Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the start of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. The theme this year focuses on the intersections of gender-based violence and militarism.
Did you know, militarism and street harassment are connected? Public spaces become extra unsafe for women in times of war and military occupation. Rape is a common weapon of war and just leaving one’s house or the refugee camp increases the chances of that kind of attack – or at the very least, increases the chances of being harassed.
Also, a new study shows that the overall status of women decreases in countries with high militarism. Soraya Chemaly wrote about it for Women Under Siege:
“Gender is the fundamental construct for how a society understands difference. Regardless of which state we are talking about, tolerance for street harassment, rape, domestic violence, and restrictions on reproductive freedom are among several indicators of gender inequality rooted in such difference. These behaviors correlate to state security in multiple dimensions. In the simplest terms, states in which women are subjected to violence and uncontested male rule at home, where they are not allowed equal freedoms and rights to bodily integrity, privacy, and equal protection under the law, are those most likely to engage in violence as nations, the authors report. Microaggression against women in private connects to macroaggressive national behavior. The larger a nation’s gender gap in equality between men and women or the more violently patriarchal their structures, the greater the likelihood that a nation will resort to force and violence in the form of aggressive nationalism.”
The US is not immune. In my day job as a program manager at AAUW, I’ve had the honor of meeting and working with brave American military veterans – and their lawyer – who are speaking out against rampant military sexual assault, suing the military for doing very little about it, and put their personal lives on the big screen so a wider audience could understand the issues. The Invisible War documentary is available for rent through Netflix and I highly recommend watching it. If you live in the US, you can also write to your congressperson, asking them to support legislation that would better address military sexual assault.
I always think about how if 20 percent of women in the military are sexual assaulted and raped by their own “brothers”/comrades, how many women in occupied lands, how many women who are the “enemies” are raped? This is an American disgrace. It’s criminal. It must stop.
Visit the sites of Women Under Siege, Stop Rape in Conflict, and Invisible No More for more information about the issues and how you can become involved.
