Forms Of Gender-based Violence Research Articles

Social Workers’ Experiences of Violence: A Critical Literature Review

Violence against social workers is an international issue, yet research worldwide is limited. Social work is a predominantly female profession making violence against social workers an issue of gender-based violence (GBV). Using a post-feminist lens, this paper examines the violence experienced by social workers in the workplace and its impacts on their personal and professional lives. More specifically, the objectives of this study were to 1) critically understand social workers’ experiences of violence in the workplace violence; 2) critically review peer-reviewed and grey literature to examine how intersectionality intersect to escalate the vulnerability of social workers to different forms of GBV; and 3) identify significant gaps and priorities for future policies, practices and research on GBV in the social worker profession. Twenty-four peer-reviewed and grey literature were selected for the study. Three themes emerged through this critical review 1) definition of violence; 2) rates of violence; 3) reporting violence; and 4) impacts of violence. The paucity of research in this area highlights the need for increased research in experiences of violence within the social work workplace, as well as how social work education prepares social work students for the potential of violence within the field of social work.

Im/mobility as a form of gender-based violence: the case of transnationally abandoned wives in India

Im/mobility as a form of gender-based violence: the case of transnationally abandoned wives in India

Obstetric violence in the time of COVID-19: a new form of gender-based violence?

Obstetric violence in the time of COVID-19: a new form of gender-based violence?

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Related to Reproductive Health Needs During Pregnancy and Birth

Female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) is a human rights violation and a form of gender-based violence. Yet it is estimated that more than 230 million women and girls globally and over half a million women and girls living in the United States have been subjected to FGM/C or are at risk. Due to rising rates of immigration to the United States, it is more likely that health care providers will encounter patients subjected to FGM/C. In this column, I review clinicians’ knowledge of and experience in delivering care to women with FGM/C, patient experiences, the role of clinical guidelines, screening, research gaps, laws, and data. I conclude with recommendations from professional organizations related to the reproductive health needs of women affected by FGM/C during pregnancy and birth.

Injured and Ashamed: The Limitation of the Expanded Coercion-Based Rape Model in South Korea

Rape is a form of gender-based violence in which the line between coercion and consent is frequently blurred or contested. What happens when a court system broadens its definition of rape to include a broader range of coercive and potentially nonconsensual behaviors? In recent decades, South Korean courts have shifted the scope of coercion required for rape convictions, expanding from direct to indirect force to cover a broader range of rape cases. In this article, I investigate what has and has not changed with the expanded definition of coercion, through quantitative and qualitative analysis of 872 South Korean court decisions between 2013 and 2020. The analysis demonstrates that, despite a broader definition of coercion, the coercion-based rape model reinforces gender hierarchy by depicting the victim as the one who is supposed to be severely injured and ashamed in order to be believed. This study contributes to a better understanding of what we lose when femininity is defined by vulnerability, and it also engages the global debate over coercion-based versus consent-based legal models for rape adjudications.

You Can Knock on the Doors and Windows of the University, but Nobody Will Care: How Universities Benefit from Network Silence around Gender-Based Violence

This paper exposes the role of universities in creating silence around gender-based violence in higher education, drawing on narratives from 39 qualitative interviews with victims/survivors and bystanders about reporting incidents and experiences. In this paper, we extend concept of ‘network silence’ around sexual harassment to other forms of gender-based violence. Our research applies three components of the theoretical model of network silence, namely, self-silencing by victims/survivors, silencing, and not hearing by others, and analyses their contextual manifestations through the reporting experiences of victims/survivors and bystanders. This helps to identify the traits of the informal organisational structures and power dynamics, gendered attitudes, actors, and factors which facilitate silencing. The intersectional approach in our analysis of organisational contextual traits contributes to the research on inequality regimes in universities. The findings suggest that universities are making limited efforts to address silence around gender-based violence. We conclude that shared beliefs among the leadership about the reputation and prestige of the university facilitate the endurance of silence in universities. Our findings indicate reasons why universities fail to create spaces that are safe from gender-based violence.

