RIGHTS-WOMEN: Cave-Dwelling Era Not So Far Off in Latin America

By Estrella Gutiérrez Reprint | | Print |

Estrella Gutierrez

CARACAS, Nov 25 1997 (IPS) - The image of a man dragging a woman by her hair, which symbolises the era of the cave-dwellers, is still all too real tens of thousands of years later for half of all women in Latin America, who have been victims of domestic violence.

The “World Day for Eradication of Violence Against Women”, being celebrated Tuesday, is designed to increase visibility of a phenomenon which in many sectors is still viewed as a private matter, in spite of the legal advances made this decade towards defining domestic abuse as a crime.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has gone a step further and begun to place physical and psychological mistreatment of women in their domestic setting as a handicap for development, which has “devastating effects” on national economies.

At a Conference on Domestic Violence, held by the IDB in late October in Washington, it was reported that one of every five days of work missed by women due to health problems was the result of aggression experienced within the home.

The IDB has only estimated the costs arising from domestic violence in Canada and the United States. Healthcare for victims and diminished productivity is calculated to cost 1.6 billion dollars a year in the former, and 10 billion dollars in the latter.

The conference pointed out that though the impact was much greater in Latin America, only one quarter of incidents of domestic violence were reported, according to both official and non-governmental statistics.

Both the IDB gathering and a Nov. 19-22 conference organised by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLA) in Santiago, Chile underlined that domestic violence against women had its origins in ageold cultural factors and power relationships that cut across social and economic levels.

But the socioeconomic decline in the region and the expansion of the ranks of those marginalised by the neo-liberal model imposed this decade have heightened tension within the home and provided an additional excuse for domestic violence.

The result has been greater visibility of the mistreatment of women and the phenomenon’s impact on development, as well as the passage of laws specifically designed to clamp down on domestic violence in some 15 Latin American countries.

The American continent was also the first to draft a Convention on the prevention, eradication and sanctioning of violence against women, approved in 1994 within the Organisation of American States (OAS) and ratified by 25 of its 34 member countries.

Another positive elementas been a risen the reportingf incidents odomestic violen and social aweness of the problem.

t far from vanishing, thphenomenon has en fuelled by t widespread vlence among thoswho feel they have no opportunities within todas increasingly obalised world. And physic violence, whicleads to the dth of thousandsf women everyear, is not thonly form of dostic aggression. Although less vible, psychologil and sexual vionce have an eally strong impa on the victims According the IDB, studieconducted in seval Latin Ameran countries, wch can be taken an indication othe overall suation in the reon, show that fothe female vicms, domestic vlence leads to drop in the quity of life, a risein mortality res and increasejob instability Abuse ineases female abnteeism and lea to a higher equency of womequitting theirobs, both of whh translate io decreased famy income, addedo the rise in phical ailmentsuffered by wom.

The stues estimate thamore than halff all Latin Amecan women havexperienced phycal violence inheir homes at se time in the lives, while 3percent have be victims of seve abuse betwe 16 and 49 yearof age. In addion, 45 percentave suffered reats, insultsd the destructn of their persal effects. The phenomen also affects t children. Arod 63 percent ve repeated at lst one school yr, while they op out of schoolt an average ofour years earli than the rest.hey are also 0 times more lily to be hospitised due to illss.

“Lat American Womenn Statistics”, study carried o by Teresa Vals from Chile prr to the fourthN Women’s Conrence, held in ijing in Septemr 1995, indicat that in mostases of domestiviolence, womenre the victims otheir male paners.

In Pe, for example, t offenders were e husbands in 53percent of cas, and the live-ipartners in 44 pcent. In Colombia the respective proportions were 63 and 27 percent.

Theeijing Platform, which tablished bindincommitments for N member countrie ranked the prevtion and elimination of violence againswomen as one of e top 12 priori areas of action towds promoting gender equity Violence agnst women was dined as gender-bed violence taking placen the public or private sere which results in posble or real physal, sexual or pchological harm,ncluding threa, coercion or t arbitrary depration of freedo

Domesticiolence includeslows, sexual abe of girls within the ho, dowry-related violence,ntramarital rape, genital mutilation and oer traditional pctices, and allorms of physical, psychological asexual aggression against men carried out by theusband or other persons. END-IPS-TRA-SO-EG-AG-SW-9 = 111526 IPS128 = 11251646 O095