The United Nations General Assembly 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.” It is estimated that 1/3 of females will be physically or sexually abused in her lifetime. Courtesy of a UN resolution, we’ll reflect upon this serious issue on November 25th, which is the International Eliminate Violence Against Women day.

In America, violence against females typically starts in the dating phase. Many women are drawn to men who appear confident, assertive and intensely interested in them. However, abusers are generally as passionate in anger as they are in love and quickly a romantic relationship becomes a continuous cycle of fighting and making up. In some cases, the men are very remorseful when they see their partners taking steps to leave them, which is all part of their control, where women think, “Well he didn’t mean it. Deep down he must love me. I probably deserved it.” In other cases, the controlling behavior reveals itself in shoving, punching, slapping, pinching and physical violence.

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 appropriated more than $4 billion to combat domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault nationwide. This act was heralded by the National Organization for Women as “the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades!” The national spotlight was suddenly shining on prevention programs, abuse hotlines, more public programs for victims and a new international policy that fostered women’s equality.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 6:41 am and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.