We must be aware that there is a shadow pandemic right next to us. A pandemic of violence that compromises gender equality and peace
In the previous 12 months alone, 243 million women and girls (aged 15-49) across the world have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner: that is 462,320 women per minute.
To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UNESCO organized an online high-level roundtable to address the root causes of violence against women by calling on the international community to work together to shift narratives of men and masculinities, deconstruct stereotypes and address violent patterns of behavior and mentalities. Indeed, Promundo global research tells us that if societies worked to get rid of restrictive, harmful ideas about what it means to be a man, we could reduce sexual violence by at least 69 percent and bullying and violence by 40 percent every year.
UNESCO’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, and the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, opened the online event.
Sadly, we are far from eliminating violence against women and girls. The #metoo movement and the alarming escalation in gender-based violence against women we’ve seen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are a case in point
Moderated by Danielle Cliche, Senior Executive Office for Gender Equality at UNESCO, the roundtable included Dr. Gary Barker – CEO and founder of Promundo; Ms Céline Bonnaire, Executive Director of the Kering Foundation; Dr. Julio César González Pagés – Director of the Ibero-American Network of Masculinities; Mr Robert T. Coulter – President and Executive Director of the Indian Law Resource Centre; Mr Chris T. Foley – Attorney, Indian Law Resource Centre; and Dr. Edit Schlaffer – Founder of Women without Borders.
The panelists insisted that what we call violence against women is in fact, overwhelmingly, men’s violence against women. It stems from patterns of power and impunity, that require States, the private sector and the civil society to act together to prevent all types of violence. Research shows that the men who are most likely to act violently against women are those who have witnessed or have been the victims of violence themselves. Dr. Schlaffer pushed forward the discussion by demonstrating the relationship between domestic violence and violent extremism, between “warzones in the home” and “warzones on the streets”.
Boys encounter messages everyday about what it means to be a boy, and these messages are reproduced from generation to generation
The discussion also focused on the role of education, media, and culture in propagating and countering harmful stereotypes about masculinity. Together they shape our mentalities and behaviors, which is why institutional change has to be accompanied by cultural change in order to dispel toxic masculinities and cultivate a culture of healthy masculinities. Best practice initiatives were highlighted, such as Promundo’s Manhood 2.0 initiative that encourages young men in the U.S. to reflect on the impact of harmful gender norms; the Global Boyhood initiative launched by Promundo and the Kering Foundation that aims at helping parents raise young boys in a way that promotes gender equality; and Women without Border’s FatherSchools based on the belief that the role of fathers is often neglected in the prevention of radicalization and violent extremism.
If we consume macho culture without questioning it, if we don’t change culture and education, we won’t be able to change the mentalities of men
In her closing remarks, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, Gabriela Ramos, launched a Call to Action that is designed to build back better with legislation and resources that specifically address the issue of violence against women in the post Covid-19 world.
Finally, the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Åsa Régner, joined the conversation with a video message, and warned the audience that measures taken to combat violence against women worldwide are too often ad hoc, not fully implemented or under-funded. She stressed the importance of international collaboration to end gender-based violence through initiatives such as the UN-EU funded Spotlight Initiative and the Generation Equality Forum, that will take place in Mexico and Paris in 2021 and features an Action Coalition on gender-based violence. Collaboration between countries, between institutions, between the public and the private sectors, is essential if we want to achieve gender equality.
This is a huge problem, and the UN and UN Women cannot solve it alone. We depend on partnerships