Strategic Aim 1: End violence against women
“Violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.”
UN Secretary General – Ban Ki-Moon
In all countries – from the UK to Uganda – women and girls experience violence. Within these countries, it happens to women of different ages, classes, faiths and cultures. Womankind believes that violence against women happens because men and women are not equal. While men also experience violence, the number of women who are hurt and the severity of their injuries are far greater.
Womankind Worldwide provides practical ways to help women to escape violence, speak out about it, and change the attitudes that allow it to happen. These are just some of the ways we are striving to eliminate violence against women:
Supporting women who have been raped
Womankind Worldwide funds access to legal advice so women can bring their attackers to court, and trains the police and courts in providing better support to women who have been raped.
South Africa is one of the most violent peacetime countries on earth and public attitudes to girls and women who have been raped are very harsh. We are funding research into the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act and how to improve this.
Read more about our work in South Africa.
Helping women get justice
Around the world, half of murdered women are killed by their current or former husbands or partners. (source Krug et al. 2002. World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: WHO. 93.) Some are killed by their families in the name of ‘honour’. Yet in many countries this is not taken seriously by the judicial system. All too often, men can cite various versions of ‘she made me’ or ‘crime of passion’ and walk away, or only receive a nominal punishment.
In Latin America, where there often exists a social tolerance to killing a woman, we are supporting local groups campaigning for the killing of women by men to be a specific crime with substantial sentences.
Read more about our work in Peru and Bolivia.
Eradicating female genital mutilation
Each year some 2 million girls around the world are held down with their family’s consent, and forced to undergo genital cutting in the name of tradition. Womankind supports girls and women who want to make a stand and encourage girls to see they have a choice.
In Ethiopia, we have supported Kembatta Women’s Support Centre in their work to persuade communities in two regions to abandon the practice. In a UNICEF report it was found that the rates of FGM had dropped from 97% to less than 4%. Their approaches are being scaled-up and replicated in 4 more districts.
Read more about our work in Ethiopia.
| Womankind is working with 3 organisations across Ghana to reduce the high levels of violence against women.
Our programme sets up, trains and supports Community Based Action Teams (COMBATs) – of local men and women – to provide support and basic counselling and mediation for women experiencing violence, in particular domestic violence. Emphasis is also placed on training traditional and religious leaders and ‘sensitisation’ work with local services such as hospitals, the police and local government. “Since the sensitisation began in this community, my husband has stopped beating me for not wanting to have sex at a particular time. These days, if he wants to have sex and I am not ready or interested, I tell him and he does not beat me”. “I cannot believe that today I am sitting in a group with men, women and young women, together, talking about violence. When I was younger nobody talked about it. The only way you could tell, was in the morning you saw the woman with bruises and a sad face”. |
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