Women Empowerment

Women Empowerment

Abstract

Women account for the largest number of minority groups in society. Unlike men, they encounter many challenges that hinder them from achieving the best in life. The likelihood of a woman to face gender violence and brutality is high compared to a man. Most of the social beliefs, legal systems and cultural interactions promote the welfare of the men more than the women. Despite the numerous efforts by the government and other support groups geared towards women empowerment, gender violence is still a great issue that requires much consideration to ensure equality in society. It is for this reason that we propose research that will enable the relevant people to understand the causes and effects of gender-based violence(Trevillion et al, 2012). Such insight will enable them to take up effective methodologies that would enhance women empowerment in the entire Ukraine nation. The proposed research will be qualitative and the setting will include the women from the less-privileged areas. The sample size will include 100 women who are victims of gender violence aged 15 to 50 years in the city of Kyiv. The total population will include students, housewives, and working-class women in the community. The research will only last for six months and the results would highly contribute to the process of women empowerment.

Introduction

Women play a significant role in society because of the many responsibilities that they fulfill. However, there are various challenges that they face which makes it difficult for them to execute most of their duties as stipulated by the societal norms. One such factor is violence against women in the community. The issue of gender inequality brought about the discussion on women’s empowerment to give women a chance and making their demands heard by the people. Gender violence, neglect and gender bias greatly affect women more than their male counterparts. The feminism movements detail the negative impacts of patriarchal societies on the women and hence call for a balance between gender inequalities to help heal the scars and enable women to accomplish their dreams(UNFPA Ukraine., 2019).

Women empowerment programs strive to ensure the women achieve their economic, emotional, social, technical and political agendas in the society and hence compete favourably with the men. Thus, the aim of the study is to take a critical look at the issue of gender violence in society and how communities can overcome it to ensure gender equality.

The research will feature both young girls and grown-up females who have experienced gender violence in the past. Women living in deplorable conditions and are likely to face discrimination will also be included in the study. The qualitative study will utilize the use of questionnaires and interviews as methods of data collection(Rubin& Babbie, 2010). Later, analysis of the data will be done quantitatively to provide accurate findings on the causes and effects of gender violence. there will be recommendations at the end of the study that will help inform women empowerment programs.

 

Review of Literature

There are numerous studies carried out on the topic of gender violence and women empowerment. These studies inform the general public about the causes and effects of gender violence and how it impacts their empowerment in society. The purpose of this section is to review some of the studies that critically evaluates the issue of gender violence on women. The sources will discuss at length the prevalence and patterns of violence against women and girls in the health, economic and social sectors. The research articles also present some forms of interventions that experts can use in reducing violence against women in societies.

Mandal, M., Muralidharan, A., &Pappa, S. (2017). A review of measures of women’s empowerment and related gender constructs in family planning and maternal health program evaluations in low- and middle-income countries. BMC Pregnancy And Childbirth, 17(S2). doi: 10.1186/s12884-017-1500-8

The main question of this study is related to the relationship between women’s empowerment and related gender constructs in family planning and maternal health program evaluations in low- and middle-income countries. The design of the study is based on archival research as authors of the study used a great number of sources of different types in order to collect data. The type of data for this research is cross-sectional, so authors of the study could represent the question from different perspectives taking into consideration various factors which have an impact on the development of issue in this context.

A key concept for this study can be defined with the help of such terms as “the influence of gender-integrated interventions on multiple health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries” (Mandal, Muralidharan&Pappa, 2017). Variables for this study are based on the countries which were used for analysis and dependent data which is represented in this context. Nonprobability sample for the process of choosing data was selected, The criteria for data were developed in the context of gender-related studies, English language, clearly discussed methods and results of the study. The intervention was implemented between 2008 and 2013, relation to family planning and maternal health.

The method which was used for this research is qualitative. For this research a data which consists of “peer-reviewed and gray literature in electronic databases (e.g., PubMed, Population Information Online (POPLINE), Scopus) and sourced bibliographies (e.g., Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), organizational websites, and relevant conference websites” (Mandal, Muralidharan&Pappa, 2017) were analyzed in order to determine the main question of the research. This study represents conclusions which are based on the findings that family planning and maternal health are dependent on the gender inequality factors and women’s empowerment. The research and analysis of main and secondary data represented various aspects that have an impact on the way in which variables that consist of a situation in a particular developing country define the relationships between main concepts.

Ribeiro, M., Silva, A., Alves, M., Batista, R., Ribeiro, C., &Schraiber, L. et al. (2017). Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Social Support on Violence against Pregnant Women: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis. PLOS ONE, 12(1), e0170469. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170469

The main question of the research is the relationship between the socioeconomic status with social support and the cases of domestic violence to pregnant women. The study was conducted in order to define the impact which factors of socioeconomic status and social support can have on women’s empowerment and the violence against pregnant women. The research is cross-sectional which is based on the data which was collected with the help of analysis of various studies and a survey which was conducted in two municipalities. There were two questionnaires used for the survey – the Self-Applied Prenatal Questionnaire and the Prenatal Interview Questionnaire. The first one was related to the questions of the violence and social support, and the second one contained questions that were related to the socioeconomic status of participants.

