Episode 5: Alessandra Guedes & Shanaaz Mathews on violence against children & violence against women

UNICEF Innocenti presents Present Imperfect, a podcast series exploring the evolution of child rights over the past three decades - and the decades to come, 35 years after the approval of the Convention on the Rights of the Child or CRC by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. Violence against women is one of the most pervasive and widespread violation of human rights in the world. One third of women globally experience physical and or sexual intimate partner violence at least once in their lifetime Several international human rights standards assert the violence against women as a form of discrimination and a violation of women's fundamental rights and freedoms. It is the result of structural, deep-rooted discrimination that States are requested to prevent for protecting women from violence, to punish perpetrators of violent acts, and to support victims of violence. Ending all forms of discrimination and all forms of violence are targets of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, figures on the prevalence of gender-based violence against women are alarming In this episode Dr. Alessandra Guedes and professor Shanaaz Mathews discuss intersections between violence against children and violence against women. Research shows that they intersect in multiple ways globally, particularly on two common forms of violence that children and women experience: violent discipline by parents and caregivers, and intimate partner violence against women. Preventing violence against children and women requires tackling their social and behavioural determinants, including gender norms that devalue women and girls, reinforce male dominance and aggression, and create hierarchies of power. Evidence shows that men who support gender inequality are more likely to use violence against children and violence against women. Parents who justify intimate partner violence are more likely to violently discipline their children. Starting from their own experiences as researchers and practitioners, Alessandra and Shanaaz discuss risk factors and drivers for violent discipline and intimate partner violence; the impact of different forms of violence on women and children; review cases and talk about scalable solutions to prevent violence, including working with adolescent boys and girls on gendered forms of violence; investing in programming that focuses on shifting masculinities.