ENDVAW - November 2007

Contents

• New Research
  • Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in regions of Brazil.
  • Spousal sexual violence and poverty are risk factors for sexually transmitted infections in women: a longitudinal study of women in Goa, India.
  • Somatic Symptoms and Diseases are more Common in Women Exposed to Violence.
  • Health outcomes in women with physical and sexual intimate partner violence exposure.
• Featured Resources and Tools
  • 16 Days Campaign of Activism Against Gender Violence, 2007: Take Action Kit
  • Review of New Film on Child Marriage: Child Brides: Stolen Lives
• Events
  • 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health. Hyderabad, India, October 29-31, 2007.
• Creative Response
  • Poetry by Basanta Kumar Kar, CARE India

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Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in regions of Brazil.
Schraiber LB, D'Oliveira AF, França-Junior I, et al  Rev Saude Publica. 2007 Oct; 41(5):797-807.

From the abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the results from the "WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence", on the prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in Brazil.
RESULTS: The women in São Paulo and Pernambuco respectively reported experiencing the following at least once in their lifetimes: psychological (41.8% and 48.9%); physical (27.2% and 33.7%); sexual (10.1% and 14.3%) violence. There was significant overlapping among the types of violence, which seemed to be associated with the most severe types of violence. The greatest single type was psychological violence, in São Paulo and Pernambuco (17.5% and 17.3%), and the smallest was sexual violence (0.2% and 1.0%).
CONCLUSIONS: The results show that violence is a very common phenomenon. The findings reiterate previous international studies results with regard to high magnitude and overlapping of types of intimate partner violence.

Spousal sexual violence and poverty are risk factors for sexually transmitted infections in women:a longitudinal study of women in Goa, India.
Weiss HA, Patel V, West B Sex Transm Infect. 2007 Oct 17;

From the Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To describe factors associated with incident sexually transmitted infections (STI) in a population-based sample of women in Goa, India.
RESULTS: Of the 2180 women followed-up, 64 had an incident STI (incidence 1.8% in the first 6 months, and 1.4% in the second six months). Incident STI was associated with low socio-economic status, marital status, and with concurrent bacterial vaginosis. Incidence was highest among women who were married and exposed to sexual violence (10.9%) and/or were concerned about their husband's affairs were at high risk (10.5%), as were separated, divorced or widowed women (11.0%).
CONCLUSIONS: Socially disadvantaged women are at increased risk of STIs in this population. Sexual intercourse outside marriage was rarely reported in this population, and women are at risk of becoming infected within marriage, especially those with sexual violence. This highlights the vulnerabilities of socially disadvantaged married women in India, and the need for health care professionals to screen STI patients for violence, and provide the necessary support. The results also stress the importance of effectively diagnosing and treating married men with STIs and promoting safer sex within marriage.

Somatic Symptoms and Diseases are more Common in Women Exposed to Violence.
Eberhard-Gran M, Schei B, Eskild A. et al  J Gen Intern Med. 2007 Oct 6;

From the Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the associations between recent and repetitive exposure to violence and presence of somatic symptoms and diseases in women. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, community-based, self-reporting survey.
RESULTS: Eighteen percent of women surveyed reported exposure to physical violence. Three percent had been forced into sexual intercourse as an adult. All somatic symptoms, and several diseases, were significantly more common in women exposed to physical and/or sexual violence as compared to nonexposed women. Women exposed to 3 or more violent episodes in the past 12 months reported a presence of 4.8 somatic symptoms and 1.2 diseases (mean) as compared to 1.8 symptoms and 0.5 diseases in nonexposed women. Women with exposure to both physical and sexual violence reported 6.0 symptoms and 1.5 diseases. The impact of violence on somatic symptoms and diseases remained after controlling for depression and sociodemographic factors.
CONCLUSIONS: Violence was associated with the presence of somatic symptoms and diseases. The more a woman is exposed to violence, the higher the number of somatic symptoms and diseases reported is.

Health outcomes in women with physical and sexual intimate partner violence exposure.
Bonomi AE, Anderson ML, Rivara FP, Thompson RS.  J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2007 Sep;16(7):987-97

From the Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine health outcomes in women with exposure to physical intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual IPV or sexual and physical IPV and the added health burden of sexual IPV.
RESULTS: Compared to never abused women, pronounced adverse health effects were observed for women with sexual IPV exposure (with or without physical IPV). Prevalence ratios (PR) for depressive and severe depressive symptoms were: sexual IPV (2.45 and 3.06), sexual and physical IPV (2.31 and 2.93), and physical IPV (1.64 and 1.90). Women with physical and sexual IPV had more symptoms, were more likely to report fair/poor health (PR 1.88), and had a lower SF-36 physical health score.
CONCLUSIONS: Adverse health effects were observed in women exposed to sexual IPV. These findings suggest the need for increased efforts to screen for sexual IPV in health settings and increased primary prevention efforts that address sexual violence using an ecological approach.

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16 DAYS CAMPAIGN OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE 2007

http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu:80/16days/kit07/kit.html
2007 16 Days Take Action Kit includes

• Current campaign announcement: English
• Campaign profile: English
• Description of dates: English
• Overcoming Challenges and Dismantling Obstacles: English
• Suggested Actions: 16 Ideas for 16 Days: English
• Secretary General’s In-depth Study on Violence Against Women—Recommendations to National Governments: English
• Secretary General’s In-depth Study on Violence Against Women—Recommendations for the United Nations System: English
• Participating countries & organizations: English
• Bibliography and resource list: English

The 2007 16 Days Take Action Kit can be downloaded in PDF* or Microsoft Word format.

