Can we move from 16 Days to 365 days?

By Dr. Tadiwanashe Burukai-Matutu

Every year from 25 November to 10 December the world commemorates 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. The 16 days often culminated in colorful theme colors to show the global solidarity for the victims of violence, and to once again place the spotlight on the collective urgent need to eliminate violence. For those 16 days, the world pays attention, or at least we hope they do.

Is this something we must celebrate? Absolutely. But with each year as the 16 days come to a close, we reach a collective moment of sobriety as we realize that we need to do more, surely the 16 days cannot be all the world has to offer for victims and survivors of violence, much less considering the increasing rates of violence each year.

Looking back before the pandemic, the 16 days campaign was quite popularised as an opportunity for organizations to put their best foot forward. Physical campaigns like roadshows, street mobs, marches, and parades would take over cities across the globe.  This would be done in splashes of orange and purple as the outstanding colors. This was a way for the civil society organizations to raise awareness around VAW and GBV.

I have been reflecting on the forms of violence that affect girls and women and the one that we least talk about is Economic Violence. Loosely defined as Any act or behavior which causes economic harm to an individual. Economic violence can take the form of, for example, property damage, restricting access to financial resources, education, or the labor market, or not complying with economic responsibilities, such as maintenance.

In my reflection, I read about the feminization of poverty lately it’s about making women generally more economically vulnerable than men. Its systematic, structural, culturally aligned and manipulates women to believe that a man should earn more than you, it asserts that a man is entitled to your earnings and you don’t own anything. This setup is quite common in Exclusive marital settings e.g., Marriages, co-habiting, etc. 

Economic violence experienced can include limited access to funds and credit; controlling access to health care, employment, education, including agricultural resources; excluding from financial decision making; and discriminatory traditional laws on inheritance, property rights, and use of communal land. At work this can include women experiencing unequal remuneration for work done equally in value to the men’s, being overworked and underpaid, and being used for unpaid work outside the contractual agreement. (The women should clean up the office and other domestic associated or related mundane work). It also includes denial of access to services, exclusion from certain jobs, denial of pleasure, and the enjoyment of civil, cultural, social, and political rights.

Some have experienced fraud and theft from some men, illegal confiscation of goods for sale, and unlawful closing down of worksites. At home, some are barred from working by partners; while other men totally abandoned family maintenance to the women. Unfortunately, economic violence results in deepening poverty and compromises educational attainment and developmental opportunities for women. It leads to physical violence, promotes sexual exploitation, and the risk of contracting HIV infection, maternal morbidity and mortality, and trafficking of women and girls.

I realize that this is a lot of information, I also realize this may be the opening to a bigger conversation, however, now that we know about Economic violence, what can we do to address it?