Understanding

Gender-Based
Violence (GBV)
 POWER
• Power is embedded in social
relation

• All relationships are affected

by the exercise of power.
 What gives someone POWER?
• Income and wealth
• Status
• Age
• Sex / masculine gender
• Political backing/Social backing
• Physical Strength
• Controlling access and resources, controlling
money or access to work
• discriminatory laws
 Who has POWER in your
COMMUNITY?
• Elders
• Religious leaders
• Politicians
• Teachers
• Parents
• Men
• Soldiers
• Police
POWER

• The more power a

person has, the more
choices are available
to that person.
KEY POINTS

• The less power, the fewer

choices.

• People who have less

power have fewer choices
and are therefore more
vulnerable to abuse.
 KEY LEARNING POINTS
How do we exercise power?

• “Power to” - one’s ability to act on his/her

own. Intellect, resources, and knowledge are
among the sources of such power.

• “Power over”- one’s ability to dominate

others, to make them do what you want.

• “Power with” - one’s ability to cooperate

with others to accomplish something.
KEY LEARNING POINTS

• Gender-based violence involves

the abuse of power arising from
unequal power relationships.

• Not all people with power abuse

their power.
GBV Tree
LEAVES = CONSEQUENCES
OF GBV TO INDIVIDUALS,
FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES

BRANCHES = TYPES/
CATEGORIES OF GENDER-
BASED VIOLENCE

THE ENVIRONMENT =
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

ROOTS = ROOT CAUSES OF

GBV
 GBV
• Is an umbrella term for any
harmful act that is perpetrated
against a person’s will, and
that is based on socially
ascribed (gender) differences
between males and females.
- IASC
IASC GBV Guidelines further
explain…

“around the world, GBV has a

greater impact on women and girls
than on men and boys. The term
“gender-based violence” is often
used interchangeably with the term
“violence against women.”
• The term highlights the gender
dimension of these types of
acts; in other words, the
relationship between females’
subordinate status in society
and their increased
vulnerability to violence. (p. 7)
VAW throughout the lifecycle
Phase Type of Violence
Pre-birth Sex-selective abortion ⧫ Effects of battering during
pregnancy on birth outcome
Infancy Female infanticide ⧫ Physical, sexual and
psychological abuse
Girlhood Child marriage ⧫ Incest ⧫ Female genital mutilation
⧫ Physical, sexual and psychological abuse ⧫
Child prostitution and pornography

Adolescence Incest ⧫ Dating and courtship violence ⧫

Economically coerced sex ⧫ Sexual abuse and
and harassment in the workplace ⧫ Forced prostitution
Adulthood and pornography ⧫ Trafficking ⧫ Partner violence
⧫ Marital rape ⧫ Dowry abuse and murders ⧫
Psychological abuse ⧫ Forced pregnancy

Elderly Forced “suicide” / homicide of widows for

economic gain ⧫
Physical, sexual and psychological abuse
Source: Heise, L. 1994. Violence Against Women: The Hidden Health Burden. World Bank Discussion Paper
Effects of Violence

• They are damaging not just

to the body but to the
mind and spirit.
In ‘normal times’...

• 1 in 5 women aged 15-49 are

physically abused

• 1 in 10 women aged 15-49 are sexually

abused

• The perpetrators for 53 percent of

women who have experienced sexual
violence are their current husbands or
partners.
 In disasters /emergency crisis then...
Women and girls become more vulnerable to
sexual violence and exploitation

….because of their gender, age and status in society

NATURE & EXTENT OF GBV IN
HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCIES
Women walking
in these woods
are often raped
[October 2007,
Goma, Displaced
camp].
A woman
covers her face
as she describes
her rape to a
health worker
[April 2006,
Kabyabiyunga].
Alice Maombi, 19 years, in her house in Goma.
During the war in Eastern Congo she was
kidnapped and raped. She hardly survived.
[March 2005, Goma].
Lets take a
look at the
Philippines
• In Basilan, violence against women
escalated during the period of conflict
from 2000 to 2003.

• Their communities considered raped

women unclean, and they were forced
to marry the men who had raped
them.

Magcalen-Fernandez, E. 2006

Conflict, State Fragility and Women’s Reproductive

Health:
The Case of Basilan, Philippines. Washington DC: USAID.
 Key Messages
• GBV is a human rights
violation and punishable by
law.

• GBV can be prevented.

*Around the world, GBV has a

greater impact on women and
girls than on men and boys.
Gender-Based
Laws
GBV LAWS
• R.A. No. 8353 – Anti-Rape Law of 1997 and R.A. No.
8505 – Rape Victim Assistance and Prevention Act of 1998
• R.A. No. 9208 – Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003
• R.A. No. 10364 – AN Act Expanding R.A. 9208, Entitled
An Act to Institute Policies to Eliminate Trafficking in
Persons Especially Women and Children, Establishing the
Necessary Institutional Mechanisms for the Protection and
Support of Trafficked
GBV Laws
• R.A. No. 9262 – Anti-Violence Against Women and Their
Children Act of 2004
• R.A. No. 7877 – An Act Declaring Sexual Harassment
Unlawful in the Employment, Education or Training
Environment, and For Other Purposes.
• R.A. No. 11313 – An Act Defining Gender-Based Sexual
Harassment in Streets, Public Spaces, Online, Workplaces,
and Educational or Training Institutions, Providing
Protective Measures and Prescribing Penalties Therefor
• House Bill No. 4888- in 2019 seeking to expand the
coverage of VAWC and protect men from abuses in the same
way that VAWC protects women.