Ah, feminism. A term that’s widely abused and mis-represented, when in fact it’s simply The Radical Notion That Women Are People, Too.

And then there’s today, International Women’s Day. Another term that’s widely abused and mis-represented, amid cries of, “Why isn’t there an International Men’s Day?!” and “Women have equality now – why do we need an International Women’s day?”

And, finally, women. Who are widely abused and mis-represented. Which is why feminism and IWD are so important.

In many countries around the world, women are utterly subjugated as individuals and as a social group, in all areas of the country (urban and rural), at all levels of society, and in all respects of living. In other countries, treatment of women runs from this level of oppression to something approaching equality with men.

Some examples:

Nigeria
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Despite the Constitution of Nigeria providing for equality across the federation of states, actual laws contain discriminatory provisions, and the application or enforcement of other laws are done so in a way which discriminates against women. Discrimination and oppression of women is also facilitated by the parallel systems of statutory and customary laws, and Sharia law in the northern states.

Although the law allows women to own property, cultural traditions typically prevent individual women from holding property. Discriminatory practices persist in employment at all levels – from access to employment to the salaries paid to those women who are employed.

Domestic violence is widespread and is considered socially acceptable. The law permits husbands to beat their wives so long as it does not result in “grevious harm”. In rural parts of Nigeria there are “customary norms” of levels of violence against women.

The police and authorities are reluctant to investigate or intervene where complaints of domestic violence are made to them, and domestic violence is typically regarded as a private or family matter. No laws specifically criminalize violence in the family, and prosecutions for violence in the family have to rely on the law on common assault and other criminal provisions. In any event, the costs of access to justice are usually prohibitive, especially for women who are unlikely to already be economically independent.

Rape of women and girls, by both the police and security authorities and by private individuals, is accepted as being endemic in Nigeria. Survivors of rape or sexual assault are typically stigmatised. Rape of a wife by her husband is not a criminal offense. What inadequate laws that do exist outlawing violence against women are not properly enforced by the criminal justice system. Those rare women to do take their cases to court face humiliating rules of evidence, patronizing and discriminatory attitudes from court officials, and little chance of justice.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), or female genital cutting, is widespread throughout Nigeria. The type of mutilation may vary depending on location and the local or regional cultural practice. Estimates suggest that 19% of the female population has been subjected to FGM. All types of the four categories of FGM are thought to be practiced in the country, although it is thought that in the north females are “less likely” to be subjected to infibulation.

(The four categories of FGM as defined by the WHO are: (a) clitoridectomy, involves removing the prepuce with or without excision of part or all of the clitoris; (b) excision, removes the prepuce and clitoris together with partial or total excision of the labia minora; (c) infibulation, removes part or all of the external genitalia and stitches/narrows the vaginal opening (in northwest Nigeria, infibulation is often performed after a clitoridectomy); (d) unclassified, includes all other procedures such as pricking, piercing, or incising of the clitoris and/or labia; stretching of the clitoris and/or labia; cauterisation by burning of the clitoris and surrounding tissue; scraping of tissue surrounding the vaginal orifice (angurya cuts) or cutting of the vagina (gishiri cuts); introduction of corrosive substances or herbs into the vagina to cause bleeding or for the purpose of tightening or narrowing it, and any other procedure that falls under the definition given above.)

There is no federal law against FGM. At state level, some laws against FGM have been enacted following lobbying by NGOs, but they are not enforced. State interference into the practice is commonly considered to be a violation of privacy. FGM is typically carried out by a traditional herbalist or untrained individual, with unsterilised instruments, and not by a trained doctor or nurse.

Spain

The Supreme Court in a ruling in May 2003 refused to accept the state’s responsibility for protecting women from domestic violence. The Court overturned a compensation award by a lower court to the family of Mar Herrero, a woman murdered by her former partner after months of threats and harassment which she had reported to the authorities. The Court ruled that state responsibility applied only if the crime was committed by agents of the state or with their knowledge or acquiescence.

