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Women and Violence
Suggested Hymns:
I Need Thee Every Hour (Hymns 98)
Abide with Me! (Hymns 166)
Note:
This home evening lesson idea is not intended for families with younger children.
Read:
Judges 19
John 8:1-11
Discuss:
What does Judges 19 reveal about the place of women in that society?
What might the story in John 8 suggest about Jesus's attitude towards
his society's treatment of women?
Read:
"Worldwide, it has been estimated that violence against women is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of
reproductive age as cancer."
"In different parts of the world, between 16% and 52% of women suffer physical violence from their male partners, and at
least one in five women suffer rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes. It is also well-known that rape and sexual
torture are systematically used as weapons of war....Studies have shown that between 36% and 62% of all sexual assault
victims are aged 15 or less."
"Most studies on violence against women indicate that:
- the perpetrators of violence against women are almost exclusively men;
- women are at greatest risk of violence from men they know;
- women and girls are the most frequent victims of violence within the family and between intimate partners;
- physical abuse in intimate relationships is almost always accompanied by severe psychological and verbal abuse and in
a third to over half of cases by sexual abuse;
- social institutions put in place to protect citizens too often blame or ignore battered women."
"[B]oys who witness their mothers being beaten by their partners are more likely than other boys to use violence to solve
disagreements in their own adult lives. Girls who witness the same sorts of violence are more likely than other girls to
become involved in relationships in which their partners abuse them. Thus, violence tends to be carried over from one
generation to the next."
"The United States State Department recently claimed that 50,000 women are reportedly trafficked into the United States
each year. The International Organization for Migration has been cited as estimating that 500,000 women are trafficked into
Western Europe alone. The United Nations has estimated that 4 million persons are trafficked each year."
"Today, the number of girls and women who have been subjected to FGM [female genital mutilation] is estimated at more than
130 million individuals worldwide, and a further two million girls are at risk of this practice."
Discuss:
Why does violence against women continue to be such an enormous problem in our world?
What will it take to eliminate violence against women?
Activity:
On International Women's Day (March 8), wear a white or purple ribbon throughout the day to help raise awareness about
violence against women. (You might also do this on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence
against Women.)
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