Violence against Women

Violence against Women

Violence against women – whether physical violence or sexual violence is one of the major public health problem and considered as a human rights violations, a study was conducted by the World Health Organization in various countries showed that 15% to 71% of women report experiencing, at some point in their lives, physical violence and / or sexual violence by a partner. Those two forms of violence may result in emerging of physical, psychological, sexual and reproductive health problems that may increase the degree of exposure to HIV. Risk factors for being a perpetrator include low education, past exposure to child maltreatment or witnessing violence between parents, alcohol abuse, attitudes accepting of violence and gender inequality. Most of these are also risk factors for being a victim of intimate partner and sexual violence

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.’
Scope of the problem in Egypt
One study had been conducted by the center of the Earth in Egypt about the number of females abused in 2008 was more than (3000) women, more than half of cases of assaults on women has led to the murdered and the increasing number of victims are women who do not work (housewives, Illiterate ). Most of the perpetrators of violence against women are from poor communities with marginalized working careers or unemployed. It is recommended that the appropriate intervention should be educate the community to the need to eradicate domestic violence and increased penalties for crimes of honor and address the effects of labor policies for women work, especially for low-income families and providing opportunities for safe working and housing with improvement of the quality of life in slums and rural and working on a law to protect women from domestic violence and supporting women’s rights as a way to repeated his dear for the advancement and progress.
Although the role of Egyptian women in the revolution was clear, but it was one of the victims who have paid a heavy price after the revolution, they suffer political marginalization and violence as a result of insecurity, and the total number of victims of violence in the first half of 2011 was 94 incidents of violence, including 51 dead 11 injured with 15 harassment cases and 12 hijacked.
As for health effects

Intimate partner and sexual violence have serious short- and long-term physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health problems for victims and for their children, and lead to high social and economic costs. Health effects can include headaches, back pain, abdominal pain, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, limited mobility and poor overall health. In some cases, both fatal and non-fatal injuries can result. Intimate partner violence and sexual violence can lead to unintended pregnancies, gynaecological problems, induced abortions and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Intimate partner violence in pregnancy also increases the likelihood of miscarriage, stillbirth, pre-term delivery and low birth weight.
The social and economic costs 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.
Our efforts

We prioritize women participation in all our projects from the both the health perspective as well as for their personal empowerment.