“This government will treat violence against women and girls as the national emergency it really is” – Yvette Cooper, UK Home Secretary
With the recent results of the American presidential election, the world is starting to raise their voices around violence against women and girls. Bringing attention to issues across the globe.
These talks started after Trumps win in America’s election. Donald Trump was responsible for the overturning of Roe V. Wade back in 2022 by appointing a Supreme Court with prior intentions to overturn the bill. Trump later bragged about his position in the decision on twitter (now X). He believes abortion should be a state vote, in an interview Trump was asked whether he believes in consequences for women who seek abortions, to which he said, “the answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.” When pushed further by the MSNBC Interviewer, asking if he means the women, he says “Yes there has to be some form” but he says he is not sure on a prison sentence. Trumps win has put American women’s rights in jeopardy. Although Trump has said he would not sign a federal abortion ban, and instead leave it to individual states, there is no clear future for women’s reproductive freedom in the US. With 18-year-old, Neveah Crain who died in Texas, after 3 visits to the ER and 20 hours in pain and bleeding. Medical professionals refused to provide the care needed, as her foetus still had a viable heartbeat. She died from sepsis, and she is one of two unnecessary deaths in Texas due to a ban on abortion.
In Afghanistan, under the Taliban’s rule, Afghan women are banned from talking and praying in public. They no longer have a right to go to school or to work. The Taliban’s vice and Virtue ministry ordered in 2022 that women stay inside, unless they have important work out with their house, in which case they can only travel up to 75km alone, any further and a male chaperone is required. Women can work as nurses or midwives, however in these professions, they still face harassment, dress codes and gender segregation. Women are banned from sports, public parks, and beauty salons. They are required to wear thick clothing, covering their faces and body. Women cannot talk, sing, read in public.
The Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, and have since been working to erase women, and those who fought against them “faced enforced disappearance, unlawful detention, arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment” (amnesty.org).
While Poland is known for being one of the first places to promote women’s rights, in 1993 abortion was banned. Poland now has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, a 2020 ruling has changed the law meaning it is only allowed when the women’s health is at risk or if the women was impregnated through rape or incest. However, reports are still showing that accessing a legal abortion is near impossible and instances are increasingly difficult to prove. Although there is no punishment for women who receives an abortion, the medical professional can receive 3 – 8 years in jail. The Centre for Reproductive Rights have said many women have died after being refused access to life-saving care.
“Legalising abortion care is the only way in which the polish state can safeguard women’s health and protect their personal integrity” – Katrine Thompson, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Associate Director
Photo showing protests for abortion rights, credit: Financial Times
Abortion Without Borders reported between October 2021 and October 2022, requests for help from women and girls skyrocketed as they say they are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term. Between 2020 and 2021, 16 women died from rejected healthcare.
On top of the abortion ban, Poland also made it legal to have LGBTQIA+ free zones. Banning anyone who identifies within the community from these areas.
Nicaragua has banned all abortion since 2006. Women who have an abortion can face up to 2 years in prison and the medical professionals face six. Prior to the full ban in 2006, abortion was only allowed if the pregnancy put the mother’s life at risk, however this clause was removed in 2006. Sexual violence is incredibly prominent in Nicaragua, with many women taking non-prescription or illegal drugs known to cause a miscarriage which pose risks of haemorrhage and not fully expelling all the pregnancy tissue, which can lead to death.
In Nicaragua, wealthier women can afford safer but still illegal abortions, however poorer women are dying in an attempt to not give birth. While the Nicaraguan Government does not publish any data on the ban, a 2016 study on the limited data showed that between 2003 and 2013, 290 women died or were arrested, we can only assume that statistic is higher.
Activists in Nicaragua have reported that the Government are blocking international funding for civil society, meaning that support from women’s organisations and charities are being blocked.
Rates of domestic violence against women has increased dramatically from 2019 to 2020. There is a pay gap that favours men. Despite this, Nicaragua ranks highly in gender equality compared to other Latin American countries.
El Salvador, which neighbours Nicaragua, has also banned abortion under all circumstances.
Argentina have been campaigning since 2015 against femicide, the killing of a women or girl because of their gender, after 14-year-old Chiara Paez was killed by her boyfriend. When Javier Milei took office in 2023, his government closed the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity, reducing policies against gender violence. Milei has spoken out against feminism on numerous occasions. Once saying live on TV to a female journalist “I could take a 9mm (gun) and put it to your head”. Feminism in Argentina still exists but is under direct fire from people in power. Milei and his vice president, Victoria Villarruel are both outspoken on their view on abortion, during their election campaign, both vowed to overturn Argentina’s legalisation of abortion and while it has not happened yet, both are working towards it.
The United Nation’s Human Rights office has said worldwide, 650 million women alive today, were marries forcibly as children. At least twelve million girls are married before the age of eighteen. This is equal to 28 girls, every minute. This happens across the entire world, however girls in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are more at risk.
Iraq’s ultra conservative Shia Muslim parties have proposed a new law to lower the age of consent from 18, to 9. This law would allow men to legally marry young children. The law also deprives women of the right to divorce, child custody and inheritance. This is not the first-time laws like these were proposed, with attempts in 2014 and 2017 both criticised and protested against. However, now that Shia Muslims have a parliamentary majority, Iraqi women are more at risk of losing the rights that they have in the personal status law.
