Online
Discussion from 4 until 13 February!
Wikigender Online Discussion
Transforming
social norms to prevent violence against women and girls
Wikigender would
like to hear your views, lessons learned and best practices or policies
in ending violence against women.
Participate in this online discussion
and be heard at a side event on the topic of social norms
- e.g. traditions and practices that shape or restrict the decisions,
choices and behaviours of groups, communities and individuals - and the
prevention of violence against women (VAW) and girls, taking place on 4
March 2013 during the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status
of Women (CSW) in New York!.
The event will be
co-organised by the OECD Development Centre and the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs of Finland.
Wikigender, Breakthrough,
End
Violence Against Women (EVAW UK), the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Partners
for Prevention (P4P) (P4P) and Womankind
Worldwide invite you to participate in this online
discussion on “Transforming social norms to prevent violence against
women and girls”. The inputs from the Wikigender community will be
presented via a summary report at the event.
To participate, scroll down to the
bottom of the page and enter your comment from Monday 04/02 onwards.
Background
The 2013 theme for
the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
is on the Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against
women and girls. In this context, Wikigender is hosting an online
discussion on the topic, with a particular focus on social norms.
The OECD Development Centre’s 2012 Social Institutions and Gender
Index (SIGI) found that while there has been progress
in some areas, discriminatory social norms and practices which undermine
gender equality and contribute to violence against women remain persistent
and pervasive. For example, despite the introduction of laws, attitudes
that normalise violence against women persist: on average, for the
countries scored in the SIGI, around 1 in 2 women believe domestic
violence is justified in certain circumstances. Female genital
mutilation (FGM) is another discriminatory practice that remains
prevalent in many countries in Africa (for example Somalia has the highest prevalence at 98%), despite
improvements in some countries like Kenya, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Malawi. Missing women, stemming from female foeticide and
sex-selective abortions, remains a serious problem in some countries,
particularly in South Asia and East
Asia and the Pacific.
Violence against
women bears significant and enduring consequences for women and their
communities. Violence against women is closely linked to poor health
outcomes for women and girls, including maternal mortality and
vulnerability to HIV; and it negatively impacts on women’s access to
economic resources and opportunities both in and outside the household.
This new online discussion will therefore be a unique opportunity to
capture your views on how we can transform social norms to prevent
violence against women. There are many initiatives and campaigns
throughout the world raising awareness of VAW and seeking to create a
different world. We particularly welcome contributions from implementers
at program and project level, the sharing of reports or discussions on the
topic, as well as contributions on VAW data.
Questions
- Key
issues: What type of social
norms and attitudes contribute to violence against women? What are
the entry points for changing social norms and attitudes that
support violence against women? What are the challenges for changing
social norms that support violence against women?
- Examples,
case-studies: In
your area/region, what are examples of successful policies,
initiatives, campaigns and programmes that tackle social norms
related to violence against women and girls? Are there approaches
that are more effective than others in changing attitudes? How can
we harness the power of new technologies and the media? What role
does men and boys’ involvement play?
- Action
required: What actions should
governments, donors, international organisations and civil society
take to transform social norms to prevent violence against women and
girls? What type of data should be collected to monitor changes in
social norms?
See past Wikigender
online
discussions.
Key Resources
- Expert
Group Meeting: Prevention of violence against
women and girls (17-20 September 2012, Bangkok, Thailand).
- Convention
on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic
violence (Istanbul Convention)
- The Campaign Say No – UNiTE to End
Violence against Women
- White Ribbon Campaign
(Australia)
- Take Back the Tech
- Amnesty International
- End Violence Against Women
Coalition (UK)
- Womankind Worldwide
(UK)
- Partners for Prevention
– a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV Asia-Pacific Regional Joint
Programme for Gender-based Violence Prevention
- Breakthrough
– for their campaign on VAW, visit the [1] Bell Bajao website
- The Sonke Gender Justice
Network
- The GBV Prevention Network
- The VAW Prevention Network
- ICRW, VAW
page
- Lori L. Heisk, What
Works to Prevent Partner Violence? (Working
Paper, December 2011)
- UNICEF Innocenti Research
Centre, The
Dynamics of social change: Towards The
abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting in five African
countries (Innocenti Insight, October 2010)
Wikigender
articles (a selection)
Violence against women
Case studies
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