Judicial Constructions of Harm in Australian Image-Based Sexual Abuse Case Law: A Feminist Discourse Analysis

Despite almost every Australian state and territory criminalizing image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), which includes the non-consensual taking, creating, or sharing of intimate images, judicial discourse in this context remains underexplored. In this article, using feminist critical discourse analysis, we investigate how Australian courts conceptualize the harms of IBSA in 47 criminal and civil cases. We find that while the serious harms suffered by individual victim-survivors are widely recognized, judicial discourse on societal harms is limited, with little to no recognition of IBSA as a form of gender-based violence (GBV) in and of itself. This is significant for several reasons, including the overrepresentation of women victim-survivors and male perpetrators in our dataset, and the gender and other inequalities that often underpin IBSA. We argue that by adopting an inclusive gender-based approach, the courts can promote more nuanced, relational, and holistic understandings of the individual and societal harms of IBSA, knowledge of which is important for addressing this rapidly growing form of GBV in Australia and internationally.

Empowerment through education: Sexual assault resistance programs for girls and young women

Empowerment through education: Sexual assault resistance programs for girls and young women Charlene Y. Senn and Sara E. Crann from the University of Windsor discuss the importance of sexual assault resistance programs in equipping girls and young women with the knowledge and skills to reduce the risk of sexual assault. Sexual assault is a form of gender-based violence. While anyone can be a victim, research consistently finds that victims are most often girls and women (~85%), and 90% of perpetrators are boys and men. Research also shows that it is girls and young women between 14-24 years old who are at the highest risk for sexual assault. Despite over 50 years of high-quality research on sexual assault and widespread attention to the issue through movements like #MeToo, we have seen little progress in reducing sexual assault on a broad scale. Ending sexual assault requires a comprehensive strategy that includes:

Abortion access in the Americas: a hemispheric and historical approach.

This perspective article situates the 2022 United States (U.S.) Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade (1973) within the broader history of abortion rights activism and legislation in the greater Americas. The U.S. public has stereotyped Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as socially conservative regarding gender issues and anti-reproductive rights. But twenty-first-century LAC presents a more complicated landscape than this dominant narrative suggests. In the past 15 years, political, legislative, and public health advances and setbacks across the region provide both a blueprint for re-establishing access to safe and legal abortion and a warning on the consequences of the criminalization of abortion for the U.S. Employing a narrative approach that summarizes recent interdisciplinary literature, this perspective traces the history of the expansion of abortion access in the Americas. Mexico (2007, 2023), Uruguay (2012), Argentina (2020), and Colombia (2022) legalized abortion on demand within specific timeframes. These expansions coexist with severe restrictions on abortion in various nations including Haiti (1835), the Dominican Republic (1884, 2009), Honduras (1985, 2021), El Salvador (1997), and Nicaragua (2006), as well as some states in the United States (2022). This perspective finds that legalization occurs when feminist activists eschew U.S.-based feminist rhetoric of individual rights and choice to reframe abortion as a form of gender-based violence within a discourse of health and wellbeing as a human right. According to this perspective, restrictions on access to the procedure constitute a form of violence against women and people capable of bearing children and violate human rights.

Qualitative perspectives on COVID-19, interpersonal violence, and interventions to improve well-being from adolescent girls and young women in Kisumu, Kenya.

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) face a high burden of gender-based violence (GBV) worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated policies led to global increases in GBV, decreased access to resources, and disruptions of pathways to care. We aimed to understand the effects of COVID-19 on AGYW affected by GBV in Kisumu, Kenya, as well as to identify possible interventions to mitigate those effects. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with AGYW aged 15-25 with a history of exposure to GBV. AGYW were split into age-matched groups; aged 15-19 for younger groups and 19-25 for older groups. Discussions focused on how COVID-19 affected experiences of GBV, access to care services, economic and social outcomes, and opportunities for interventions to mitigate negative impacts of COVID-19 and violence. Five FGDs with 46 AGYW were completed in June-September 2021. AGYW described increases in all types of GBV, particularly sexual abuse and intimate partner violence. Early marriage and subsistence transactional sex also increased. AGYW described violence as both a cause and effect of poor economic, social and health consequences related to the pandemic. Notably, AGYW emphasized stress, lack of mental health support and increased substance use as risk factors for violence, and discussed the deleterious mental health effects of violence-particularly in the wake of disruption of mental health services. COVID-19 disrupted referrals to violence-related services, and reduced access to both medical services and psychosocial services. AGYW believed that interventions focused on improving mental health as well as economic empowerment would be the most feasible and acceptable in mitigating the negative effects of COVID-19 and related exacerbations in violence. AGYW reported increases in almost all forms of GBV during the pandemic, with related exacerbation in mental health. Concurrently, AGYW endorsed decreased access to care services. As there is no evidence that violence and mental health challenges will quickly resolve, there is an urgent need to identify and implement interventions to mitigate these negative effects.

MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES FROM GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AT A TERTIARY ORTHOPAEDIC CENTRE

Intimate partner violence (IPV) causes significant morbidity and its unlikely to be reported compared to other forms of gender-based violence (GBV). For early detection, understanding Orthopaedic injuries from GBV is vital. This study assesses the pattern of musculoskeletal injuries from GBV and determines the factors associated with it.It is a retrospective observational study of patients aged ≥18 years, with GBV-related acute Orthopaedic injuries. Data was reviewed from January 2021 to December 2021, including, demographic information, soft tissue and bony injuries, relationship to assailant, substance abuse and the day and time of injury. Frequencies and percentages for categorical data were analysed. Chi-square test was used to calculate association. T-test was used to compare groups for continuous & categorical variables. Multivariate analysis was conducted to find the odds ratio and a p-value <0.05 was statistically significant.138 patients were included, the mean age at presentation being 35.02 years (SD=11). 92.75% of GBV victims were females. Most were unemployed (66.7%). 30.43% (n-42) had a soft tissue injury; superficial laceration being the most common (23.1%), flexor tendon injury (10.87%), hand abscess (5.8%), and extensor tendon injury (5.07%). 71.02 % (n=98) sustained appendicular fractures. 51.45% (n=71) sustained upper limb fractures; distal radius fractures (10.86%) and distal 3rd ulnar fractures (9,42%). 19.57% (n=27) had lower limb fractures; 7.25% (n=10) had lateral malleolus ankle fractures. 63.7% (n=80) of cases were by an intimate partner on weekends (50.73%). 62.31% occurred between 16h00 and 0h00. 41.1% (n=65) reported alcohol abuse. 63.04% had surgery.GBV likely occurs in early middle-aged females by intimate partners influenced by alcohol over the weekends between 16h00 to 0h00. Distal radius/distal 3rd ulnar fractures are the most common bony injuries. Superficial wrist laceration is the commonest soft tissue injury. These findings may assist with early detection and intervention to prevent adverse outcomes in GBV.

Entrenched, Unrelenting, Unsettled: Cultural Essentialism in International Development Research on Domestic Violence in Nepal

Domestic violence (DV) is a serious problem that reinforces patriarchy and interlocking systems of oppression. Yet, as a form of gender-based violence, DV has long been implicated in essentialist discourses that produce cultural Others, primarily through a deficit lens. Similarly, the field of international development was founded upon a discursive binary between groups labeled “traditional” and an idealized portrait of Western modernity. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial scholarship, this study employed critical discourse analysis (CDA) to investigate how culture was constructed in 26 development research reports funded by international organizations that examined DV in Nepal. The analysis revealed that references to tradition and social change, and discourses of violence as endemic to place, sustained essentializing formulations of Nepali culture. Nevertheless, some passages in the documents inserted evidence that unsettled this essentialist narrative. These findings suggest that researchers, policymakers, and practitioners should develop a reflexive anti-essentialist stance, promote collaboration and leadership in research by diverse stakeholders in developing countries, seek to understand local strategies and resources that are being used to address social problems such as DV, and document the impacts of recent and transnational processes on social problems within developing countries.

VAWnet: A Project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence

For more than 25 years, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence has operated VAWnet, a freely available, online network focused on violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence. This column will provide an overview of the resources available from VAWnet, including a sample search that demonstrates how to access the resources available within as well as a discussion of how to effectively browse the thousands of materials available on VAWnet that provide life-saving information on gender-based violence and related issues.

Risk factors and health consequences of experiencing reproductive coercion: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionReproductive coercion (RC) describes behaviours that interfere with an individual’s reproductive autonomy and decision-making. RC can be a form of intimate partner violence and overlaps with other forms of gender-based...

Cyber sexual harassment against women and impact on health. A cross-sectional study in a representative population sample.

