Forms of Gender-Based Violence

Forms of Gender-Based Violence

• Stalking involves unwanted and repeated attention, harassment, or threats that cause fear or distress to the victim.
• Stalking is often perpetrated by men, with women being the most common victims.

Consequences of Gender-Based Violence

• Health consequences include unwanted pregnancies, complications from unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections, injuries, and mental health and psychosocial effects.
• Violence affects children's survival, development, and school participation.
• Social consequences extend to families and communities, leading to stigmatization and social isolation.

Types of Power

• Physical power: strength, size, and use of weapons, controlling access or security.
• Examples of powerful individuals with physical power include soldiers, police, robbers, and gangs.
• Gender-based (Social) power: males are often in a more powerful position than females.
• Age-related power: the young and elderly people have the least power.

Power and Choice

• Power is directly related to choice.
• The more power one has, the more choices are available.
• Unempowered people have fewer choices and are more vulnerable to abuse.
• Gender-based violence involves the use of power and exploitation of unequal power relationships.

Nine Marginalized Sectors

• Landless rural workers
• Fisherfolks/fishermen
• Urban poor
• Indigenous cultural communities
• Workers in the formal labor sectors
• Women
• Children
• Persons with Disabilities
• Youth

Use of Force/Violence

• It can be physical, emotional, social, or economic in nature.
• It involves coercion, intimidation, threats, persecution, or other forms of psychological or social pressure.

Informed Consent

• Consent means saying "yes" or agreeing to something freely and voluntarily.
• Acts of gender-based violence occur without informed consent.
• Children under 18 are deemed unable to give informed consent.

Cycle of Violence

• The cycle of violence refers to repeated acts of violence in a relationship.
• It starts with minor incidents and escalates to more serious levels of violence.

Children and Violence

• Children who witness or experience violence are likely to be scared, unhappy, lonely, and lose self-confidence.
• Children should understand that conflicts are normal, but resolving conflicts through violence is not acceptable.

Women and the Law

• The Anti-Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Act or RA 9262 is an important law protecting women's rights.
• The law includes provisions for the commission of VAWC and actual cases involving the law.

Laws Promoting Gender Equality

• 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law: gave Filipino women the right to own land.
• Anti-Sexual Harassment Law RA 7877 (1995): made sexual harassment in employment, education, or training environments unlawful.
• Republic Act 7822 (1995): provides assistance to women engaging in micro and cottage business enterprises.
• Republic Act 8353 (1997): expanded the definition of the crime of rape and reclassified it as a crime against persons.

Women's Right to Participate

• Women's right to vote was granted in 1937.
• The Constitution of 1935 stipulated that women's right to suffrage would be extended only if 300,000 women voted in its favor during a national plebiscite.