Women Movement and Gender Based Violence

WOMEN MOVEMENT AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE.

Feminist Movement, also known as Women Movement or Women Liberation is a series of campaigns on issues such as reproductive health, domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual violence, equal pay and voting rights. Over the years, women all over the world have and still are victims of sexual and gender based violence (GBV).Even with the massive interventions by feminists’ movements, human rights activists, women federations, non-governmental organisations, women based centers and programs, women are still violated against. This is especially so in developing countries. For example, in Kenya, statistics show that the establishment of Sexual Offences Act of 2006 decreased sexual violence against women to some extent, but recently, sexual violence has been on the rise. This shows that the perpetrators of this violence are no longer scared of the sentences attached to the stipulated offences. Therefore, there is great need for all of us to actively participate in ending violence against women. This we can since we are all responsible in one way or the other for what our societies have become. We can make a difference; it only requires our commitment and goodwill.

Gender is a word that is greatly mistaken by many with the noun sex.But gender refers to the social characteristics ascribed to men, women, boys and girls. These social characteristics are defined on the basis of different factors such as age, religion, place, time, profession, nationality, ethnicity and social origin. These characteristics, within and between cultures or societies define identities, status, roles, responsibilities and power relations among the members of any culture or society. Gender is learnt through socialization and can therefore be unlearnt.That is why, we can end GBV since it is violence which we are not born with; it is not inherent. On the other hand, Gender Based Violence is any act of violence...