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Taking a Stand Against Practices That Harm Women
Throughout the world, practices that undermine the well-being of women endure. But like slavery and foot-binding, they constitute egregious violations of basic human rights.
- At least 130 million women have been forced to undergo
female genital mutilation/cutting. Another 2 million are at risk each year from this degrading and dangerous practice.
- Killings in the name of 'honour' take the lives of thousands of young
women every year, mainly in Western Asia, North Africa and parts of South Asia.
- At least 60 million girls who would otherwise be expected to be alive are 'missing' from various populations as a result of
sex-selective abortions or neglect.
In most industrialized societies,
although gender–based violence is officially condemned,
it persists, implicitly sanctioned by messages in mass
media.
In some developing countries, practices
that subjugate and harm women – such as wife-beating,
killings in the name of honour, female genital mutilation/cutting and dowry
deaths – are condoned as being part of the natural order
of things. Throughout much of Asia, a preference for
male children results in the neglect and sometimes infanticide
of girls, or their elimination by abortion in places
where prenatal tests are available to determine the
sex of the foetus.
Forced early marriage of young girls
or adolescents is another practice
that can cause lifelong psychological as well as physical
problems, especially those resulting from early childbearing.
And as conflicts among ethnic groups
rage, women and girls have increasingly become pawns
of war, and face rape and forced pregnancies. FGM/FGC, coerced
sex and early marriage are also factors in the spread
of HIV to women.
Eradicating long-standing traditional practices does not happen overnight. One way to begin, though, is by information and advocacy that raises public awareness and changes the climate of public opinion.
"Consensus-building around social
issues is extremely difficult, because it touches the
identity of nations, communities and individuals. Discussion
of social questions polarizes viewpoints and may seem
to widen the gap between cultures. But in the end, the
overriding social purpose concentrates our minds and
enables us to bridge all cultural gaps—not because we
want to go home with an agreed form of words, but because
all of us, each in our own way, want to save people’s
lives."
-- UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed
Obaid
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PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY: Harmful Practices
