almost all young women had experienced sexual harassment in public places. The UK experienced an 80% increase in calls to report domestic abuse during the lockdown period, yet domestic abuse prosecutions fell by a quarter and only 1.4% of rape cases reported to the police resulted in prosecution. Only a third of prosecutions ended in a conviction. Laws can be made and systems put in place to protect women but if those laws are not implemented they are useless.
In order to tackle gender based violence we need an informed understanding of the way that women are targeted by male violence. We need to examine the unconscious bias that defines our cultural and economic development and we need to define consent. A 2018 YouGov survey (UK) found that a third of men who responded to the survey believed that if a woman flirted on a date and later did not consent to sex, it could not be considered rape. Instead of upholding the clarity of consent the legal system has clouded this principle.
The issue of consent is critical to our understanding of what causes the abuse and harassment of women. In 2019, Upskirting became an offence in England. This act – a clearly non-consensual act proliferated as soon as the technology was mainstream enough to enable it. The phenomenon of upskirting in the UK reflects the systemic misogyny in society, it also signals a way forward. The campaign to make upskirting an offence began with an online campaign led by a woman who had experienced this harassment, the issue was championed by a female MP and pushed through Parliament by Theresa May, the then Prime Minister. It cannot be assumed of course that this legislation would not have been championed by male MP’s, but the fact that there were women in positions of power who recognised the significance of this issue made this legislation a reality.
In the UK women MP’s make up 34% of Parliament – an all time high, within the judiciary they make up 14 % of judges and in the Supreme Court only 2 of the 12 judges are women. Within the police force 31% are women. In all aspects of law creation and enforcement women are minority players. Within the education sector, a key area of responsibility for nurturing a broader understanding of social values and an industry dominated by women, only 38% of secondary school teachers are women. The ‘Everyone’s Invited’ campaign (2021) sought to uncover the level of sexual harassment experienced within the school setting in the UK. It found that the problem was endemic.
Diversity and inclusion are vital to redressing the imbalance in the systems that allow sexism and misogyny to flourish. A clear understanding of consent is key to informing integrated policies in education, governance, health and social protection. Women are 27 times more likely to be harassed online than men. 9 million girls in Europe will have experienced online harassment by the time they reach 15 years old. Posting a picture of oneself should not be received as consenting to harassment.
Internet sites are built on a model of assumed consent, you must actively opt out of things that you are not comfortable with. What if the model was one that allowed you to opt in rather than out? What if we assumed that you didn’t agree to something until you made it clear that you did?
Jake Van Grieken, Highlight 12/2022 – International and European governance structures need to adopt a different approach to tackle gender violence and harassment, 21 March 2022, available at www.meig.ch
The views expressed in the MEIG Highlights are personal to the author and neither reflect the positions of the MEIG Programme nor those of the University of Geneva.