Violence against women

  Key facts:

• Violence against women - particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women - are major public health problems and violations of women's human rights.
• Recent global prevalence figures indicate that 35% of women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
• On average, 30% of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence by their partner.
• Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner.
• Violence can result in physical, mental, sexual, reproductive health and other health problems, and may increase vulnerability to HIV.
• Risk factors for being a perpetrator include low education, exposure to child maltreatment or witnessing violence in the family, harmful use of alcohol, attitudes accepting of violence and gender inequality.
• Risk factors for being a victim of intimate partner and sexual violence include low education, witnessing violence between parents, exposure to abuse during childhood and attitudes accepting violence and gender inequality.
• In high-income settings, school-based programmes to prevent relationship violence among young people (or dating violence) are supported by some evidence of effectiveness.
• In low-income settings, other primary prevention strategies, such as microfinance combined with gender equality training and community-based initiatives that address gender inequality and communication and relationship skills, hold promise.
• Situations of conflict, post conflict and displacement may exacerbate existing violence and present additional forms of violence against women.

The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."


Risk factors
Factors found to be associated with intimate partner and sexual violence occur within individuals, families and communities and wider society. Some factors are associated with being a perpetrator of violence, some are associated with experiencing violence and some are associated with both.
Risk factors for both intimate partner and sexual violence include:

• lower levels of education (perpetration of sexual violence and experience of sexual violence);
• exposure to child maltreatment (perpetration and experience);
• witnessing family violence (perpetration and experience);
• antisocial personality disorder (perpetration);
• harmful use of alcohol (perpetration and experience);
• having multiple partners or suspected by their partners of infidelity (perpetration); and
• attitudes that are accepting of violence and gender inequality (perpetration and experience).

Factors specifically associated with intimate partner violence include:

• past history of violence;
• marital discord and dissatisfaction;
• difficulties in communicating between partners.

Factors specifically associated with sexual violence perpetration include:

• beliefs in family honour and sexual purity;
• ideologies of male sexual entitlement; and
• weak legal sanctions for sexual violence.

The unequal position of women relative to men and the normative use of violence to resolve conflict are strongly associated with both intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence.  Tomado de WHO (World Health Organization) en ingles y en español.

Task: You have to make a women human rights poster. Must illustrate  women rights violations (2-3 people for group).

Investigating Moral Dilemmas

A moral dilemma is a situation where:

1.) You   have to choose  between two or more actions.

2.) There are moral reasons for you to choose each of the actions.

3.) You cannot do all of the actions and have to choose which action (or actions when there are three or more choices) want  to made. The agent thus seems condemned to moral failure; no matter what she does, she will do something wrong (or fail to do something that she ought to do).

Some moral Dilemmas

In the novel Sophie's Choice, by William Styron (Vintage Books, 1976 -- the 1982 movie starred Meryl Streep & Kevin Kline), a Polish woman, Sophie Zawistowska, is arrested by the Nazis and sent to the Auschwitz death camp. On arrival, she is "honored" for not being a Jew by being allowed a choice: One of her children will be spared the gas chamber if she chooses which one. In an agony of indecision, as both children are being taken away, she suddenly does choose. They can take her daughter, who is younger and smaller. Sophie hopes that her older and stronger son will be better able to survive, but she loses track of him and never does learn of his fate. Did she do the right thing? Years later, haunted by the guilt of having chosen between her children, Sophie commits suicide. Should she have felt guilty?  Taken  of page 

Task: We read the definition of  Moral Dilemma. What do you think about  it.

After that we are going to search for a real example on Internet, better, if it is possible, a video to show in class.

Ethics vs Moral

Ethics and morals both relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. However, ethics refer to the series of rules provided to an individual by an external source. e.g. their profession. On the other hand, morals refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.

Comparison chart

Ethics Morals What are they?: The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc. It defines how thing are according to the rules. Principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct.It defines how things should work according to an individuals' ideals and principles. Where do they come from?: Social system - External Individual - Internal Why we do it?: Because society says it is the right thing to do. Because we believe in something being right or wrong. What if we don't do it?: We may face peer/societal disapproval, or even be fired from our job. Doing something against one's morals and principles can have different effects on different people, they may feel uncomfortable, remorse, depressed etc. Flexibility: Ethics are dependent on others for definition. They tend to be consistent within a certain context, but can vary between contexts. Usually consistent, although can change if an individual’s beliefs change. Origin: Greek word "ethos" meaning "character" Latin word "mos" meaning "custom"