Gender-based violence

Giuseppina Cersosimo

Introduction. An interdisciplinary reading of gender-based violence

The central question of this volume is the violence against women and young girls as part of symbolic or systemic violence, overt or subtle, culminating in femicide, and its impact on their health and overall wellbeing.

Violence, recognized as a determinant of health, has been aptly described as a silent epidemic affecting women not only in Europe but globally. According to European Union statistics, one in three women aged fifteen and older has experienced physical or sexual violence, including instances of rape, murder, and brutality. These tragic occurrences, reported across Europe and beyond, have intensified discussions on strategies for preventing and combatting these crimes. Additionally, there is a growing recognition that violence against women not only exacts a heavy toll on mortality but also inflicts substantial physical and emotional suffering on entire communities.

The resistance to modernization processes, stemming from patriarchal traditions, has led to the persistent rejection of gender equality. This, in turn, underscores the limitations of the equality process, which objectively seeks to reestablish the primacy of male roles. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but also an essential condition for an all-inclusive democracy to which everyone can and should belong.

By safeguarding the rights of women and girls and enhancing their empowerment through equitable access to education, healthcare, decent employment, and effective representation in decision-making processes, we can foster sustainable economies, which will benefit societies and humanity.

Conceiving society as an advocate for victims of violence at all organizational levels, one that ensures the timely and effective prosecution of perpetrators, empowers survivors, and lends support to all those committed to assisting them. This, in turn, progressively discourages those who believed they could act with impunity.

This book aims to provide an additional platform for discussing the issue of violence against women and young girls, with a particular focus on its implications for health, employment, education, training, and life trajectories, all from the standpoint of equality.

Our comprehensive examination of the delays in combatting violence and its multifaceted effects suggests the adoption of multidisciplinary analytical and linguistic frameworks. These frameworks can foster concepts related to the prevention and combatting of violence, along with the development of practices and models that promote the well-being and health of women.

The contributors to this volume discuss the critical challenges facing women and girls around the world in terms of their freedom, autonomy and safety. The book examines discrimination, violence and health across the life course; environmental change and violence against women; symbolic and systemic violence; digital environments and new forms of violence; self-representation, languages and violence; young girls and violence; generations, violence and culture; territories and violence. The chapters draw on secondary and primary empirical sources on the future of women and girls, focussing on the health and well-being of their own futures.

The majority of chapters supplement their discussion with the survey and other data, while others draw on secondary sources and reviews of scholarship to discuss policy implications and ultimately improve the fight against violence against women and girls in transitional societies.

The book is divided into ten chapters.

In the first chapter, gender-based violence: As a social determinant of health, Giuseppina Cersosimo aims to explain how gender power relations are at the root of GBV and are among the most influential social determinants of health. The latter operate across many dimensions of life, affecting how people live, work and relate to each other, and whether women have a voice or degree of control over their lives and health.

In the second chapter, Pathways of women’s health and protection. A culturally sensitive approach against violence, Sonia Viale and Maria Concetta Segneri, propose that Promoting the culture of violence prevention and defending the right to health from a culturally sensitive perspective means promoting women’s awareness and broad access to health care pathways. The paper shows that the management of the relational and operational complexity involved in interventions to deal with situations of gender violence against foreign women and their children requires the identification of good professional practices. This work aims to contribute to the methodological reflection on the management of cases of gender violence against foreign women and girls, whether mothers or not, in the health sector.

In the third chapter, From domination to care. Recognizing and combating the common root of gender violence and environmental degradation, Daniela Belliti has highlighted the link between climate change and gender-based violence and as the phenomenon is fuelling the increase in migration flows, in which the female component is preponderant. These data seem to confirm the ecofeminist thesis (since its origin to the latter philosophical development) that there is a link between violence against women and violence against nature.

Continuing this line of research in the fourth chapter, The great destruction: Violence against women, against the planet, against all life, Maria Lucia Piga and Patrizia Desole explain that the environmental crisis and violence against women are among the crucial issues affecting contemporary society, both because of the violence they imply and because of the widening gap in inequalities. Although the two dimensions may seem distant and distinct (macro and micro, respectively), environmental degradation and violence against women are in fact two sides of the same coin, a sword of Damocles hanging over the whole of humanity and the survival of the planet and its biodiversity.

Also in chapter five, Climate violence, gendered migration and women’s health: What relationship and what protection?, Angela di Stati and Anna Iermano focus on “climate violence” and show that efforts are being made at the international level to increase women’s participation in the formulation and implementation of policies and action plans to respond to climate change and disasters, to reduce risks and to influence decisions in this regard.

In chapter six, Epigenetics of violence against women: From molecular scars to precision prevention, Simona Gaudi and Sara Mellano go beyond the relevance that gender-based violence continues to have in our daily lives and show that an innovative and intersectoral vision is needed to limit its physical and psychological consequences on women’s health. The problem is complex and multifaceted, requiring the integration of molecular research with rigorous statistical analysis and with social, educational, clinical and care interventions.

In chapter seven, Taking care of those left behind: Social workers facing children involved into feminicide, Barbara Segatto and Valentina Amerighi, examine how social workers responsible for looking after children in vulnerable situations dealt with this specific case and what they felt they needed to work in the best interests of the children. the findings highlight the prevalence of deep trauma experienced by the social workers themselves and the lack of appropriate tools to achieve effective goals.

In chapter eight, Analysis of femcel’s online experiences: Internalised violence?, Assunta Penna and Debora Maria Pizzimenti investigate how in ubiquitous digital environments, hate speech is particularly visible and widespread: sexist comments and threats, racist insults and homophobic attacks find an ideal space to express themselves online. In general, women are the main targets of online hate speech. Using digital media ethnography, the researchers examined the Femcel discussion platform known as “Crystalcafe” to explore how patriarchy, internalized misogyny and lookism interact and shape the experiences of its users.