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VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN:
Violence against Women or VAW is “any
act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result
in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty, whether occurring in public or private life”
- UN Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence Against Women; December 1993
VAW
cuts across cultural, economic and religious barriers. Usually, the
perpetrators are known to the victims. Physical abuse is always
accompanied by severe psychological, verbal, and sexual abuse. The
common attitude or response by the society is to blame the victim
instead of the abuser. VAW has a long term mental and physical health
consequences.
CWR
categorizes VAW into seven forms and dubs it as THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
against women. The seven deadly sins against women are:
1. Rape and Incest – a crime committed against a woman or a
child under any of the following circumstances:
•
Through force, threat or intimidation
•
Offended party is deprived of reason or
otherwise unconscious
•
By means of fraud or grave abuse of
authority
•
When the offended party is under 12 years
old or demented
•
When a person inserts his penis into
another person’s mouth or anal orifice or any instrument or object
into the genital or anal orifice of another person
2. Sexual harassment – any unwanted, unsolicited and unreasonable attention or sexual
gestures towards a woman that makes her uncomfortable, intimidated,
embarrassed, humiliated or offended.
3. Domestic violence (domestic
abuse of women and children) – on intimate relationships,
violence occurs when:
·
an
act or a series of acts (physical, sexual, psychological, economic
abuse) committed by any person against a woman who is wife/ former
wife, live-in partner, with sexual or dating relationship, with a
common child (legitimate or illegitimate)
4. Sex trafficking, white slavery,
and prostitution
SEX
TRAFFICKING:
·
recruitment,
transportation, harboring or receipt of persons
·
with
or without the victim’s
consent or knowledge
·
within
or across national boarders
·
by
means of threat, use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction,
fraud, deception, abuse of power or position
·
for
the purpose of sexual exploitation or prostitution
[PROSTITUTION: any act,
transaction, scheme or design involving the use of a person by another
for sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct in exchange for money,
profit or any other consideration]
5. Sexual discrimination in the
workplace – women
are still hired in jobs that are extension of their gender roles or
in the so-called “feminine” work. Women are still given low-skilled,
low-paying jobs that do not develop their fullest potentials.
Besides, qualifications such as pleasing personality, single, and
young are preferred. They are also given lesser opportunities to
enhance their skills and be promoted compared to their male
counterparts.
6. Inaccessibility or limited access
to maternal health and childcare – most of the women could not access to the expensive medical
services in the clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals and clinics have
very limited medical resources that can be offered for free.
7. Violence as a result of state
repression - a
repressive government institutionalizes violence or infringing of the
fundamental rights to curb political dissent. Rape and sexual abuse
as forms of torture are used to destroy the dignity and strength of
the woman-victim.
Violence
Against Women and Children
In spite of the 37 laws, executive orders, and
resolutions for women’s protection, violence against women continues to
rise. In 2009, 9,485 cases of violence against women were recorded by
Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center
(PNP-WCPC). This was 21% higher than the 2008 recorded cases
□ Every hour one woman is a victim of
violence
□ Two women raped and 19
women battered daily in 2009
□ Based on PNP and DSWD data,
domestic violence recorded the highest number of cases. It showed a
38% increase compared to its 2008 data.
Six years after Republic Act 9262 or Anti-VAWC was
passed into law, violation against women and children still
increased. Region 11 (Davao)
had the most number of recorded cases of VAW with 2,290 cases, which
constituted 34% of the total domestic violence nationwide. Region 4
(Southern Tagalog) on the other hand, the most number of cases of
sexual abuse (rape, attempted rape, sexual harassment).
Violence
Against Children (VAC)
The cases of violence against
children continue to increase. In 2009, there were 9,797 cases of
violence against children recorded by PNP-WCPC, 14% higher than the
2008 data. Rape obtained the
highest number, which recorded 3,251 or 33% of the entire cases
committed against children. This showed a 400% increase from its 2008
data.
State-sponsored
Violation
From January 2001 to December 2009, there
have been:
□ 153 women victims of political killings
□ 31 women victims of enforced
disappearances
March
2008
Let the
numbers speak, says Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She insists that the
people should focus on the promise of the result of 2007 showing a
high economic growth rather than politicking that could tear down the
nation.
Let the
numbers speak, indeed. This paper reveals how women are tightening
their belts in order to survive. This paper discusses the continuing
violence experience by women, which has been exacerbated by the
systematic poverty and organized plunder and corruption.
Let the
numbers speak, indeed. Let the expose of the $329 million
ZTE-National Broadband
Network
(NBN) deal by whistle-blower Rodolfo Lozada exemplify the
government’s action in addressing the gaps in social services that
women badly need.
GMA:
Denying truth and accountability
Arroyo
announced “2007 was the best year for the Philippine economy in over
30 years.” According to Arroyo, “the Philippines is defying gravity,
rising steadily” as the economy posted a 7.3 growth, the stock market
up, the peso at it’s highest level in many years, unemployment and
poverty are down.1
Foreign
investors and international credit rating agencies, such as Moody’s
Investors Service, believe that despite scandals of corruption that
are being hurled against the beleaguered government, it has done
right for the economy.2
But for
Filipino women, the reality is not as rosy as the statistics paint.
The much publicized economic growth is just but numbers that do not
necessarily translate to any concrete improvement of their families’
living conditions. The hyped strong economy is not founded upon a
strong domestic economy but rather due to foreign investments, debts,
and cheap labor export.3
The highest
growth rates that contributed to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
were registered in mining and quarrying and construction while the
real productive forces of the economy, i.e., agriculture and
manufacturing, had a sluggish growth.4
Though
having the highest growth rate, the mining sub-sector is smallest in
contribution to economy. Mining in the country is dominated by
foreign firms and are actually displacing indigenous people from
their ancestral domains. The growth reflects only how eagerly Arroyo
put the country’s natural resources for sale to foreign investors. (download full report of ULAT LILA MARCH 2008)
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