“The amendment would not just undermine these rights, it would erase them” – Sarah Sanbar, Researcher at Human Rights Watch
In Gaza, 70% of those killed in the current war with Israel are women and children. In Palestine, women can only divorce their husband for specific reasons, whereas a man can divorce his wife for any reason he wants to. 59% of women experience violence at the hands of their partners (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics). Sisters Wissam and Fatimah al-Tawil were arrested, for escaping their father’s abuse. Hamas security gave the girls over to their uncle, who took them back to their dad. The sisters have not been heard from directly since their father held them captive.
Iranian women are being forcibly dragged across streets and into vans for not wearing their hijab, along with beatings and assaults.
“They violently dragged me into a room and tasered me. They handcuffed me and one of the officers sexually assaulted me” – Dina Ghalibaf, student.
Ghalibaf is now facing legal action, and her claims of sexual assault have been denied.
Women in South Korea have been fighting an overwhelming amount of violence against women since the mid to late 2010s. In 2018, at least 824 women died from partner violence. This surged caused the women to act, starting the 4B movement. Bihon (no heterosexual marriage), Bichulsan (no childbirth), Biyeonae (no dating), Bisekseu (no heterosexual sexual relationships). This movement is still ongoing, with the birth rate in South Korea has dropped so significantly, it is now being classed as a national emergency. The 4B movement is spreading to the states, following Trump’s election as women take a stand.
More than 1 in 10 young women are reporting being raped in camps around Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo from November 2023 to April 2024.
“Victims and survivors of sexual violence report being attacked by men, often armed, in the forests and fields where they have to go to collect firewood or the food, they need to feed their families” – Camille Niel, MSF Emergency Coordinator in Goma
In 2021, there were up to 75,000 displaced people living across inaccessible camps. 35 children, 14 being girls were killed, some “hacked to death” by men with machetes. 13 girls raped when attempting to find food.
Another case which has helped being violence against women to the headlines, has been Gisèle Pelicot in France, who discovered that her former husband was drugging her and raping her when they were married, and recruiting dozens of men online to come over to rape her and film it. For over 10 years.
“It’s not for us to have shame- it’s for them… I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. I don’t want them to be ashamed any longer.” – Gisèle Pelicot
The case is still ongoing, women across France have been protesting in her name, hoping the French government will extend laws on rape to include a specific clause on consent.
99.2% of Somali women aged 15-49 have been subject to female genital mutilation (FGM). (Federal Government of the Republic of Somalia). FGM is the process of partially or completely removing the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons.
“FGM is a violation of the human rights of women and girls. It is a means of both controlling women’s and girl’s bodies, sexualities and future.” – Sadiq Syed, Head of UN Women Somalia
This process is not limited to Somalia. More than 230 million women and girls have been subjected to this process in 30 different countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia (World Health Organisation, 2024). FGM is linked to the discrimination of women, and the belief that it preserves a woman’s virginity, making her “marriageable”. Victims have spoken to the BBC saying they blindfolded them, tied their hands behind their backs and pinned down their labia. FGM is illegal in most places, but is practised across 27 African countries, 2 Asian countries and 2 countries in the Middle East.
In 2019, abortion became decriminalised in Northern Ireland, with the country now allowing abortion up until 12 weeks unconditionally and 24 weeks if the mother is at risk. The Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) 1945 Act meant women could not access an abortion unless the mother was dying. This meant Northern Ireland was the only UK region without safe abortion access. Between 2020 and 2021, it was recorded that 161 women travelled to England for abortion care. The first ever private abortion clinic did not open until 2012.
In the UK, Femicide census showed in a 2021 report that a man kills a woman every 2.7 days. The Office for National Statistics said that by March 2022, there were 194,683 sexual offences, 70,330 of these were rape, with only 15% of sexual offences actually being reported.
The End Violence Against Women campaign has said almost 1 in 3 women aged 16-59 will experience domestic violence in their lifetime, with only 21% of partner abuse incidents being reported. With domestic violence recently being in the news for increasing by 38% following a loss at football games, 26% after a big win or draw. In Scotland, 83% of domestic violence victims were women. (Police Scotland for Women’s Aid 2022-33)
1 in 5 women have faced online abuse, from doxxing, unsolicited pictures, harassment messages, rape threats and more.
The UK’ s home secretary declared violence against women and girl’s a national emergency.
This article hardly scratched the surface of issues facing women across the world, it is about opening the conversation and fighting against those in power. These statistics are not just numbers, they are people. Women’s rights are in danger, not one woman is free until we all are.
Resources:
Domestic abuse and my rights | Scottish Women’s Aid
Home | End Violence Against Women
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women | OHCHR
Need an abortion? No matter what, you have options.
Donate to Children’s Emergency Fund for Relief – UNICEF UK
About Us – Center for Reproductive Rights
FGM Resources – National FGM Centre
Sources quoted:
Human rights in Afghanistan Amnesty International
New UN Report: Polish Abortion Law Violates Human Rights | Center for Reproductive Rights
Nicaragua: Abortion Ban Threatens Health and Lives | Human Rights Watch
Child and forced marriage, including in humanitarian settings | OHCHR
Up to 75,000 people living in a remote camp in eastern DRC facing ‘hellish conditions’ – UNICEF UK
Microsoft Word – Somalia Law Report v2 (July 2021).docx
REPORT | Female Genital Mutilation is still widespread in Somalia | European Union Agency for Asylum
Femicide Census – Profiles of women killed by men
Crime in England and Wales – Office for National Statistics
