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- Convenor:
-
Karen Lorimer
(Glasgow Caledonian University)
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- Format:
- Thematic Panel
- Theme:
- Human security and wellbeing
Short Abstract:
See longer abstract
Long Abstract:
Globally, increasing conflict, violence and their ill effects for families, societies and communities are recognized in the UN-led human security agenda (UNDP, 2022a). The latest Human Development Report 2021-2022 communicates the problem of increasing violence against women and girls during COVID-19 as a threat to women’s human security, human development, and capabilities (UNDP, 2022b). In 2021, an estimated 45,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or other family members—in other words, 56% of the estimated total global (81,100) female homicide victims were killed by members of their own family (UNODC 2022). These trends emphasize the problem of gender-based violence (GBV), and the loss of agency and diminished capabilities for women, with intimate partner violence (IPV) the most common form of GBV (WHO, 2013). Additionally, the data accentuate the growing problem of intergenerational violence, the long-term consequences of such violence on populations, including the reproduction of inequalities.
Additionally, rollbacks in freedoms for women to express their sexuality and exercise their right to bodily autonomy are highly evident in settings across the Global North and Global South, further reducing women’s agency and capabilities. Indeed, the 2022 SDG Gender Index sounds the alarm on gender equality, given a third of countries are either making no progress or moving in the wrong direction (Equal Measures 2023). In societies like India, the United States and Colombia, the erosion of women’s fundamental rights and freedoms is occurring, even as countries have committed to the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to advance human development for women, including: SDG 3 (health), target 3.7 (sexual and reproductive health); 5 (gender equality), target 5.2 (eliminate all violence against women in public and private spheres) and 16 (peace and justice) (UN 2015). The 2030 deadline to achieve gender equality will not be met. A younger generation of women may not experience improvements to their lives, and in some cases even a rolling-back of previous gains. The SDG Gender Index highlights various contextual issues required to achieve more progress on gender equality, including an intersectional lens, rooted in intersectional data and international justice and solidarity, issues that will be picked up across the panel discussion.
This panel put forward by the Gender and Sexuality Thematic Group seeks to advance dialogue on women’s human security, agency and wellbeing through the presentation and discussion of research, policy and practice. By drawing on different contexts, we seek to engender the necessary international solidary for progress on gender equality (EM2023). The panel consists of three presentations which share a common theme of gender-based violence, but each tackle issues of: reclaiming agency amidst context of voices being ‘silenced’; institutional responses and supports and; inter-generational inequalities and silencing of women who live at the intersection of gender and class.
1. Exploring intersections between vulnerabilities, violence and ‘silenced’ voices of ‘Migrant Brides’: Connecting the dots with Capabilities Approach. Dr Nupur Ray, New Delhi
2. Colombia’s ruta única de atención: Emerging lessons learned in the government’s response to address intimate partner violence and advance women’s health, human security and human rights Dr Courtenay Sprague, USA
3. Viewing gender-based violence intergenerationally: enduring constraints on wellbeing and agency freedom or is there hope for change? Dr Karen Lorimer, Scotland
Keywords: gender; sexuality; human security; agency; capabilities; human rights; intergenerational violence; gender-based violence, intimate partner violence; inequalities; collective action?
References
EM2030. ‘Back to Normal’ is Not Enough: the 2022 SDG Gender Index (Woking: Equal Measures 2030, 2022).
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2022a. 2022 Special Report on Human Security. New
York. https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/srhs2022pdf.pdf
UNDP. 2022b. Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain times, unsettled lives - Shaping our
future in a transforming world. New York: UNDP.
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). 2022. Gender-related killings of women and girls
(femicide/feminicide).https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/briefs/Femicide_brief_Nov2022.pdf
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2015. UN Sustainable Development Goals.
https://sdgs.un.org/goals
WHO. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health
effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Retrieved June 24, 2019, from http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/
10665/85239/1/9789241564625_eng.pdf.
Accepted papers:
Paper short abstract:
This presentation offers a reflective piece rooted in the author’s engagement with theory and empirical work exploring multi-generational perspectives on sexual health and wellbeing, including a focus on gender-based violence.
Paper long abstract:
Gender-based violence (GBV) is at epidemic levels, with global prevalence estimates of physical and/or sexual violence suggesting 1 in 3 women aged 15 years or older have experienced such intimate partner violence (World Health Organization 2021). Eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls is central to the overall achievement of gender equality, security and human rights. However, the landscape of gender inequalities is showing concerning signs, with a third of countries making no progress or stalling [Equal Measures 2030]. As such, whilst there have been improvements these have not been enough to prompt genuine change and the 2030 gender equality goals will not be met. Where we would hope to see generational change in attitudes towards gender-based violence, we instead see an uphill struggle to achieve change. This presentation offers a reflective piece rooted in the author’s engagement with theory and empirical work exploring multi-generational perspectives on sexual health and wellbeing, including a focus on gender-based violence. Multi-generational perspectives on sexual health and wellbeing are shared from across two qualitative studies the author has led: the Deprivation, Masculinities and Sexual Health (DeMaSH) study (n=116 age 18-40), and; the Disclosing Stories project (n=19 women age 25-58). Given the enduring nature of experiences of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, I will reflect on ‘conditions of possibility’, which may allow for emancipatory action (Fowler 2020).
Paper short abstract:
The HDR (2021-2022) emphasizes the diminished agency for women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) as an issue of human security: 27% of women globally and 30% in Colombia have experienced IPV. We investigated Colombia's novel response connecting police, legal, justice and health sectors.
