In What Ways Has Research Into Gender Violence Developed From The

In What Ways Has Research Into Gender Violence Developed From The In What Ways Has Research Into Gender Violence Developed From The 1960s To The Present Day â€" Essay Example > In what ways has research into gender violencedeveloped from the 1960s to the present day? Until recently gender-based violence (GBV) was viewed mostly as a private or family matter. However, there has been a paradigm shift in thinking in the last few years about this topic and it is now viewed as both a public health problem and a human rights violation. Number of studies has been published that document the prevalence of GBV and its serious effects on women. From these studies one can safely say that that one out of every three women has experienced GBV (1). Women's groups have spoken out about GBV and have advocated for viewing GBV as a societal problem rather than as a private issue. On the other hand, legislators have been lobbied to enact and implement laws that criminalize GBV. Global conferences have passed resolutions condemning gender-based violence. Also, the United Nations has defined it and recognized it as a problem that effects individuals, families, communities and nations. Yet, with all the progress that has been made recently, what has been missing is a lack of co-ordinated services for the victims of GBV. Although women who go to health care facilities often have symptoms related to GBV, they are usually not asked about GBV in their lives. Thus, in reproductive health settings victims of GBV are often the women who are termed (and further stigmatized) as “difficult” clients. These victims are more or less considered “failures” because they often do not use the family planning methods prescribed to them, do not follow behavioral or health recommendations, fail to return for follow-up visits and fail to get treatment for their STDs (2). Their symptoms may worsen and/or they may carry on suffering from the same symptoms for years. But the real problem lies in the fact that these women don't get the help that they need for what often underlies their behavior and symptoms is undiagnosed GBV. Therefore GBV, if undetected and untreated, can reduce the effectiveness of women's health care programmes. There is no denying the fact that that even though health care providers often do not address GBV, many of their clients are GBV victims. Health care providers see clients suffering from the effects of the GBV on a daily routine basis with problems such as undiagnosable, escalating pain, repetitive episodes of STDs, and unintended pregnancies (3). Faced with such difficulties, staff may feel powerless, even feel like failures themselves because they do not know what to do. Staff may even come to know that the effects of the GBV are undermining the services they provide. But as they are not trained to recognize and address GBV as well as there is no institutional base to support them in this area, health care providers feel helpless to intervene. According to recent studies, what now needs to be done is to begin to address the effects of GBV on the victims. For example, in developing countries, a visit to a reproducti ve health facility may be the only health care visit that a woman makes. This visit thus becomes a very timely and unique opportunity to assess clients for GBV.