25N. Can violence against women be eradicated without working with men?

In 2024, the 25th anniversary of the designation of November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Womenon the part of the United Nations General Assemblyin memory of the Mirabal sisters, who were brutally murdered on that date, in 1960, in the Dominican Republic.

Twenty-five years later, women and girls continue to be murdered for gender reasons and, in 2022, the number of femicides was the highest in the last two decades. From Grow – gender and work We ask ourselves, can violence against women be eradicated without working with men? The rshort answer is NO. Let’s see what we can do then.

Violence against women is a men’s problem. Femicide is a universal problem that affects all countries and regions, and is the most extreme and brutal manifestation of a continuum of violence against women and girls. Without reaching the lethal outcome, they also alarm other forms of violence physical, sexual, psychological, symbolic, economic and patrimonial, political and digital, which are exercised against women based on gender, and which seriously impact about their lives, integrity, dignity and freedom.

According to UN Women (2024), almost one in three women suffers violence throughout their lives, and one in four adolescent girls suffers abuse from their partner. During 2023a woman died at the hands of your partner or a family member every 10 minutes.

But if it is women who suffer from violence, why affirm that it is a men’s problem? Simply because they are almost always men who carries out such violence. Most acts of violence against women are perpetrated by their husbands or current or former partners. According to a report from the Advice Office on Workplace Violence (OAVL) that addresses violence in the workplace, of every ten people reported, seven are men (OAVL, 2021).

From discomfort to transformation. Assuming what these ciras expose is usually profoundly uncomfortable for menand generates resistance; “I’m not that, don’t generalize,” “don’t put us in the same bag,” “not all men.” Just as it is clear that not all men are femicides, rapists or abusers, it is also clear that those who exercise this violence are mostly men. Because?

Basically, because within the framework of the sexist culturethe mandates of masculinity, which dictate how a real male should be (sic), naturalize the use of violence as legitimate resource of men. a violence self-inflicted (which leads, for example, to 77% of suicide cases being men), violence interpersonal between men (which leads to 88% of homicides being men) (PAHO, 2019) and violence against women and diversities, with the figures that we reviewed previously.

The good news is that violence against women and girls can be prevented. From Grow – gender and work we develop the Working Men Programwith awareness-raising, training and training initiatives for employees and leaders, with the aim of involving them in the diversity agendaequity and inclusion, and in the promotion of positive masculinitieshelping them to be better allies in building workplaces free of violence.

On that path, we know that we will find resistors typical of the aforementioned discomforts, therefore, we have developed pedagogical frameworks based on care and confidentiality, with didactic and recreational resources, which facilitate hosting and transcend discomfort to become agents of change and better allies, co-responsible for the transformation processes. The human right to a life free of violence, in addition to the commitment of States, companies and unions, among other actors, requires the active engagement of men.