Document Abstract
Published:
2012
Victories over violence: ensuring safety for women and girls. A practitioner’s manual
This manual was developed by the Women’s Learning Partnership, a group that trains and supports women in the global south, primarily in Muslim-majority countries, to become leaders and advocates for a just, peaceful world. The manual begins by explaining that despite positive legal and policy developments worldwide on ending violence against women and girls, there are many challenges in implementing laws on this area. For example, in many countries women have less access to legal and political systems than men. They are also, in many contexts, prevented from reporting violence because of cultural or traditional constraints. The fact that women are usually economically disadvantaged also means that their ability to escape or eliminate violence is lessened. The aim of the manual is to help close the gaps between legislation and the achievement on an operational level of women’s human rights. As an educational tool it examines the prevalent forms of violence against women around the world and it
aims to spark conversation, build commitment and inspire activism to end gender based violence.
The manual is divided into the following sections:
• Violence in the private sphere – covering abuse in the home, domestic workers, female genital mutilation, forced and early marriage, and ‘honour’ crime.
• Violence in the community – covering sexual harassment in public spaces and the workplace, rape and sexual assault, hate crime against lesbians, and prostitution.
• Violence by the state, across borders and in the global arena – covering trafficking, rape as a weapon of war, and peacemaking, reconstruction and UN resolution 1325.
Each section contains several session plans, which include a detailed case study, some key facts, questions for group discussion and for further thought, learning exercises, and facilitator instructions. There is also a form to evaluate the manual, workshop sessions and the facilitator, and this is followed by a further reading section on the UN mandate for the elimination of violence against women, and examples from Latin America of tackling violence against women and girls. This is followed by appendices setting out the UN resolutions relevant for this topic, and an annotated bibliography.
The manual is divided into the following sections:
• Violence in the private sphere – covering abuse in the home, domestic workers, female genital mutilation, forced and early marriage, and ‘honour’ crime.
• Violence in the community – covering sexual harassment in public spaces and the workplace, rape and sexual assault, hate crime against lesbians, and prostitution.
• Violence by the state, across borders and in the global arena – covering trafficking, rape as a weapon of war, and peacemaking, reconstruction and UN resolution 1325.
Each section contains several session plans, which include a detailed case study, some key facts, questions for group discussion and for further thought, learning exercises, and facilitator instructions. There is also a form to evaluate the manual, workshop sessions and the facilitator, and this is followed by a further reading section on the UN mandate for the elimination of violence against women, and examples from Latin America of tackling violence against women and girls. This is followed by appendices setting out the UN resolutions relevant for this topic, and an annotated bibliography.