This study focuses on the frequency of cyber sexual harassment (CSH) and examines its link with five health impact indicators (self-perceived health, medication, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and use of health services). Analyzing the data provided by the 2019 Macro-survey on violence against women in Spain, two items of which refer to CSH. It was conducted in Spain on a representative sample of 9568 women aged over 16years old. A total of 9.15% of the women surveyed had experienced CSH at some point in their lives. Being under 25years old, having higher education, not being in a relationship, having no religious beliefs and having a certified disability are sociodemographic characteristics associated with a higher risk of CSH. Women who have experienced other forms of gender-based violence also show an increased risk. Female victims of CSH reported higher rates of suicidal ideation (20% versus 9.79% in non-victims of CSH) and suicidal attempts (7.20% versus 1.74% in non-victims of CSH). These findings have significant implications for the design of preventive health polices, which should incorporate strategies to address CSH as part of the continuum of multiple interrelated forms of gender violence that affect women and girls throughout their lives.

Effects of a clinic-based reproductive empowerment intervention on proximal outcomes of contraceptive use, self-efficacy, attitudes, and awareness and use of survivor services: a cluster-controlled trial in Nairobi, Kenya

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of a reproductive empowerment contraceptive counselling intervention (ARCHES) adapted to private clinics in Nairobi, Kenya on proximal outcomes of contraceptive use and covert use, self-efficacy, awareness and use of intimate partner violence (IPV) survivor services, and attitudes justifying reproductive coercion (RC) and IPV. We conducted a cluster-controlled trial among female family planning patients (N = 659) in six private clinics non-randomly assigned to ARCHES or control in and around Nairobi, Kenya. Patients completed interviews immediately before (baseline) and after (exit) treatment and at three- and six-month follow-up. We use inverse probability by treatment weighting (IPTW) applied to difference-in-differences marginal structural models to estimate the treatment effect using a modified intent-to-treat approach. After IPTW, women receiving ARCHES contraceptive counselling, relative to controls, were more likely to receive a contraceptive method at exit (86% vs. 75%, p < 0.001) and had a significantly greater relative increase in awareness of IPV services at from baseline to three- (beta 0.84, 95% CI 0.13, 1.55) and six-month follow-up (beta 0.92, 95% CI 0, 1.84) and a relative decrease in attitudes justifying RC from baseline to six-month follow-up (beta −0.34, 95% CI −0.65, −0.04). In the first evaluation of a clinic-based approach to address both RC and IPV in a low- or middle-income country (LMIC) context, we found evidence that ARCHES contraceptive counselling improved proximal outcomes related to contraceptive use and coping with RC and IPV. We recommend further study and refinement of this approach in Kenya and other LMICs. Plain Language Summary Reproductive coercion (RC) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are two forms of gender-based violence that are known to harm women’s reproductive health. While one intervention, ARCHES – Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Health Settings, has shown promise to improve contraceptive use and help women cope with RC and IPV in the United States, no approach has been proven effective in a low- or middle-income country (LMIC) context. In the first evaluation of a reproductive empowerment contraceptive counselling intervention in an LMIC setting, we found that ARCHES contraceptive counselling, relative to standard contraceptive counselling, improved proximal outcomes on contraceptive uptake, covert contraceptive use, awareness of local violence survives, and reduced attitudes justifying RC among women seeking contraceptive services in Nairobi, Kenya. Distal outcomes will be reported separately. Findings from this study support the promise of addressing RC and IPV within routine contraceptive counselling in Kenya on women’s proximal outcomes related to contraceptive use and coping with violence and coercion and should be used to inform the further study of this approach in Kenya and other LMICs.

The Role of Sexting on the Perception of Image-Based Sexual Abuse.

Gender-based violence is a widespread phenomenon that significantly impacts many women around the world. Among the different forms that it might take, image-based sexual abuse represents one of the most common forms nowadays. According to the literature, sexting-the sharing of sexually explicit messages or images-is one of the most important risk factors for image-based sexual abuse because sexts can be forwarded or published without the authorization of the originator. Nevertheless, sexting can play a role in sexual and relational development and serve as a first step in experimenting with sexual contact in real life. In this study (N = 603 from the general population), we examined the relations between people's beliefs about sexting, attitudes toward it, and sexting behavior on the one hand, and reactions to a situation of nonconsensual dissemination of sexts on the other hand. Results showed that social pressure exerted by peers and partners to sext was associated with both positive attitudes toward sexting and sexting behaviors. Attitudes toward sexting, then, have a spillover effect on the reactions toward a victim of nonconsensual dissemination of sexts, in terms of empathy, victim blaming, and affective reactions. Implications for both research and policymaking regarding this form of gender-based violence are discussed.

