H31 Violence Against Women:
Global Realities and Responsibilities

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Gender based theories of violence against women focus on a prevalent belief system across cultures and religious systems where males are understood to be superior to women and entitled to maintain their authority over women using a variety of controlling and coercing means, including violence. The gender-based analysis recognizes the ways in which women have been conditioned to accept this belief system and the importance of educating women and men to the dangers and limitations of gender role conditioning. This course connects many forms of male violence against women, such as domestic violence, trafficking, female foeticide and infanticide, dowry deaths, and more. The case studies and the scholarship come principally from Asia and North America. This course has eight required chatroom sessions (click for details).

Course Outline

Lesson 1: Violence in the heart of the family--Dowry deaths, infanticide, and religiously sanctioned domestic violence

Lesson 2: Husbands Gamble Away their Wife, Draupadi--Case Study of violence in the Hindu Scriptures

Lesson 3: Violence in the heart of the family continued--more case studies

Lesson 4: What the scholars and poets are saying

Lesson 5: Systematic rape in the conduct of war

Lesson 6: No tears for the raped concubine--Case Study of violence in the Hebrew Scriptures

Lesson 7: Human trafficing for forced labor and sexual services

Lesson 8: Signs of Hope for the Future

Course Objectives

• to explore the foundational causes of male violence against women (domestic violence, trafficking, female foeticide and infanticide, dowry deaths, and more) within a multicultural and religious worldview
• to examine how race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, mental and physical ability and other "social markers" impact manifestations of violence against women
• to expand critical skills for reading of classical religious texts (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu) in order to surface the social construction of women's reality in a world dominated by misogyny and the male code of honor
• to explore how the moral conscience of men generally functions differently from that of women when it comes to acts of violence
• to assess the effectiveness of individual and group efforts to reduce the prevalence of violence against women
• to interrogate "the personal as political"; to understand the role of the individual in maintaining or dismantling ongoing systems of domination and exploitation; to develop a sensitivity to the impact of repeated victimization
  

Computer Assisted Learning

Many of the materials examined in each session can either be read silently, read out loud, or listened to as audio recordings. In addition, there are some short videos that will be viewed. Accordingly, those taking this course will want to test their internet access speed and their computer settings to assure themselves that they can enjoy a clear reception of audio and video files. If you are working on a computer in a public space, you will want to have your earphones handy. To test your computer system, double-click on the image below. [Note: It takes about ten seconds before the sound track begins. At the end, use your browser's reverse button to return to this page.]

Learning Style

Preparation: The course presumes no special previous training.

Types of feedback called for: Personal reflections on various texts/audio/video presentations, spontaneous writing (the fastwrite), making surmises relative to the hidden agenda of narratives

Cross-cultural component = +9 Based on a scale +1 to +10. This rating indicates the degree to which the presentation of this course includes an examination of (a) the rich diversity of cultures existing today and (b) the transformations that a given culture experiences over a span of time.

Interactivity: Besides offering one's own thoughts for comment, each participant normally spends twenty to thirty minutes each week reflecting upon and offering feedback regarding the reflections of others in the class. Guidelines for offering feedback are presented and implemented in such a way as to assure respect for the individuality of each participant and to provide a safe atmonsphere for free and open exchanges.

Chatroom activity: On the eight Saturdays, all the members of this course will participate in a 90-minute chatroom exchange on the topic of that week. These chatroom exchanges help to put a human face on the other members of your learning circle, and they result in depths of understanding that go beyond the Exploratory Questions in each Lesson. These chatroom sessions are highly structured, highly engaging, and offer strong elements for feedback as well.

Since participants in your learning circle live in various times zones, I ask that you click here in order to determine the local time for you when it is 09:00 in New York city. Please arrive in the chatroom 10 minutes early so that everyone can begin together on the designated Saturdays.

If you notice that the local time when the chatroom runs presents a grave difficulty or an impossibility for you, then please send a notice immediately to Moderator@fuse.net describing your difficulty. If you foresee that prior engagements prevent you from participating in two or more chatrooms, then please describe this in an email as well.

To activate the chatroom, paste this address below into your browser or click here: Please try out this link now so that you can assure yourself that it will work for you when you need it.

http://www.basechat.com/c-files/catherinecollege.net/chat-two.htm

Participants are welcome to meet with other participants in the chatroom at times and for purposes they set for themselves at any time during the course. If you notice that a class is in session, then please do not login.

