Understanding Violence Against Women as a Men’s Issue (Women's Health Matters article) (Web resource; WHM resource) Author: Patricia Nicholson Organization: Women's College Hospital, Women's Health Matters Women’s College Hospital held its annual commemorative ceremony for the victims of the Montreal massacre on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. The event marked the 20th anniversary of the murders of 14 women at l’École polytechnique in a mass killing that specifically targeted women. Hospital staff, public servants and government ministers attended the ceremony that focused on remembrance and ongoing commitment to work toward ending violence against women. In her keynote presentation titled Why Men Matter: Preventing Gendered Violence, clinical psychologist Dr. Lori Haskell highlighted the need to make violence against women more than a ‘women’s issue.’ ‘December 6 is a painful reminder of the horrific killing of 14 women. These 14 women lost their lives because they were women, and because they were engineering students who symbolized the incredible gains we have made toward achieving women’s equality,’ said Dr. Haskell, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and academic research associate at the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children. ‘This year in reflecting on the problem of violence against women I want to talk not about women. I want to talk about men.’ Dr. Haskell’s talk focused on three points: why violence against women is really a men’s issue, what some of the challenges are for mobilizing men for change to end violence against women, and why we need global action from men to end violence against women. Making prevention a priority To illustrate the need to approach the problem differently, Dr. Haskell used a medical analogy. ‘We wouldn’t address a pervasive health problem such as lung cancer by focusing exclusively on what the lungs are like once they are diseased. Instead we would develop theories about what causes the cancer, what can we do about it and then address those behaviours or environmental factors that contribute to the cancer. And we would definitely end the conditions that allow it to develop,’ she said. Given the overwhelming demand for victim services, it can be difficult to find resources for prevention. But prevention of violence against women can no longer be viewed as secondary, Dr. Haskell said. ‘For decades, the conversation, research and services have been overwhelmingly focused on the victims of rape and child sexual abuse, and dealing with the long-term effects on their lives. So what has been noticeably absent is a sustained parallel focus on understanding the perpetrators.’ Dr. Haskell stressed that most men are not violent. However, violence against women is overwhelmingly committed by men. ‘Violence against women is not caused by women and it won’t be stopped by focusing on what women can do to change their lives in response to it,’ she said. ‘Men thinking it’s not their problem is indeed part of the problem.’ It is time for men to break their silence on this issue. ‘Most men are not prioritizing ending men’s violence against women as a central issue in their professional and personal lives,’ Dr. Haskell said. ‘Naming the problem so boldly as ‘men’s violence against women’ does not in any way take away from acknowledging the positive contributions many men have made, and continue to make, in working to end violence against women. Nor does it paint all men with the same brush.’ Motivation and mobilization Part of the challenge is motivating men to care enough to get involved. ‘We need to imagine what it would look like if violence against women were recognized as the human rights violation that it is. We need to imagine what it would look like if our society fully grasped that violence against women is one of the biggest obstacles to women’s health, well-being and equality,’ Dr. Haskell said. ‘We need to think about what it would look like if there were sufficient political will to co-ordinate a massive and widespread violence prevention effort.’ Again, Dr. Haskell used a medical analogy to illustrate her point, showing how communities have mobilized and focused resources on the H1N1 flu virus. She noted that the Centers for Disease Control reported 43,000 cases of H1N1 in a three-month period, while 2.5 million sexual assaults were reported in the same time frame. ‘There has been an amazing and effective widespread campaign launched to raise awareness of both the virus and the need for vaccination to keep society healthy,’ she said. ‘What would it be like if we had that kind of political will and those resources aimed at preventing violence against women, to keep our society healthy? What it would look like if our media, our institutions and our public discourse invested as much in violence prevention as they did in H1N1 flu prevention?’ Prevention of a pandemic is viewed as urgent, commanding widespread, co-ordinated efforts from governments, media and health-care systems to provide a pervasive and constant message that can’t be ignored. ‘So imagine if on a daily basis we were given the statistics on the front pages of our national newspapers of the number of women raped that day, the number of children sexually abused and the number of women battered or killed by their partners,’ Dr. Haskell said. ‘Imagine the resources for immediate treatment, along with widespread discussion of who did these acts and why. And imagine an ongoing and mainstream public discussion – not a conversation only among specialists – of what we can do to make sure we do not have another wave of this violence.’ Comparing the responses to violence against women and H1N1 makes it clear that violence against women is not viewed as a pandemic, she said. ‘It’s not seen as something we can stop and it’s not seen as something that we can co-ordinate a high level public education campaign for. We need to ask ourselves, why is this?’ Encouraging action Global action from men on violence against women is needed, Dr. Haskell said. ‘We need you not to avert your eyes and pretend this has nothing to do with you,’ she said, adding that there is, in fact, an emerging global voice for men. ‘Millions of men globally are working alongside women, beginning to speak forcefully on these issues.’ One example is the White Ribbon Campaign, which originated in Canada and has been adopted in other countries. The campaign encourages men to wear a white ribbon as a visible and public pledge to not permit, condone or keep silent about violence against women. ‘The white ribbon campaign is one of the largest efforts in the world of men working to end violence against women. And I think the men of the white ribbon campaign would be the first to agree with me that simply wearing a ribbon is not enough. But it’s a crucial beginning for awareness and for further action.’ Before and since the Montreal massacre, many women and some men have worked to end rape, domestic violence and child abuse. One of the positive changes that Dr. Haskell has seen since the events of December 6, 1989 is the beginning of a much-needed conversation about understanding violence against women as a men’s issue. Version française :  Cliquez ici pour voir la description en français Purpose:  Consumer information/support; Health information Information Source:  Hospital/Clinic Geographic Origin:  Canada Language of Resource:  English Groups:  Adult women Last Reviewed by Women's Health Matters:  December 09, 2009