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4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health. Hyderabad, India, Oct 29-31, 2007

The following studies were undertaken at the request of UNFPA for presentation at the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health. The Regional Analysis offers an overview of the mechanisms and consequences of the growing gender imbalances observed today in Asia.

The following studies analyse different aspects of skewed sex balance ratios in four countries (China, India, Nepal and Viet Nam).

Sex-ratio imbalance in Asia: Trends, consequences and policy responses

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Review of New Film on Child Marriage: Child Brides: Stolen Lives
Child Brides: Stolen Lives, a one-hour program from PBS’s award-winning newsmagazine NOW, documents child marriage’s devastating impact on girls, families, communities, and nations. Filmed on three continents, its aim is to capture, as senior correspondent Maria Hinojosa says, “the quiet desperation of girls whose lives have already reached a turning point.”

Hinojosa first travels to western Rajasthan to ask young Mamta, 12, what it was like to be married at seven years old. “I was small, there were lots of people,” she says, “they dressed me up but I didn’t know what was happening.” 

Hinojosa depicts the manifold consequences of the decision many parents make to marry girls early—hundreds of thousands of girls each year around the world. In 1994, the United Nations Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recommended that countries adopt a minimum age for marriage of 18 years for both sexes. However, according to the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), in most developing countries, between 20 and 70% of young women marry (or start living with a partner) before age 18. According to IWHC, many are sexually active even before puberty.

“Marriage is hell,” says Habi, a soft-spoken girl in Niger who, after being wed at 13, suffered a fistula after a prolonged labor of four days. “My parents forced me to get married,” says Habi, who is filmed at Niamey Hospital. “People were dancing with energy and joy, but I was crying.”

Another girl in India recalls being beaten unconscious when her in laws deemed her too ugly for their son (his take: “She is not worthy of me, that’s all”). “They hit me with pipes and stones,” she says, her face visibly scarred. According to the film, two-thirds of child brides are beaten by their in laws.

But Child Brides strikes a hopeful note emphasizing what progress is being made to combat this harmful traditional practice, which is deeply embedded in the cultures depicted. “Grassroots organizations are rising up,” says Hinojosa. The Veerni Project, a small nonprofit in Jodhpur, India invites 12 year-old Mamta to live at an all-girls school where she can become educated and empowered. In Guatemala, the film depicts the Population Council’s job and life skills training for girls. “I know you don’t know about self esteem, but I’m here to tell you about it,” says a staff member called Rosa to a group of adolescent girls. Rosa, who was married at 14 to an abusive husband, tells girls that a 13 year-old giving birth is five times more likely to die than a 20 year-old woman.

The Emir, or tribal king, of Gobir, Niger—where 76.6% of women marry before age 18, and many before 15­­—emerges as an unlikely hero. “I am totally committed to fighting child marriage,” he says. With UNICEF’s support, the Emir deploys outreach workers on motorcycles called Good Combat Brigades and organizes spirited village rallies against child marriage. 90% of girls here are illiterate. “If these girls had been educated, I swear to Allah that they would not accept it—they themselves would not accept early marriage,” the Emir says.

Child Brides: Stolen Lives premiered October 12 and can be downloaded or viewed or at http://www.pbs.org/now. Educational materials and supplementary footage are also available online.

Click here to learn more about the Veerni Project's work in Rajasthan, India.
http://www.veerni.org

Click here to learn more about UNICEF's work in Niger and elsewhere.
http://www.unicefusa.org/pbs_education

Click here to learn more about the Population Council's work in Guatemala.
www.popcouncil.org/childbride

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Poetry by Basanta Kumar Kar, CARE India
Cage

Hide and seek, denial and dilemma
a caged bird within a hunter’s abode
in the same house, with my mother,
struggling from bud to blossom
to repay debts for years.
Escape and retaliate
the libido of a cruel keeper
protecting my chastity
silently beaming his ire and fire
for society and progeny.

Kissed, caressed, exposed
black mailed, that’s me.
I curse my youth

The sin haunts my subconscious
guilt burns the heart
Lonely and furtive
Can life be trusted at all?

The flower fades
a helpless silence clouds
the bird escapes the cage
ponder over the lineage
but to yet another cruel destiny.

(This a story of a 20 year old woman who was abused by her stepfather.)

Black Mail
The forest route, trenches a safe haven
Wild bushes grasses unbounded draw a curtain
Plants tall, trunks wide direct the breeze
The leafs tied greeted the blue line
the devil sets his empire
the rising sun moving starts witnessed the act satanic
I was biting nail on my teeth
Unfolding claws on the bosom
By that time everything finished
The waist had borne the armed struggle
Motionless, the body deflowers
The treasure for my life partner finished.

Phobia, night mare and flashbacks
upper caste hegemony
I quench his thirst for four years
contain emotion, mark the assault
for the life of  my brother, future of the family.

The flower longs for a needle and thread
The inner space blanks
Knowing everything he stretches to tie knot never ending
words of love, dream days
a village youth, son of the soil
mesmerized I flee home
travel to concrete jungle, a wave of fire
experiencing claws in thick waist
tie knot in a daily outrage
in  a similar path in a different mode.

A narrow escape to short stay home
life never takes a still
A life cycle I navigate one after another
with guilt and sin.
I wish to be hanged executing the devil
soul to breathe in peace a lesson for mankind.

(This is 18 year old women who was raped and trafficked. She is now in a rehabilitation center.)

Lisa Basalla, MPH
Program Specialist
INFO Project
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Center for Communication Programs
E: lbasalla@jhuccp.org