The key concepts which were studied for this research contain domestic violence against pregnant women in the context of psychological and physical/sexual violence. The main variable in this research is socioeconomic status, as, according to the hypothesis, this factor has the greatest impact on the chances which women get to experience domestic violence during pregnancy. The next variable which follows the socioeconomic status is social support which is also mentioned in the hypothesis as the possible additional factor which has an impact on chances to experience domestic violence among pregnant women. Analyzing samples that were used for the study it is important to mention that “convenience samples were studied in the two municipalities due to the difficulty of obtaining a random sample from the population of pregnant women. From February 2010 to June 2011, 1,447 pregnant women participated in the BRISA cohort in São Luís. One pregnant woman was excluded from the study because she did not respond to the questions about violence” (Ribeiro et al., 2017).

For this research qualitative method was used as the data was based on the other sources and results from the survey, so this information was analyzed in order to make conclusions. Also, the quantitative method was used in the context of percentage which represents the statistics of pregnant women who experienced violence in the context of domestic psychological and physical/sexual violence. The results of the study represent that socioeconomic status and social support have a great impact on the chances of pregnant women to experience domestic violence both physical and psychological.

Trevillion, K., Oram, S., Feder, G., & Howard, L. (2012). Experiences of Domestic Violence and Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Plus ONE, 7(12), e51740. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051740

The main question of the study is to discover the impact which domestic violence can have on mental health and how the issues with mental health can impact the chances for the development of negative context for relationships. The research design for this study is built on archival research. There were specific criteria that defined the process of analysis of studies for the data collection and which should include experimental studies, participants of both genders. “The quality of included studies was independently appraised by two reviewers (KT and SO) using criteria adapted from validated tools” (Trevillion, Oram, Feder & Howard, 2012).

In this study, such variables as the diagnosis in the context of mental disorders, gender and the experience of violence were taken into consideration for the analysis of presented data. The data was chosen for the research using special criteria that were developed in order to find the studies which could be relevant for this context. Also, there were a few studies that presented longitudinal data and which were used for this research.

The data was analyzed with the help of the qualitative method in order to develop results that represent the findings from the studies which were used for the research. Also, the quantitative method was used to calculate the percentage of the chances for the development of domestic violence experience for people who have mental health issues and those who have never experienced similar problems. The conclusions of this study are based on findings that prove that women have higher chances to experience domestic violence, and also people who have mental health issues have higher chances to be included in the domestic violence experience.

Proposed Research

Research question

The study aims to answer the following research question; what are the common causes of gender-based violence and how does it impact the women in society?

Hypotheses

H01: Gender-based violence influences the productivity of the women in the community in all spheres such as social, economic and technical sectors.

H02: Women face unique challenges that predispose them to violence in society unlike the men hence require intervention to achieve a better life.

H03: Women empowerment in society has a positive interrelationship with reduced cases of gender violence in society.

Concepts

The concepts of study in the research will entail women and girls aged between 15 years and 50 years as the independent variables. On the other hand, the dependent variables include all elements that limit the progress of women in society. They entail issues such as gender violence, poor accessibility to quality health services as well as motherhood-related challenges which hinder them from being on the same level as the men in the community. The other concept that highly impacts the existence of women is the level of their education as well as economic and technical empowerment in society.

Measure of concepts

The research will utilize two research techniques which are the use of questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires would include both the open-ended and close-ended questionnaires for the participants to complete. The use of the two types of questionnaires will enable the researchers to get clear information about each individual taking part in the study. Most of the gender violence victims are afraid to give information regarding the brutality due to stigmatization. Thus, the questionnaires which enhance the anonymity of the participant will give them the freedom to freely express themselves hence leading to the collection of accurate information.

On the other hand, the interviews will also be conducted in two ways to ensure that the data collected is as accurate as possible. The first and most face form of interview is the face-to-face interrogation with the participant. Such a method enables the researcher to gather more information not only from what the speaker says but also how they tell their stories. The interviewer can read the non-verbal cues communicated by the participant by analyzing the emotion, tone, mood and gestures of the individual when explaining their encounter with perpetrators. The other interviews would be through a phone call to the individuals who are very far or prefer not to be seen in person. The phone conversation will also give the person a sense of security due to anonymity hence enabling them to give factual information without fear of victimization.

The type of questions in both the interviews and questionnaires will help shed more light on gender violence in society. They will include simple questions such as whether the participants are married. The expected answer would be yes or no from all the individuals. The other question will be whether they have ever experienced gender-based violence in their lives before. If the answer is yes then they will be required to describe the event. The question of what the immediate action was by the participant after being abused. The expected responses would be calling the police, telling a friend, involving other family members or keeping the incident to themselves.