Tutor availability: A tutor will be overseeing each session. You may contact your tutor via email anytime (and, in some instances, via phone during limited hours). You will receive regular feedback, encouragement, and challenges from your tutor and other participants of your learning circle each week.

Textbook: none. All readings are supplied online.

Time required each week: 3 to 4 hours at times convenient to yourself plus the 90-minute live chatroom session.

Graduation Certificate: Participants who wish to merit a Graduation Certificate are asked to complete a research project that requires ten to fourteen hours of research and writing beyond the eight lessons of the course. Practice shows that the choice of topic is best left open until the final weeks of the course when further details will be distributed.

Introduction

The United Nations defines violence against women as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

There are many forms of violence against women, including sexual, physical, or emotional abuse by an intimate partner; physical or sexual abuse by family members or others; sexual harassment and abuse by authority figures (such as teachers, police officers or employers); trafficking for forced labour or sex; and such traditional practices as forced or child marriages, dowry-related violence; and honour killings, when women are murdered in the name of family honour. Systematic sexual abuse in conflict situations is another form of violence against women.

Scope of the problem

• In a 10-country study on women's health and domestic violence conducted by WHO,
  • Between 15% and 71% of women reported physical or sexual violence by a husband or partner.
  • Many women said that their first sexual experience was not consensual. (24% in rural Peru, 28% in Tanzania, 30% in rural Bangladesh, and 40% in South Africa).
  • Between 4% and 12% of women reported being physically abused during pregnancy. More about the study
• About 5,000 women are murdered by family members in the name of honour each year worldwide.
• Trafficking of women and girls for forced labour and sex is widespread and often affects the most vulnerable.
• Forced marriages and child marriages violate the human rights of women and girls, but they are widely practiced in many countries in Asia, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
• Worldwide, up to one in five women and one in 10 men report experiencing sexual abuse as children. Children who experience sexual abuse are much more likely to encounter other forms of abuse later in life.

Social and economic costs

The social and economic costs of violence against women are enormous and have ripple effects throughout society. Women may suffer isolation, inability to work, loss of wages, lack of participation in regular activities, and limited ability to care for themselves and their children.

Prevention and response

More evaluation is needed to assess the effectiveness of violence prevention measures. Interventions with promising results include increasing education and opportunities for women and girls, improving their self-esteem and negotiating skills, and reducing gender inequities in communities.

Other efforts with positive success include: work with teenagers to reduce dating violence; supportive programmes for children who have witnessed intimate partner violence; mass public education campaigns; and work with men and boys to change attitudes about gender inequities and the acceptability of violence.

Advocacy for victims, better awareness of violence and its consequences among health workers, and wider knowledge of available resources for abused women (including legal assistance, housing and child care), can lessen the consequences of violence. (www)

What former participants were saying

It was amazing!!! I had loads of fun and I learnt a lot. It was a completely new experience though. It took some getting used to but it was great.

I am quite energized by this class and find myself sharing nearly every day with my sisters what I am learning.... We were all delighted to learn there is a very progressive feminist movement in Morocco. Thank you Catherine College!

The most enjoyable activity was the chatroom sessions. Then the course material, print and video resources, and the questions that were posed for reflection and response.

The moderator knew his job. kept everyone of us focused, encouraged us when necessary, stimulated me, and was great.

I most enjoyed engaging with the course material presented for the topic. It gave me a deeper and wider understanding of violence against women in diverse situations and cultural contexts. It has directed me to explore and participate in women's movements against violence, particularly that of trafficking of women and children.

I came upon one hotspot where in the middle of the most stark scripture story about the concubine in judges, a male classmate veered off into a heroizing story about the behaviour of men on the Titanic. I may have been too hard in my response to him but Aaron was very gentle and handled it in one sentence that would not have hurt the person but rather make him think.

Case studies and videos were the activities I enjoyed the most and that contributed the most to my learning.

There was certainly a lot of material to cover in this course. Nevertheless, the chatroom sessions did help us to get to know one another and, during the course as I was reading the material and reflecting on the issues, I did have the feeling that I was connected with 'learning partners' on the same journey. This for me is a very significant outcome of the educational model that the College has constructed and promotes.

I am not intending to undertake the final research paper, because of time restraints. However, I would like to add that I think that each of the topics gives participants scope to follow their particular interests in relation to the course.