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‘Culture’,
Women, Violence
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No
excuses for violence against women!
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‘Violence against women is an issue that cannot wait…. At
least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced
into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime…. No country, no culture,
no woman young or old is immune to this scourge. Far too often, the
crimes go unpunished, the perpetrators walk free…. But there is one
universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and
communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never
excusable, never tolerable.’
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(UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, speaking at the
launch of the Campaign to End Violence Against Women, 25 February
2008, 52nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women)
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Violence
against women is condemned by the international community as a
violation of women’s basic human rights, regardless of whether such
violence is perpetrated by the State or by family members, whether in
public or private spheres. But despite the international consensus on
the need to end violence against women, violence against women persists
in many societies. A key reason for this persistence is the misuse of
‘culture’ to justify violence against women. Through this misuse of
‘culture’, violence against women is legitimised and thereby
perpetuated.
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The
Research Program Consortium on ‘Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Contexts’
(WEMC) sees violence against women as a mechanism of control used by
patriarchal forces to disempower women. The use of ‘culture’ to excuse
violence against women is part of these processes of control and
disempowerment. Various forms of violence against women studied by WEMC
include:
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- State
sanctioned violence legalised as punishment (e.g. Hudood
Ordinances in Pakistan and stoning to death in Iran)
- Family laws
that undermine women’s rights and may result in or promote acts
of interpersonal violence (e.g. in Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia)
- Organised rape
as a weapon of war in armed conflicts between the State and
ethno-nationalist separatists (e.g. in Indonesia)
- Violence
inflicted by para-State actors, such as Islamist ‘sharia police’
who impose ‘curfews’ and whippings (in Indonesia) and
politico-religious groups (in Pakistan) who have attacked female
teachers and students for failing to comply with their new
unilaterally imposed dress codes, have bombed and burnt down
girls’ schools, and encouraged the beheading of women not
attired according to their new rules
- The curtailing
of women’s physical and social mobility by threatened or actual
violence
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These
and other forms of gender-based violence make it dangerous for women to
exercise agency as autonomous persons. Nevertheless, despite such
risks, women in diverse contexts have long negotiated for their rights
through indigenous strategies, contrary to spurious claims that women’s
empowerment is alien and illegitimate. Most, however, have struggled
alone, their strategies largely undocumented, their endeavours muted by
violence justified as ‘tradition’ or ‘religion’.
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WEMC
documents women’s choices, discourses and strategies to assert their
rights in the face of violence used as a mechanism of control in China,
Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and cross-border contexts. As a mechanism,
violence is not only inter-personal, but systemic and structural. We
examine the potential of legal, political and social systems to be
either obstructive or supportive. We also analyse how women themselves
access and use resources that can protect them from violence. WEMC
explores whether alternative mechanisms of redress exist and whether
these reinforce or reduce gender-based violence. In Indonesia and
elsewhere, we examine tensions between secular laws and interpretations
rendered by local Sharia courts and institutions. In Pakistan, we
explore government responses to inter-personal violence and how these
may be made more effective. Across all sites, we focus on how women
make empowering choices in the face of disempowering forces.
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1.
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By
strategizing around key opportunities that have emerged in the UN
system
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2.
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By
countering ‘cultural’ justifications for violence against women at
micro, meso and macro levels
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