1 Introduction
1. Violence is an everyday fact of life for millions
of women and girls worldwide. Abuses take many forms, from sexual
harassment and female genital mutilation to domestic violence
and rape in war.[1] But
the root causes are the same: inequalities between men and women
and damaging social norms that condone or tolerate the subjugation
of women and girls.
2. Violence leaves a devastating physical and
emotional legacy for women and girls. One witness told us of the
sense of isolation and violation that has stayed with her since
she was a child: "As a sixyearold undergoing
female genital mutilation, I had nobody to talk to. I told my
teacher but she was not interested."[2]
A World Bank study found
that rape and domestic violence are more dangerous than cancer,
motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria.[3]
Violence also constrains women's and girls' ability to learn and
flourish, to be active members of their families and communities,
and to contribute to their countries' growth and development.
3. The UK Government has made tackling violence
against women and girls a priority, including for its current
G8 presidency. Given the scale of the problem and the increased
UK focus on the issue, we decided it was timely to undertake an
inquiry into the UK Government's work on violence against women
and girls internationally. We are publishing our findings immediately
before the UK-hosted G8 Summit in the hope that they can influence
outcomes.
4. We visited Ethiopia in connection with the
inquiry, and saw how UK aid money is being used to help prevent
and respond to violence against women and girls (see Box 1).[4]
During the visit, we commissioned a short film about early marriage,
which we have screened in Parliament. We have disseminated the
film via Parliament's website and are looking for further opportunities
to use it to raise awareness of the issue. We held two evidence
sessions with violence against women and girls experts and with
women activists from developing countries. We took evidence from
the Metropolitan Police Service and with UK-based activists working
to tackle female genital mutilation in the UK and overseas. We
held a third evidence session with the UK Department for International
Development (DFID) Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Lynne
Featherstone MP, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Senior
Minister of State, Baroness Warsi. We also received submissions
of written evidence from: non-governmental organisations (NGOs);
researchers; humanitarian relief organisations; UN agencies; and
government departments. We would like to thank everyone who was
involved in the inquiry, especially those who gave evidence orally
or in writing, and who contributed to the visit. We would also
like to thank our specialist adviser, Dr Lyndsay McLean-Hilker
of the University of Sussex.
5. This report sets out our analysis of, and
recommendations for, the UK Government's work to address violence
against women and girls internationally. Chapter Two looks at
DFID's policy and programmes on violence against women and girls,
in particular at how the Department might implement its 'Theory
of Change' and related guidance on violence against women and
girls. Chapter Three focuses on three specific forms of violence:
female genital mutilation, domestic violence and early marriage.
Chapter Four explores UK Government work on violence against women
and girls in humanitarian and conflict-affected settings. Chapter
Five examines how the Government can continue to strengthen its
international leadership on violence against women and girls,
including by taking steps to institutionalise and embed work to
tackle violence against women and girls across DFID.
| Box 1: Ethiopia: Violence Against Women and Girls
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- Girls have a 63% chance of being married by age 18; in Amhara 50% of girls are married by 15.
- A recent survey found 23% 0-14 year old girls had experienced FGM, of which 60% were in Afar. 74% of Ethiopian women have had FGM; in Somali region 99% of females undergo the most extreme form.
- Only 23.6% of married 15-19 year olds have their demand for family planning met.
- Net enrolment rate for girls at primary school is 65%, dropping to 13% at secondary.
- 68% of Ethiopian women and 45% of Ethiopian men believe there are circumstances in which wife beating is justified.
The Ethiopian Government's policy
According to information given to us by DFID during our visit: Ethiopia's government has made strides over recent years improving women's participation in government and improving the legislative environment. The priority now is to align high quality programming behind sound policy and legislation. The Government's new Growth and Transformation Plan (2010/11-2014/15) emphasises the need to promote women and youth empowerment. Ethiopia's current demographic profile-half the population under 15 with high fertility rates (4.8) and an unmet demand for family planning-offers a unique possibility in terms of harnessing the potential of girls to stimulate growth and poverty reduction. Investments in adolescent girls provide long-term benefits, as women with economic and decision-making power will tend to choose to have fewer children, have them later and invest more in their health and education, breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and accelerating Ethiopia's progress towards the MDGs.
DFID Ethiopia programmes for women and girls
The programmes include:
- End Child Marriage programme In partnership with the Government of Ethiopia, DFID provides £10m (to 2016). Aims to end child marriage for at least 200,000 adolescent girls through changing social norms, and indirectly many more, in the Gojam Zones of the Amhara Region.
- Girl Hub Ethiopia: DFID's support helps fund radio and other media to change attitudes. This includes avoiding child marriage, delaying first pregnancy and birth, completing secondary school, benefiting from economic opportunities and and being safe from violence.
- The Community Security and Justice Programme seeks to provide 3m women/girls with improved access to security and justice by 2017. In remote Somali region, the Peace and Development Programme will improve access to security and justice to 500,000 women/girls.
- Maternal and Reproductive Health programmes enabling an extra 2m women to use modern family planning and supporting a further 500,000 births to be delivered with skilled attendant.
- Get Girls through Secondary School: In addition to supporting just under 1 million girls in primary schools, DFID is piloting an innovative results-based aid programme to improve lower secondary school participation and performance, providing additional incentives for up to 50,000 girls including those in the most remote parts of Ethiopia.
- Through its support for the Protection of Basic Services (PBS, £270m to date, plus £510m approved for 2013-2017) DFID contributes to basic services which support women and girls in education, health, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), rural roads and agriculture, mainly paying for salaries.
The Committee was able to visit a number of these programmes (see Annex, visit programme).
Source: Information given to the Committee during visit to Ethiopia, 25 February—7 February 2013
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1 The 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
Against Women (VAW) defines VAW as encompassing, but not being
limited, to the following: "(a) Physical, sexual and psychological
violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual
abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence,
marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional
practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence
related to exploitation; (b) Physical, sexual and psychological
violence occurring within the general community, including rape,
sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational
institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;
(c) Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or
condoned by the State, wherever it occurs." UN General Assembly,
20 December 1993, online at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm
Back
2
Q 45 Back
3
Ev w75 Back
4
The visit to Ethiopia was in relation to three inquiries: Violence
Against Women and Girls; Global Food Security; and a planned
inquiry into Governance, which we anticipate starting later in
2013. See Annex for more details on the visit. Back
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