Violence Against Women—It’s a Men’s Issue

Gender violence is a common issue throughout the world, with some cultures and nations revealing high rates of violence against one gender. Most often, gender violence is claimed to be a “women issue” since they comprise the highest number of victims (“Gender-Based Violence (Violence Against Women and Girls),” 2019). However, Jackson Katz, in his ted talk, dismisses the claims, and advocates for a paradigm shift to consider gender violence as a “men issue.”

According to Katz, many people consider gender violence to be a “women issue,” the same way race is connotated to minority races. He claims that denoting gender violence as “women issue” is in its self a problem since “It gives a lot of men an excuse not to pay attention” to a case they are a subject (Katz, 2013). Besides, considering men to be at the core of gender violence, and addressing it by active voice eliminate victim is blaming – which does not solve gender violence. He argues that a solution to gender violence is achievable through leadership development on men, which begins by identifying that the male gender has a problem (Katz, 2013, 5:15). Besides, Katz argues that the bystander perspective is the best approach towards leadership development in men within social institutions is a potential solution towards gender violence (Katz, 2013, 13:26 – 15:22).

However, Katz’s argument reveals its most significant weakness in that gender violence from a male perspective is affected by demographics and culture. Leadership development and standing up against gender violence are viable solutions to part of the global cultures. That is, some cultures have inherent cultural constructs regarding the relationship between men and women, with some considering women as subjective to men (Wyrod, 2008). Therefore, Katz argument that gender violence is actual, but his suggested solution is not sufficient. Preferably, the intervention ought to extend the paradigm shift within cultures.

References

Gender-Based Violence (Violence Against Women and Girls). (2019). Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialdevelopment/brief/violence-against-women-and-girls

Katz, J. (2013). Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue [Video]. TED California: TED.

Wyrod, R. (2008). Between Women’s Rights and Men’s Authority. Gender & Society, 22(6), 799-823. doi: 10.1177/0891243208325888