Paper long abstract:
The UN HDR 2021-2022 emphasizes the loss of agency for women exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) as an issue of human security. Roughly 27% of women globally and 30% in Colombia have experienced IPV. Notably, indicates IPV can be reduced and prevented. However, little research has documented state-led programs effective in addressing IPV in real-world conditions in low-and-middle-income settings, especially in Latin America. Such research is paramount to inform policies at the intersection of health, human security and human rights, for women.
Aims
We investigated Colombia’s la ruta única, which provides IPV-exposed women with an integrated pathway connecting the justice, prosecution, police, health system, family welfare, Comisarías de Familia (Family Commission), with legal-medical and psycho-social services. We: (1) mapped the institutional arrangements, including procedures, mechanisms and communication paths comprising the response across agencies, departments and services—to characterize it; and (2) investigated the functioning/limitations of the response by concentrating on a key actor: lawyers navigate the ruta on women’s behalf amassing understanding of the system, mechanisms of health and justice, functioning and limitations—yielding greater understanding of the quality of the response, its effectiveness and limitations.
Methods
In July 2022-August 2024, we utilized grounded theory design/methods, employing purposive and snowball sampling, conducting 40 in-depth interviews in Bogotá with government officials working across la ruta, supplemented with debriefings and field notes. University de los Andes ethics committee approved the study. Interviews were conducted in Spanish, then transcribed into Spanish and English. Through constant comparative analyses, viewing emerging themes against transcriptions, we developed broad then finer coding, with team meetings to discuss and derive final findings.
Findings
Across points of delivery, we found the highest limitations were in the health system, with high staff turnover, adverse gender norms and mistrust between health officials and lawyers, undermining protocols guiding women’s treatment, including legal statements and evidence collected. Negative police/judicial processes and norms undercut the response, minimizing the gravity of victims’ cases, resulting in an absence of protection orders, and placing women at imminent risk, with stalled legal case progression, revictimization of women, and bottlenecks. Continuing negative social constructions of gender, gender hierarchies, lower status of women, masculinities and adverse gender norms embedded in these systems and structures, and enacted by decisionmakers across government agencies, require greater interrogation and reform. We highlight selected training and reforms that could address key deficits to better meet IPV-exposed women’s needs for human security, health and justice.
Paper short abstract:
A skewed ratio of women to men has led to brides being 'purchased' from economically marginalized states. The paper seeks to analyze the status of ‘migrant brides’ within the institution of marriage through the capabilities approach with a focus on women’s agency, freedom, and bodily autonomy. .
Paper long abstract:
Discriminatory practices and gender-based violence have been prevalent issues of concern in many states of India like Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh due to deeply rooted patriarchal beliefs. Gender-based violence, sex-selective abortions, discriminatory practices against girls and expensive dowries continue to challenge the goals of gender equality. Gender-based discrimination has deprived women of their basic rights to education, mobility, choice of partner, employment, and ownership of property/land. This limits women’s overall development and growth. Advancement in new reproductive technology has exacerbated the issue of gender biased sex selection or sex selective abortion, thus resulting in a significantly skewed sex ratio.
A skewed ratio of women to men has led to brides being 'purchased' from economically marginalized states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal. As a result, these migrant brides are forced to negotiate with 'new' cultural and social situations. The paper seeks to understand the struggle, exploitation, and abuse experienced by these 'migrant brides' residing in three villages, namely Pipli village in Kharkhoda Tehsil of Sonipat District, Deroli Ahir village in Narnaul Tehsil of Mahendragarh District and Gurana village in Baraut Tehsil of Bahgpat district. While the status of women within marriage continues to be devoid of any awareness around reproduction, the seeking of brides from far off regions outside caste and class boundaries, results in much less bargaining power for these women. While our research reveals not all these women were forced into these marriages, their negotiating powers and capabilities remain diminished because of their location .
In the light of these observations, this paper encapsulates the paradoxical situation of sex ratio imbalance and migrant brides in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh by highlighting the narrative of these women in the larger social context. Through these narratives, the paper seeks to analyse the status of ‘migrant brides’ within the institution of marriage, through the capabilities approach with a focus on women’s agency, freedom, and bodily autonomy. The paper reflects on intersections between violence, vulnerabilities and their ‘silenced’ voices to capture the loss and reclaiming of basic liberties, agency and capabilities.
Paper long abstract:
The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced numerous conflicts, political instability, and human insecurity for decades. Amidst this state of chaos and insecurity, women have been largely the victims of acts of sexual and gender-based violence, some of which have been inspired by the various conflicts, while others are on a domestic level. In 2006, the United Nations (UN) established a human rights monitoring mechanism known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to encourage states to make progress on safeguarding and promoting human rights. This peer review process consists of UN member states meeting every four and a half years and issuing recommendations to fellow states concerning specific measures that need to be taken to address ongoing human rights challenges.
Despite DR Congo’s political instability and endless conflicts, the state has been consistently involved in this UPR process since its inception. It has participated in all three cycles and has not only issued recommendations to fellow UN member states but has, in some cases, also accepted some of these recommendations. However, little is known about the full extent to which DR Congo has taken steps to implement these recommendations. With a focus on violence against women, this paper examines to what extend DR Congo has implemented the UPR recommendations received in its first two UPR cycles to ascertain the extent of implementation as well as specific measures taken in this regard. The main question addressed is: to what extent has DR Congo implemented UPR recommendations concerning violence against women?
This paper seeks to explore how the rights of women, specifically their right to be free from violence are safeguarded amidst the almost perpetual state of human insecurity in the country. This paper sheds light on the potential role of the UPR in advancing human rights, especially in conflict-prone states and by extension, its ability to contribute towards the advancement of human security.