It’s our human right to live our lives free of violence and brutality. Ideally, the goal is to live in a world free of harm and discrimination. However, the stark reality is an unfortunate contrast. Gender-based violence is a distressing and hurtful experience directed at a person based on their gender, rooted in inequality. According to the World Health Organization and information about gender-based violence, it is considered a notable public health issue. It is a vicious abuse of power and can gravely affect individuals in many forms on a wide scale.
Gender-based violence is detrimental to one’s mental health in many ways. While it’s known to affect women and girls disproportionately, everyone is exposed because of its wide scope. From physical to mental violence, including manipulation and coercion, anyone can become a victim of gender-based violence. Many determining forms include poverty, conflict of war and displacement, and a stressful home environment.
We’re going to focus on three forms of gender-based violence in the BIPOC community: mental health, economic stability and the intersection of race.
Mental health
Once your mental health is affected in a negative aspect, it has the potential to snowball out of control. It could also manifest into other issues like depression, anxiety attacks and post-traumatic stress. As you read online about the correlation between mental health and gender-based violence, you will notice that information is mostly skewed toward women. The stigma and labelling of gender-based violence can be a deterrent for men to report any incidents. Also, many women may remain silent depending on their stance. For example, a woman involved in intimate partner violence (IPV) may not report an incident for fear of losing custody of her children or retaliation from her partner.
As per the Statistics Canada report Intimate Partner Violence in Canada, 2018: An Overview, released in 2021:
Research to date has shown that women disproportionately experience the most severe forms of IPV….. being assaulted or threatened with a weapon, or being sexually assaulted. Additionally, women are more likely to experience more frequent instances of violence and more often report injury and negative physical and emotional consequences as a result of the violence. Though most instances of IPV do not come to the attention of police, women comprise the majority of victims in cases that are reported. Furthermore, homicide data have consistently shown that women victims of homicide in Canada are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than by any other type of perpetrator. Among solved homicides in 2019, 47% of women who were victims of homicides were killed by an intimate partner, compared with 6% of homicide victims who were men.
Mental health gender-based violence is prevalent and solutions must be sought to eradicate it. For abuse survivors to heal and move forward and for everyone to educate themselves, providing access to support is crucial. And we mean support in every form, from counselling to child care support. Additionally, we as a community must do our part in understanding the effects of mental health gender-based violence. Listen to friends in need, be a supportive person they can turn to, and offer to help find resources that can help along the way.
Economic Mobility
Economic empowerment is essential to take care of oneself and family members. But what if there was a barrier preventing one from decision-making for themselves or their family? The ability to participate in decisions regarding household logistics or care for oneself shouldn’t be conditional. Yet for many women, and some men in a gender-based violent relationship, it is. Abusive partners tend to exploit, interfere and control others, affecting economic mobility.
These dominant barriers can prevent someone from maintaining employment. Or, they can also intercept one’s financial advancement and resources. Barriers to accessing support outlets eliminate a necessary safety net, leaving those in need vulnerable. Without economic independence, one can find themselves trapped, bordering a life of poverty, and in a precarious and dependent situation without economic security.
Intersection of race
Intersectionality is a term coined by Black academic professor Kimberlé Crenshaw and originated in critical race studies. Crenshaw used it to illustrate the intersection of how race, sex and gender collide with experiences of discrimination simultaneously in social contexts.
Today, systems of oppression like disability, ethnicity, immigration status and religion, also come into play, existing simultaneously. Intersectionality in gender-based violence with BIPOC people is found within, but is not limited to, the following areas:
- Structural disparity: Societal stereotypes, immigration status and poverty increase vulnerability amongst BIPOC women. Immigrants can be subjected to working in unregulated work conditions, exposing them to gender-based violence on the job.
- Barriers to reporting: Because of lack of support from family members or friends, and fear of counteraction from an abuser, gender-based violence is not always reported. This results in insufficient access to much-needed outlets.
- Cultural barriers: Micro-aggressions may go unnoticed by a refugee or someone who doesn’t speak the local language in a new city. Racial slurs and epithets may be lost in translation linguistically, leading to verbal abuse.
The effect of gender-based violence on the BIPOC community is a nuanced one. With the many variants of transgressions alongside intersectionality, there is a lot to educate ourselves on. By understanding and uncovering the layers, we will all be in a better position to help victims heal and start to eradicate gender-based violence for generations ahead.
Gender-based violence, Gender-based violence statistics, Mental health, Information about gender-based violence, Mental health gender-based violence, Intersectionality in gender-based violence