Protecting the Gender Rights of Healthcare Professionals in the Digital Workplace

&lt;p&gt;數位科技發展迅速，增加民眾生活的便利性、擴展資訊與學習的無限性、縮短人際互動距離、豐富生活，物聯網或科技裝置於醫療場域及照護器材的使用更是日益普及。然而，數位科技及網路的發達，也使有心人藉由網路、資訊媒介或數位環境而產生的網路跟蹤、監視、騷擾、蒐集、窺視、貶抑、威脅等新興性別暴力樣態多元、層出不窮，對隱私權、人身安全造成巨大衝擊、傷害，更對社會產生廣泛的影響。在醫療照護場域中，因疾病、創傷等需要被照護者，受專業醫療或護理人員之專業悉心照護後而心生敬慕、追求甚或追蹤騷擾之案件並非少見，尤其醫護照護體系現仍以女性為多的情形下，認識數位網路科技帶來的性別暴力議題、維護醫護人員職場及生活中性平權益、專業尊嚴，實值重視，亦是醫護職場安全的重要指標之一。&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rapid advancement of digital technology has increased the convenience of people&amp;rsquo;s daily living, expanded the possibilities of information and learning, shortened the distance between people in interpersonal interactions, and enriched people&amp;rsquo;s lives. The Internet of Things and technological devices have been increasingly applied in medical settings and equipment. However, people with bad intentions have inflicted various forms of gender-based violence using Internet, media, or digital environment, including cyberstalking, monitoring, harassment, collecting personal information, voyeurism, disparagement, and threatening, causing serious damage to privacy and personal safety and affecting society broadly.Incidents of patients admiring, pursuing, or even stalking and harassing healthcare professionals after receiving their care are not uncommon, particularly under the circumstance that most nursing professionals are women. Understanding the issues of gender-based violence brought about by digital and Internet technologies and safeguarding the gender equality and dignity of healthcare professionals at work and in life are critical for maintaining the safety of healthcare workplaces.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

Forms of gender-based violence in the conditions of armed conflict (martial law)

The problem of gender-based violence in the conditions of armed conflict (martial law) in Ukraine is urgent and important. It has been stressed that the definition “gender-based violence” is used in international law, Ukrainian legislation and in scientific researches. Simultaneously this term is being applied in description of any harmful effect caused against human’s will and is based on socially determined differences between men and women. Whereas men and boys can be victims of certain types of gender-based violence (in particular sexual), usually such violence is directed against women and girls. After consideration of scientists’ approaches concerning determination of forms (types) of gender-based violence it has been noted that they allow to establish that only certain ones emphasizes on their commission during armed conflicts (namely violence during war, conflict and post-conflict situations). Provisions of international humanitarian law are not being taken into account as well.With regard to the provisions of international humanitarian law based on international legal acts in the fields of human rights protection and protection of the victims of armed conflicts a classification of gender-based violence in the conditions of armed conflict (martial law) has been suggested as follows: 1) on the type of the conflict – international and non-international; 2) on the person of the victim – against women, men and children; 3) on the status of the victim – civil population and prisoners of war; 4) on the type of violence – physical (violence against life and health, namely all types of homicide, mutilation, abuse and torture; hostage taking; conviction and application of punishment without prior court decision made by a proper established court which provides judicial guarantees recognized by civilized nations as necessary); sexual (rape; threats and attempts of any type of rape or any other sexual assaults; genital mutilation; sexual slavery; sexual torture; forced prostitution; forced pregnancy; forced sterilization and forced abortion; forced nudity, forced to contemplate sexual acts; sexual violence and other acts of sexual nature); psychological (insult to human dignity, in particular offensive and humiliating treatment); economic (deprivation of housing, food, clothes, other property, money or documents).

Oppression to Empowerment: Implications for Transformative Education

This qualitative case research analyzed the gender-based violence (GBV) encountered by university students and their empowering actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study utilized online in-depth unstructured interviews among eight cases selected for their experience with violence. Using thematic analysis, emerging themes from the interview data included different forms of GBV; such as physical, sexual, psychological, economic, and online, while their empowering strategies were undertaken at the personal, relational, and social levels. This study showed the importance of being empowered to prevail over oppressive experiences. Lessons from the process provided input in applying the principles of transformative education. Expectedly, the findings will address issues on policy research on GBV and methodological challenges in transformative education.