Blog Post
Ending Violence Against Women: What’s Pluralism Got To Do With It?
What the Global Pluralism Monitor reports tell us about the fight to end violence against women.
When the Mirabal sisters were brutally murdered on November 25, 1960, for their work to liberate the Dominican Republic from Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorial regime, the whole world was watching. Since 1981, feminists in Latin American and Caribbean commemorate the anniversary of their murder as a day for fighting for the elimination of violence against women. In 1999, the date became global, as the United Nations celebrated the first official International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Since the Mirabal sisters’ murder, significant advances in women’s rights have been made at the national, regional and international levels. Tangible commitments with international agreements bring about hope for the eradication of all forms of violence against women, especially sexual violence. Violence against women, according to the Declaration for the Eradication of Violence against Women (1999), is defined as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
Monument to the Mirabal Sisters in the Dominican Republic.
Aldward Castillo / 2023
Despite these advancements and commitments, findings from Global Pluralism Monitor reports confirm the backsliding on women’s rights and increased violence against women since the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensuring that women in all their diversity – including younger and older, those with diverse gender identity or sexual orientation, migrant or refugee women, Indigenous women, women who are part of ethnic/religious/linguistic minorities, women with disabilities, and those living through humanitarian crises – can live a life free of violence remains an obstacle for realizing pluralism.
At the Global Centre for Pluralism, we believe that pluralism has a role to play in helping eliminate violence against women and conversely, investment to protect women and girls will help building a more pluralistic future. The impacts of violence against women do not exist in a vacuum, but rather continue to impact women and their communities around them, regardless of gender.
VAW across the Global Pluralism Monitor:
Through the Global Pluralism Monitor, we have been able to identify the five key trends impacting the elimination of gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against women (VAW).
1. VAW and Commitments
The signing of international treaties on women’s rights has, in most contexts, done little for eliminating violence against women.
2. VAW and Social Norms
Patriarchal values and cultures of misogyny are some of the main contributors to violence against women.
3. Violence against Women in Politics
Equal participation of women in government has not resulted in reduced VAW and even translate into rising targeting of women in politics.
4. Violence Against Indigenous Women
Where there are Indigenous peoples, violence against Indigenous women is widespread and seldom addressed.
5. Media and VAW
The media can play an important role in how mindsets regarding VAW are shaped and should report these cases more responsibly.
But, what else can we do?
Talking about violence against women and girls and acknowledging the extremely harmful impacts it has not only on women but in societies is a great place to start. I keep thinking about some of the reflections from the Mexico report launch webinar, and how Pou Hernandez remarkably noted how lack of trust in societies is largely due to a lack of knowledge. In that same vein, talking about VAWG or gender-based violence to educate others about its impact can be a way to start societal or cultural shifts around the normalization of this type of violence. Collecting data can also be a meaningful way to showcase how half of a population continues to be impacted by this phenomenon.
Despite most of the findings focusing mostly on concerning trends for VAW across Monitor-assessed countries, some best practices and hopeful moments of resistance also show us that pluralism, and a future in which women and girls, or gender-diverse folks, can be fully valued are possible. For example, the #8M strike in Mexico saw thousands of women from across the country protesting the culture of impunity when it comes to femicides. In South Africa, the #TotalShutdown marches of 2018 saw women across cities and towns protesting gender-based violence, resulting in a national strategic plan against GBV and femicide.
March of Non Una Di Meno (Not One Woman Less) on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Rome, 24 November 2018.
Camelia Boban, 2018
So, protests and claims-making are important and a major mechanism for making what’s often made invisible, visible – in this case, violence against women and girls. Ending violence against women requires that institutions and social norms change, and pluralism can be the lens through which we begin to dismantle the norms that harm others.
With twelve Global Pluralism Monitor reports published to date, we are now able to track how issues are developing globally and how these are impacting the outcomes for pluralism across different contexts. Accompany us through 2025 as we commit to exploring these five outstanding themes on violence against women more in depth.