Prepared by the EWL Centre on Violence against Women
‘Women’s lives rest upon a continuum of unsafety. Wherever women are, their peripheral vision monitors the landscape and those around them for potential danger. As all women reach adulthood, they share a common awareness of their particular vulnerability. Learning the strategies for survival is a continuous lesson about what it means to be female.’ Despite progress over the last decades on many aspects related to equality between women and men, there is not a single country in the world where women are free from male violence, and there is not a single area in any woman’s life where she is not exposed to the threat or realisation of acts of male violence. Male violence against women knows no geographical boundaries, no age limit, no class distinctions, no race nor cultural differences. It manifests itself in multiple forms and involves a wide variety of perpetrators from intimate partners and family members, work colleagues and social or community acquaintances, to strangers and institutional actors such as police, health professionals, teachers and soldiers. Yet male violence against women is still invisible and the voices of women victims silenced… This position paper constitutes the basis for the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) and its members to develop advocacy work on the issue of male violence against women at European and national level. It highlights the EWL position on the issue and presents its recommendations towards a Europe free form all forms of male violence against women. DOWNLOAD THE FULL DOCUMENT: ewl position paper on vaw december 2010 2
