Women NEED political voices, especially NOW.
The tragedy of armed conflict is a situation which has immense harmful impact to all. I will be discussing the gender-differentiated effects that the CURRENT Ukraine crisis has and will only worsen if not highlighted. The various issues women will now have to face during this time of conflict means there is severe importance needed on the level of representation of women in politics and the decision-making process.
Understand what is happening in the world YOU live in.
Russia and Ukraine conflict explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d21pkEvYMHc
(Figure 1: UNHCR, 2022)
[embeddoc url=”https://unherd.com/2022/03/how-ukrainian-women-will-suffer/” download=”all” viewer=”google”]
The data above displays the total refuge influx from Ukraine in neighbouring countries. According to UNOS, majority of 2.3 million refugees from Ukraine are women and children. Analysis from this data has also found 54% of people in need of assistance due to the effects of the war are said to be women (OCHA, 2022).
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This illustrates the various forms women have begun to suffer at the cost of war and at the hands of the decisions made by authorities in governing positions. During times of hardships like this, it is women who seem to suffer the most.
However, this is not information which is new to us. A 2018 analysis of prevalence data from 2000-2018 across 161 countries and areas has found that nearly 1 in 3 women are being subjected to physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their life. With more than 640 million of these women suffering from violence perpetrated by both current and former husbands, and intimate partners (UN Women, 2022).
Intimate partner violence refers to behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours.
(UN Women, 2021)
This is said to increase in settings formulated by armed conflict (Rehn and Sirleaf, 2002). Data gathered from past research constructed evidently shows there is a strong global correlation in the increase of intimate partner abuse and war. The 2008 research conducted on the affect of the July 2006 conflict in Israel, aimed to investigate the affect it had on Lebanese women. (Usta et al., 2008). Results showed 89% of the female participants had to leave their homes during the conflict due to fearing for their safety. Self-reported negative mental health scores by the women also found that there was a strong positive correlation with high scores and domestic violence both during and after the conflict.
BEAR IN MIND majority of domestic abuse incidents go unreported. We are only aware about ones on the “tip of the iceberg.”
Now that we are witnessing a war, we cannot ignore the conflicts other than armed occurring behind closed doors. Change needs to be created, those in power need to create solutions.
Yet, there is severe underrepresentation of women in political leadership.
♀ ONLY 26 women serve as Heads of State and/or Government in 24 countries.
♀ ONLY 10 countries with women as Head of State and 13 with women as Head of Government.
♀ ONLY 21 per cent of women are government ministers.
♀ ONLY 4 countries with 50% or more women in parliament in single or lower houses.
♀ ONLY 27 states have women accounting for less than 10% of parliamentarians in single or lower houses. This is including four which have no women at all.
CLICK on the link below to read Statement by UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous on Ukraine.
What NEEDS to happen so we can create real change?
The political engagement of women evidently needs a strong increase, whether this means their involvement in political decision making, creating organisations – political or revolutionary, change is required. Of course, this isn’t something that women haven’t been fighting for through time, for example, the suffragette’s fight to finally win the vote in 1918. We can see other steps towards gender equality in political participation as UN data shows more than two-thirds in national countries have applied gender quotas. This enables space to open for women’s political engagement in parliaments.
An increase in the inclusion of women in parliament to balance political participation and power sharing between both genders is an international target which has been set by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). However, there are still current situations, such as the violence against women running for office in Latin America (Sanin, 2020). Women face danger whether or not men decide to “allow” to take political participation. This highlights the importance of the fight for equality as these women still demonstrate political leadership against all odds. By aiming for places in power, women challenge issues such as gender based violence and laws, parental leave and childcare, pensions, etc. It seems that regardless of all the political changes and policies to undo the oppression suffered by women, the patriarchy has deep rooted misogyny in society and women will always continue to suffer at the hands of men. Even when women are fighting against violence, they are met with more to silence them.
So RIGHT NOW, when we as Women and our male allies feel there is nothing we can do, as it’ll be too late before we find women the necessary political leadership to help, remember there are other ways!
Political engagement can be seen in different forms. Even in ways that may not be seen as political by the traditional decision makers. The fight for equality has driven women as well as men, to turn to outside movements and simply their voices, to focus on raising awareness and creating social change. An example of this is the MeToo movement.
CLICK here to get an insight on what MeToo is – https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/10/9/17933746/me-too-movement-metoo-brett-kavanaugh-weinstein
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP
Petition
Donate
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March
Be the leader you want to see.
References
Inter-Parliamentary Union (2008). Equality in politics: A survey of men and women in parliaments.
Rehn, E, Sirleaf, EJ (2002) Women, War, Peace: The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-Building. New York: UNIFEM.
Sanin, J., 2020. Violence against Women in Politics: Latin America in an Era of Backlash | Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society: Vol 45, No 2. [online] Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Available at: <https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/704954> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
United Nations (1995). Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Critical Area G, “Women, Power and Decision-Making”.
