One in Three Women

One in Three© JOINS THE IN THE RESPONSE TO A STUDY ON GLOBAL PEACE THAT EXCLUDES VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AS ONE OF ITS TWENTY-FOUR INDICATORS OF PEACE.

There is little debate anymore about the prevalence of men’s violence against women (VAW) in the world. Gender-based violence is a worldwide epidemic and shows up in crime data as high percentages of assault crimes, rapes, and murders. Decades of research also confirms that much violence against women is not reported and many governments do not document it, and those are two important factors in tracking prevalence. Plain and simple, violence against women and the impact on women’s lives around the world are largely ignored; behaviors are tolerated and viewed as norms, and policy makers, legislators, leaders of institutions, and most men stay uniformed, often ignorant of the problem. Sadly, because of this many women internalize much abuse and stay silent for years. Thankfully, their voices are being captured more and more, and the true scope of the problem has come to light; there is more research, more improvements to systems where women seek help, and an encouraging and growing worldwide movement of men organizing against VAW.

Now we have the Global Peace Index (GPI), an index developed to measure peace. In our view, this is forward thinking, progressive, and a good direction for what should be measured, except for one ghastly oversight. There is no index, or accounting, for men’s violence against women. Recently published as “a groundbreaking milestone in the study of peace,” and using twenty-four (24) indicators, the GPI is the first-ever study to rank countries according to their level of peacefulness.

How is this possible? Peace in the world cannot truly be measured when violence perpetrated against women by men is omitted. And what does not using an undeniably epidemic level of VAW and children as a factor of measurement in this study say about how invisible this oppression actually is? In fact, we could find no mention of VAW anywhere on the GPI Web site.

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The failure of the Index to include VAW is being discussed in e-mails, on Websites, and written about in newsletters. This is an excellent opportunity for dialogue, education, and political activism with our constituents and each other. VAW must be understood more broadly; more men must identify with the problem, produce different messages for awareness and prevention, and become involved with the work to end something that is so destructive and in all of our best interests to address. For a gendered problem based in sexism, an oppression of one group against another, to continue at the epidemic rate it does, means that women’s silence and internalization of their experiences still exists as a pre-condition of its prevalence, as does the ongoing collusion of non-violent men through silence, inaction, and unexamined sexist behavior.

Two good things this study has stimulated are conversations about the lack of peace in the world, especially for women and children, and it has generated critical thinking questions about what a peaceful country looks like. And we know we can only speak credibly about studying and measuring peace when VAW prevalence information and research is included in some reliable manner.

The GPI’s 24 indicators of peace are divided into three key thematic categories, measuring: 1) ongoing domestic and international conflict, 2) societal safety, and 3) security and militarization. Women and children are enormously impacted and suffer disproportionately on a daily basis from lack of peace due to external and internal systemic conflict, such as organized crime and military conflict, and their country’s failure to provide safety and security in homes and communities. If we accept at face value the methodology and analysis of the GPI, then we would assume that a country ranked as having a high level of peacefulness would therefore provide a safe and secure environment for women and children, and this is patently not the case, anywhere. Women and men organizing in every country against gender-based violence and for peace, and reliable prevalence data showing epidemic rates of VAW speak for themselves. An unintended consequence of omitting VAW specifically from the GPI (there is a token amount captured in the assault and other crime categories) is that it now fails to be a useful tool for the anti-violence community.

As we understand more about social change and VAW prevention, and as we unite on a global level to make the efforts to end VAW stronger and more strategic, then we become more effective in pressuring countries to reform policies and/or enforce existing ones. As we present a stronger influence on businesses and corporations operating globally and doing business in countries who are not doing a good job of documenting and working to end VAW, then we gain leverage with the business/corporate community to make positive change with countries. Recent history tells us that positive social change within countries is achievable. Global boycotts and protests against governments and corporations doing business in and with South Africa successfully contributed to the dismantling of apartheid.

Globalization has its dark side.

The GPI cites business as one sector that will benefit from the study. What the study does not speak to is a dark side of globalization, the trafficking of women and girls.

There are many factors that endanger women and children and create the norms and the foundation for men’s violence against women to be the longest standing epidemic, languishing in silence and shame. Economic factors are major and increased low-wage employment and self-employment is a consequence of gender discrimination. Widespread trafficking in women and girls has become part of globalization. Women and girls are sold into prostitution and subjected to mental and physical abuse until agreeing to become a sex worker; many sex workers contract AIDS and die as a result. The Internet has opened portals into child trafficking, child pornography, sex-tourism, cyber-sex, marriage brokering, and bride purchasing. Transnational trafficking has benefited from global markets and current labor forces. Certain countries allow it to foster by relaxing travel barriers and work permits; it is easier to do business with countries willing to be recipients of trafficked people. Trafficked individuals who have entered a country illegally are unlikely to report crimes perpetrated against them; their experiences with violence or even their deaths will not be represented in the GPI analysis.

Although the Government of Argentina is ranked # 52 in the GPI it does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking as stated in the following excerpt:
“Argentina is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Most victims are trafficked within the country, from rural to urban areas, for exploitation in prostitution. Argentine women and girls also are trafficked to neighboring countries and Western Europe for sexual exploitation. Foreign women and children, primarily from Paraguay and Brazil, are trafficked to Argentina and Western Europe for commercial sexual exploitation. Bolivians and Peruvians are trafficked into the country for forced labor in sweatshops and agriculture. Reported cases of human trafficking have increased in Argentina, which may be due to growing public awareness of the issue, as well as a higher number of migrants in the country, some of whom are vulnerable to being trafficked”.
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/

Conclusion: GPI as a limited tool

The GPI states, “Most people understand the absence of violence as an indicator of peace.” We submit that to determine the peacefulness of any country as well as to create and internalize global solutions to a specific, egregious pandemic of violence, the safety and security of women and children must be included and examined as a separate index.

Women’s human rights are directly linked and intertwined with issues of peace, prosperity, and healthcare, and we must continue to advance these rights. If we are to build and sustain cultures of peace we must join a global effort that exists today in many countries. According to the GPI’s Media Overview, approximately one half billion people have seen or heard something about the GPI since its launch on May 30th, 2007. Sadly, this is a missed opportunity to potentially raise the awareness of many people about the worldwide epidemic of VAW.

The GPI states an important premise: “Peace and sustainability are the cornerstones of humanity’s survival in the 21st century.” While we agree strongly with this statement, until VAW is included in their list of major challenges (global climate change, accessible fresh water, ever decreasing bio-diversity, and over population), and until an overall gendered lens is applied to the index, the report, although a good start, is a limited tool and cannot be used as a reputable analysis of global peace.

One in Three© seeks to build relationships of interconnectedness between those working to dismantle a worldwide culture of violence perpetrated against women and children.