Mar Herrero was killed in October 1999 by a man convicted of the attempted murder of a previous partner. He had been conditionally released seven months earlier, against the advice of the prison psychologist. Seven days before he killed her, a request by the Attorney General’s office for his conditional release to be reversed was turned down.

Alicia Arístregui was beaten and abused by her husband throughout the 14 years of their marriage. He attacked her psychologically as well as physically. After she left him, he continued to threaten her and repeatedly defied a court order banning him from coming near her. She and her family appealed to the police and courts, asking for protection, but their appeals were ignored.

Her husband caught up with her one day four months after she had left him. She had just taken her children to the school bus stop. He stabbed her to death.

Alicia left her husband in January 2002 and found shelter in a government refuge. When applying for a court order banning him from contacting her, she revealed that she had needed counselling because of his abuse. She stated that he repeatedly threatened her and her family to make her give him custody of the children and the family house, and she believed he would carry out his threats.

Alicia and her brothers frequently told a court judge that her husband had breached the court’s restraining order. These reports were not passed on to the municipal police in the town where Alicia lived. The family’s repeated requests for protection were ignored by the authorities. In July 2003 Spain’s senior judicial body (the General Council of the Judiciary) supported the judge’s conduct, stating that the judiciary was not responsible for ensuring coordination between different police bodies.

Since her death, one of Alicia’s brothers has founded an organization to fight for police protection for victims of gender-based violence. In many instances, the courts have failed to take seriously women’s complaints of death threats and assaults by their partners, or to enforce restraint orders against the perpetrators, sometimes with fatal results. In addition, there is little state funding for emergency centres, refuges and sheltered apartments, which are unevenly distributed across the country, based primarily on the ability of non-governmental organizations to open and operate them.

Cameroon
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Despite constitutional provisions recognising women’s rights, women did not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men. Some points of civil law were prejudicial to women. The law allows a husband to oppose his wife’s right to work in a separate profession if the protest is made in the interest of the
household and the family. Customary law was far more discriminatory against women, since in many regions a woman customarily was regarded as the property of her husband. Because of the importance attached to customs and traditions, civil laws protecting women often are not respected.

Polygamy is permitted by both law and tradition. A man may not be convicted of adultery unless the sexual act takes place in the home; a woman may be convicted regardless of location. Forced marriages take place in certain regions of Cameroon. Payment of “bride prices” by the husband are common. Upon payment, the bride becomes the property of her husband. If her husband dies, a wife is often required to marry one of his brothers or else repay the bride price in full. There are no national laws dealing with family issues.

The World Organisation against Torture links the high levels of violence against women in Cameroon and their low status in all aspects of life. The law prohibits rape, although police and the courts rarely
investigated and prosecuted rape cases.

FGM is not widely practiced, but where it does exist, including infibulation, has been described by the Red Cross as being “carried out in a barbarous manner by traditional midwives with no medical training, without anaesthetic and using rudimentary instruments. It can give rise to serious complications, sometimes resulting in death.”

“Breast ironing” is another form of violence against women, practiced in an effort to protect prematurely well-developed young girls from predatory older men. It involves using heated objects, such as a stone, hammer or heated spatula, to “massage” the breasts to make them disappear. Although punishable by up to three years imprisonment, it is estimated that up to 24% of girls in Cameroon have been subjected to this practice.

