February 1st 2013
Women in Latin America and the Caribbean subject to widespread sexual violence
The particular focus of this article is the widespread crises of sexual, physical, and emotional abuses of women by a domestic partner, namely in Latin America and the Caribbean. What they found was that 17% of women, and 53% of women interviewed had been subject to abuse by a domestic partner, and in seven of the twelve countries they looked at, one in four women has suffered this kind of violence. Gerry Adams interviewed Alessandra Guedes, Regional Advisor on Intra-Family Violence at PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) about these numbers, and what they say of the current state of women in these countries. She reports that while the problem itself isn't shocking (as it is a problem they have been aware of) it is the frequency of abuse at the hands of an intimate partner that is staggering. Guedes' report also has found a correlation between women who are abused as children and those abused as adults. She found that in households where a child is witness to her mother being beaten at the hands of a domestic partner are more likely to be in an abusive relationship when older.She also found that women who experienced physical or sexual violence as a child is twice as likely to experience violence at the hands of a partner than women who have not. What this proves is that violence against women is an issue that is not only overlooked, but normalized in these countries. By being witness to these crimes, children grow up internalizing the lack of action being taken to protect women, and the discrimination continues to be ignored. This leads to women feeling powerless to stop the physical and sexual violence, and men to continue harming their domestic partners because they have normalized these practices.
4:45pm
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2013/01/women-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-subject-to-widespread-sexual-violence-who/
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