UN Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2022. [online] Available at: <https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-humanitarian-needs-overview-2022-february-2022-enuk> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
UN Women – Headquarters. 2022. Facts and figures: Women’s leadership and political participation. [online] Available at: <https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures#_edn8> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
UN Women – Headquarters. 2020. Women in politics. [online] Available at: <https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/03/women-in-politics-map-2020> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
Usta, J., Farver, J. and Zein, L., 2008. Women, War, and Violence: Surviving the Experience | Journal of Women’s Health. [online] Journal of Women’s Health. Available at: <https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jwh.2007.0602> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
Worthington, A., 2017. Girls just wanna have fundamental human rights. [online] Flickr. Available at: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/andyworthington/32110807220> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
Hi Bia.
I enjoyed reading your blog as you have covered a lot of different areas in real depth and I can sense your passion for gender equality, which I can really relate to! I completely agree with your stance that so many issues of inequality and human rights violations like violence happen behind closed doors, but I wondered if you had any thoughts on how we can reduce these unreported cases of violence? If there are ways that this gender based violence can be stopped and if reporting can somehow be made more accessible and safe? Thanks!
Hiya Katie,
It is amazing to hear that you can relate to my passion for gender equality! I fear this is a topic our generation have begun to dismiss due to the belief that we no longer need to fight for it. It is such a shame that as you said, many cases of violence towards women are happening behind closed doors. I think that perhaps if women felt as if reporting these incidents would benefit them, they would be more willing to speak up. However, living in a society where we, as women, are completely disregarded and live in a state of oppression, it is difficult for women to rely on the system to support them. Domestically abused women need to be shown they have support systems by for example, making more programs available and accessible to them. A lot of people are unaware of what is out there to ensure they can be aided and how they can get out of situations they feel are impossible to escape. I think you would love the statistics and information on domestic abuse posted by the UK Gov website, it is an excellent read!
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabusevictimcharacteristicsenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2019
How gender based violence can be stopped is such a great question! Personally I think by solving any issue, we must first tackle the root of the problem. In this case, it is men! We need to figure out why men are partaking in these acts of violence and abuse. Although theres a few cases of women being the perpetrators, it is a known fact that women are commonly the victims of abuse. Therefore, understanding the mentality of the abusers, rather than the abused, may be a great start in stopping gender based violence. To answer your question on how reporting can be made more accessible and safe, i think as long as women know they will be supported when asking for help and not dismissed or mistreated, as we see in many cases, they will gain more trust in the criminal system. It is hard to convince women to rely on a system that seems to be built against them. I’d love to hear your personal views on how we can ensure women feel supported by, for example, the police, because then they would be more likely to report.
I look forward to getting to know your opinion!
Hi Bia,
This blog was a really engaging read! I loved how many resources, links and options that you gave within this blog for people to get more engaged
I’m sure, the same as all other women, that I feel that it is really important for women to be fairly represented within politics so that the government can tackle issues facing women effectively.
I also liked how you gave ways for women to challenge systemic misogyny by aiming for places of power to change from within. I was wondering if you had any opinions on how women can first achieve getting to positions of power such as government. Can the government do more to promote women within politics? Or have you seen any initiative from the government to do more to acknowledge and tackle issues facing women today?
Would love to hear your opinions on this!
Thanks.
Hey Sophie,
Thank you so much for leaving a comment! I’m so glad you were able to appreciate the resources I included and I hope you’ve been able to watch the video links and read the articles. I would love to hear your opinion on the statement I attached, made by Sima Bahous
In regard to your question on how women can get into positions of power, I’d like to firstly highlight the fact that, as mentioned in my blog, this is an ongoing challenge. In many cases, it is not so much as to what we women can do, but more so the level of achievement those with superiority allow us to gain. It is no question that women are applying for these political roles and trying to get involved, it just seems there is a barrier preventing them from reaching positions of power. Therefore, to answer your second question too, yes! To reach these positions such as the government example you gave, it is in the power of the government themselves and our male allies at the top to create the change we need. Their privilege is their power! There is only so much the oppressed can do. There are many ways this has already been done, such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, the example I used in my blog. This showed great initiative to tackle the issues women are facing!
I hope these insights are of interest to you! Again, thank you so much for your comment.
Yes, I loved the sources you gave!
I completely agree with the statement by Sima Bahous that you mentioned. There is a need for specific and targeted humanitarian responses towards certain oppressed peoples, genders and races within society, especially when it comes to the crisis within Ukraine.
Thanks so much for clarifying and answering my questions! It is of course important for allies of oppressed groups to come forwards and speak out against those who mean to oppress. As both of us are women, I’m sure you understand the day to day struggle that we still face today for normal women. Therefore knowing there is only so much we can do from our position, I just wish more people would read blogs like this so more male allies and people from positions of power would come forward and speak out!
Thanks again for your reply!
Sophie
So good to hear that we share the same views when it comes to tackling social injustice! And even better that representatives such as Sima Bahous are on the same page, especially because of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the fact that we need those in position of power to take action.
No problem, I appreciate your interest in my blog and hope you carry on reading my future ones. I would love to hear more of your views. I completely agree with you, we need to gain more male allies to create real change. I recently read an article exactly on this topic and i think you would enjoy it.
https://hbr.org/2018/10/how-men-can-become-better-allies-to-women
The article touches on the importance of male allies and how they can become ones. I hope you find it just as intriguing as i did.
Bia