King’s Water marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women with a blog post for doctoral researcher Amiera Sawas reflecting on the WASH-Gender-Violence Nexus in Developing Cities. PhD candidate Becca Farnum published a piece in The Conversation highlighting some initiatives in North Africa promoting women’s empowerment and discouraging sexual harassment. Here, Becca follows up on that piece for Human Rights Day, considering the relationships between gender-based violence, education, and the environment.
Violence against women is a global pandemic. A full one-third of women around the world will be physically or sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
The issue has been in the news as the International Day for the Prevention of Violence against Women was marked on 26 November. This Thursday, the United Nations commemorates the 67th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In between, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership led a #16Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign.
What is emerging is an awareness that eliminating gender-based violence is about far more than ensuring women around the world are safe from rape. It is about making sure that humans around the world, regardless of their sex, are seen as just that – humans. It is about fully and truly implementing human rights.
Continue reading “Gender-based violence, education, and the environment”