Orla O’Connor: Standing Up, Speaking Out: Transforming Men’s Attitudes and Behaviours to End Violence Against Women
Published: Wednesday, November 25, 2015
The stark reality of this violence has been very prominent this year with the horrendous murders of Natalie McGuinness, of heroic Garda Tony Golden and the lifelong injuries to Siobhan Philips. Violence against Women leads to murders, physical injuries, mental trauma and devastation to the lives of women, children and communities. As we know, at least one in five women experience domestic and/or sexual violence but we as a society fail to take these crimes seriously. In fact by our minimalist deterrents and lack of investment, we condone them.
Violence against women goes to the heart of patriarchy, of male dominance and entitlement and of a culture that enables men to perpetrate these crimes due to weak and inconsistent sanctions and deterrents. Women have the right to live safely, free from fear, intimidation, persecution and harassment.
Ireland’s recent signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as Istanbul Convention, is a milestone in the protection of women from domestic and sexual violence in the State. National Women's Council of Ireland, our members and women throughout the country campaigned hard for Ireland to sign up to this legally binding instrument, widely acknowledged as the blueprint for best practice globally. It presents a unique opportunity for Ireland to change its abysmal track record on violence against women.
NWCI and its members hope that the speedy ratification of the Istanbul Convention will provide to women living in Ireland that safety and that freedom from fear, intimidation and harassment.
Keeping a Strong Focus on Women and Girls
Transforming men’s attitudes and behaviors to end violence against women is very important, as it goes to the root causes of the violence. However in order to transform men’s attitude and behaviours, it is important to highlight the challenges of this engagement. We live in a patriarchal society where mostly men are in leadership positions, male voices are dominant in the media and funding streams and resources tend towards initiatives that are male dominated. It is crucial that any campaigns or initiatives that seek to engage men and boys in eliminating violence against women is cognisant of these norms to ensure that women and girls are centre stage at all times.
It is widely recognised that patterns of masculine domination can be reproduced within the very structures and initiatives set up to tackle it. These concerns were voiced during the debates on the launch of the Beijing Declaration two decades ago around the engagement of men and boys in the process. As long as we are aware of this reproduction and seek to minimise it, these initiatives will have impact, but women and girls must continue to define and lead on responses on violence against women.
The He for She Campaign, which our President is leading in Ireland and internationally, is an example of where men can use their power and influence to bring about real change for women's equality. The Man Up campaign being run by Safe Ireland, a member organisation of NWCI, is another example of an approach with a continued and strong focus on women and girls while promoting the positive and powerful role that men can play in ending domestic violence and challenging abuse.
Sexual Harassment and young women
So how can we as a society address the attitudes and behaviours of men in order to bring an end to the sexual harassment of young women? This is an issue that featured prominently in the Looking Glass workshops that NWCI conducted this year with young women around body image and leadership. Many workshop participants voiced the prevalence of sexual harassment in everyday life and in public spaces. One woman recounted being on Dublin Bus and being sexually harassed by a man sitting beside her. She felt powerless to do anything – who could she complain to, to seek redress, to send out a message to that man that his behaviour is unacceptable?
The fact is that there is no deterrent in our laws around sexual harassment, stalking and women who are harassed or abused within dating relationships. In a national survey on domestic violence in Ireland almost 60% of women who were severely abused said that the abuse started when they were under 25 years old. NWCI and Women’s Aid among others have called for the strengthening of our laws to create a specific criminal offence of stalking that allows courts to make a non-harassment / restraining order to protect victims and to extend eligibility for Safety Orders to dating relationships. We need to send out a message to men and society that this behaviour is not only unacceptable but illegal.
Education is also key. Workshops within a school or university setting should be funded to challenge traditional gender stereotyping about women and girls. Gender stereotypes such as women are vindictive, not to be trusted, they make up stories about rape and abuse must be confronted. We need a commitment to fund government led national awareness and prevention campaigns to communicate a zero tolerance message on all forms of violence against women and to challenge cultural messages of male dominance and entitlement.
The need for structural change alongside individual change
For NWCI the signing and speedy ratification of the Istanbul Convention provides huge potential for change at an institutional and individual level. The Convention deals with prevention, requiring Ireland to put in place measures to challenge attitudes, gender roles and stereotypes that contribute to a culture of violence against women.
It would strengthen the focus on perpetrators as the Convention has a strong emphasis on prosecution, ensuring that all forms of violence against women are criminalised and appropriately punished. It places an obligation on Ireland to ensure that the Gardai respond immediately to calls for assistance and that all victims have access to special protection measures during investigation and judicial proceedings.
Ireland needs stronger legislation. Domestic violence should be legislated for as a crime of itself and accompanied by appropriate sanctions that match the seriousness of the crime. Within the proposed sexual offences legislation, a definition of consent should be included, providing clarity and challenging the stereotypes on rape and spell out the elements necessary to constitute a genuine consent to sexual engagement.
We urgently need sanctions that are effective, consistent, proportionate and dissuasive. Ireland must address the high attrition rates within our criminal justice system and send out a message to women that if they report a crime justice will be done. We must provide a supportive environment for women to continue through the system and seek justice.
The new Garda unit, The Human Protective Services Bureau, is welcome but requires increased personnel and financial resources to target domestic and sexual violence. Specialist units in each Garda Division should now be established to address domestic and sexual violence and ongoing training is required at all levels to develop an expertise within the Force that both supports the victim and pursues perpetrators to arrest and conviction.
The Convention crucially deals with protection, ensuring that the needs and safety of survivors are placed at the heart of all measures. This includes the setting up of specialised support services that provide medical assistance as well as psychological and legal counselling to survivors and their children. The Convention further stipulates the number of refuges that are needed to adequately respond to women, that of 1 refuge place per 10,000 of population - Ireland currently lags well behind this target.
The Istanbul Convention provides the framework for structural and individual change and provides a mechanism to hold the Government to account. Yet these national reforms require both increased personnel and financial resources for effective implementation. NWCI asks the government to commit to ring fencing these resources in the new Programme for Government in 2016.
Tom Meagher from the White Ribbon Campaign has written eloquently about the way society inadvertently supports male perpetrators of violence, how our words and actions can facilitate and tacitly condone a culture of violence against women. He recently said and I quote: “When we speak with the abusers voice, we forget the humanity of his victim. When we are silent, we speak with the voice of the abuser. When we blame the victim, we speak with the voice of the abuser. When we deflect the conversation, we speak with the voice of the abuser. When we refuse to recognise our privilege we speak with the voice of the abuser.”
We will only seriously address this issue when we shift the focus from women, from asking what did she do, why was she there at that time, why did she stay, and place the focus on men who perpetrate these crimes. It is through role models, like our President, Michael D Higgns, showing critical leadership, standing up and speaking out against violence against women and promoting the values of feminism that we will be successful in creating a different society where women can live safely and free to make their own choices.
Orla O'Connor is Director of the National Women's Council of Ireland