Violence Against Women: An Obstacle to Equality (original) (raw)

2006, U. Md. LJ Race, Religion, Gender & Class

Violence against women is the human rights scandal of our times. The underlying cause is discrimination, which denies women equality with men in all areas of life. In 1991, the United Nations (U.N.) committee that monitors the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued General Recommendation 19, which states that violence is a form of discrimination. 1 Violence obstructs women from enjoying their fundamental freedoms and human rights. When women are abused in custody, raped by armed combatants, treated as spoils of war, or terrorized by violence in their home, unequal power relations between women and men are manifested and, at the same time, reinforced because violence is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into subordinate positions. Violence against women is widespread. We all know this. One in three women in the world will be beaten, raped, or attacked during their lifetime. 2 Also this year, more than 15,000 women in China will be sold into sexual slavery, 200 women in Bangladesh will be horribly disfigured when their spurned husbands or suitors throw acid on them, and more than 7,000 women in India will be murdered by their * Dr.