Ireland

The Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland (SAVI) Report, in 2002, found that one in four women had experienced some form of sexual abuse in their lifetime and one in five had experienced sexual assault as adults. In 2003, the Women’s Aid helpline answered almost 13,000 calls. One in three of these related to physical violence, 13% to sexual abuse. Between January 1996 and the end of June 2005, 109 women were murdered in Ireland, 72 of these in their own homes. In those cases which have been resolved (up to the end of June 2005), all were perpetrated by a man and almost half were perpetrated by the woman’s partner or ex-partner. A survey conducted by Dublin’s Rotunda Maternity Hospital in 2000, found that in a sample of 400 pregnant women, one in eight had experienced abuse at the hands of their partner while pregnant. A survey of women attending GP surgeries in 2002 found that two in five women who had been involved in a sexual relationship with a man, had experienced violence. This violence ranged from being punched in the face to being choked. As shocking as these figures are, it is widely accepted that they probably under-represent the true extent of the problem. This is due to significant under-reporting of violence by women. A study by Women’s Aid in the mid-1990s found that only one in five women who experienced domestic violence in Ireland ever contacted the Gardaí. The conviction rate for domestic violence dropped from 16% in 1997 to 6.5% in 2002, despite the introduction of the 1996 Domestic Violence Act. Rape within marriage was not a criminal offense in Ireland until 1990. The first, and thus far only, conviction for marital rape was secured in 2004.

Colombia

Although prohibited by law, rape, including spousal rape, remains a serious problem in Colombia. Members of illegal groups and guerrillas raped, sexually abused, and sometimes sexually mutilated women and children for fraternizing with the enemy, working as prostitutes, having sexual relations outside of marriage, or violating imposed codes of conduct or restrictions on dress.

In relation to domestic violence, the law provides prison time if the abuser causes “grave harm” or the abuse is recurrent; provisions for fines were not applied. Safe houses and counseling services for victims cannot meet the magnitude of the problem. Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation continues to be a problem. Illegal groups and guerillas force women into sexual exploitation by their members. Women are discriminated against in terms of access to employment and salaries, and are disproportionately affected by unemployment.

USA

In the USA, acts of sexual violence against Indigenous women are widespread; Native American and Alaska Native women are at least 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the USA in general. The majority of perpetrators go unpunished as many Indigenous women never report the abuse committed against them, while those who do report it find other barriers to justice. The US government has created a complex maze of federal, state and tribal authorities. Indigenous women’s organizations and tribal authorities have brought forward concrete proposals to help stop the abuse against Indigenous women – but the federal government has failed to act.

Pakistan
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Despite recent laws enacted to improve the situation of women, police authorities and courts still treat crimes against women in the old, Islamic tradition: “women were still asked to provide witnesses for the alleged sexual offence and continue to be booked for adultery. The number of cases of honour killings, gang rape, abduction and killings of women with the connivance of authorities has increased; ministers and powerful people were involved in violence against women”. Women are still discriminated against in participating in elections and public life. There are no laws to protect the few women who do enter the workplace.

Marriage and family life is still governed by Islamic laws and tribal practices in respective areas. This includes the practice of “watta satta”, so-called exchange marriages, where men marry each others’ sisters – effectively in marriages of convenience to suit the men involved and where the women are teated as commodities. Estimates suggest that one-third of marriages in rural areas are watta satta marriages. “Koranic marriages” are practiced in Sindh province, where a woman’s property reverts to her family upon marriage; thereafter, she is expected to remain indoors, and may not come into contact with any male non-family member over the age of 14 years. The practice of “vani” also persists in rural Pakistan, where a woman is offered for marriage in order to settle a blood feud.

Women are widely subjected to extreme forms of violence in myriad forms: Dowry and family related disputes often resulted in death or disfigurement through burning or acid. A term, “stove deaths”, has emerged for the frequent practice of dousing a woman in kerosine and lighting her on fire, very often involving a dispute with in-laws.

Police and judges were reluctant to take action in domestic violence cases, viewing it as a family problem. Abused women usually were returned to their abusive family members. Women were reluctant to pursue charges because of the stigma attached to divorce and their economic and psychological dependence on relatives. Relatives were reluctant to report abuse for fear of dishonoring the family

The UN Committee charged with examining how governments implement CEDAW included in their 2007 conclusions:

Pakistan remained a patriarchal society with deep-rooted traditional and cultural stereotypes regarding women in the family, workplace and in society generally

Which pretty much sums things up world-wide.

(Interestingly, even though every day is effectively International Men’s Day, there is a specific day set aside.)

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