The other relevant question that will feature in the study is what was the impact of violence meted upon them. The responses to this question will be varied from one individual to another as their experiences and the circumstances of the violence are unique. However, some of the expected answers could be physical injuries, emotional torture and divorce. The level of education will also feature in the questions to determine whether there is a difference between educated and uneducated women as far as gender violence is concerned.

Design

A research design is significant as it will provide an appropriate framework with the study will entail. The study will utilize the descriptive research design that would enable the researchers to gather information on who perpetuates the brutality against women and girls in Kyiv town. It will also shed light on how, when, and where the violence takes place to the victims. Besides, the design will make it possible for researchers to determine the reasons or causes of violence directed towards women in the community and not the men. The interviews and filling of questionnaires will take place in an unchanged environment as it will happen in the victims’ homes or institutions near them where they feel more comfortable to talk about their experiences(Lambert and Lambert, 2012). The research design, hence makes it possible to gather data that is rich and which could highly influence the formulation of policies that would help reduce gender violence in the town and other places in the country.

Sample

The researcher will use the clustered sampling method in selecting the members to take part in the survey. The method is efficient in the study as the intended size of the study is the entire town of Kyiv which is a large geographical region ((Kyivpost, 2019). The members will be randomly selected to take part in the survey based on their gender where it will target only the females in the area in the first stage of sampling. During the second sampling phase, individuals from each cluster will be selected to take part in the study based on whether they have experienced gender brutality before in their lives(Robinson, 2014). A total of 100 women and girls who are victims of gender violence will be included in the study.

Study

The entire study will take six weeks to be completed because of the considerable number of participants. After the sampling process that will enable the researcher to select participants, they will be taught on the importance of the study and what it seeks to accomplish. The members will be in a position to make smart decisions on whether to join the study or choose not to take part. Questionnaires will be mailed to the participating individuals for them to complete before the start of interviews. They will record data by using photography, voice recording and also written statements by the members. Follow-up studies will follow to ensure that no detail was left out unintentionally.

Ethics Statement

Gender violence is a traumatizing experience for the victims as it distorts their self-worthy and belief. Therefore, victims of gender brutality are in most cases not ready to open up and share their experiences with others. Before conducting the study, researchers will seek ethical approval from the research regulation body to ensure that the study carries follow ethical processes and methodologies as it involves vulnerable individuals in society. Besides, researchers will seek informed consent from participants to enable them to take part in the study voluntarily without any form of coercion. In the cases of extreme emotional in any participant, the person can choose whether to continue with the study or not. This will ensure that no harm in the form of emotional torture comes to the individuals.

Statement of Limitations and Contribution

The proposed research is a great boost to the study of ways to do away with gender violence and enhance their empowerment in society. However, one limitation that could hinder the success of this study is the limited number of participants taking part in the study. Gender-based violence is one area that has had significant impacts on the well-being of many women in society. Thus, 100 members are only but a small number where the findings made may not be conclusive due to overgeneralization. The sample size of the study ought to be large to ensure that the findings that the researchers make are not biased.

Besides, the research only looks at the less-privileged women in society instead of taking into consideration the entire women population. Studies indicate that not only the less fortunate in the society experience domestic violence. The working and independent women in society also encounter violence. The brutality could be domestic or in the workplace where men are favoured over the women. Thus, the study needs to include women from all the economic spheres as they encounter similar problems. The other notable concern is the likelihood of participants to fail to give accurate information for fear of victimization. Such a concern could make it impossible for the study to provide meaningful findings that would help alleviate the problem in the community.

Despite the challenges mentioned, the success of the study will be a great boost to the various programs aimed at enhancing the empowerment of women in society. From the data collected in the study, individuals and organizations tasked with promoting gender equality will learn the causes, effects and hence devise better ways to help women and girls achieve their dreams. The study is also important as gender brutality remains to be the major issue affecting the success of women empowerment programs. Therefore, the study will give a clear insight into the issue and enable experts to better poised to handle the issue in the future.

Conclusion

In summary, gender violence impacts women’s empowerment negatively in society. The study evaluates the causes and effects of gender-based violence through a descriptive study design of the victims of the brutality. Furthermore, the literature review in the research brings to light some of the disturbing impacts of violence on women. Most of the articles recommend empowering women in education, economics, technical and emotionally for them to stand up for themselves. Besides, the paper also completes an in-depth study analysis that is to be carried out in the town of Kyiv to help the women fight and reduces cases of violence against them.

 

 

 

References

Harway, M., O’Neil, J. M., & Biden, J. R. (1999). What causes men’s violence against women?. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.

Kyivpost. 2019. “Violence Against Women Remains Silent Epidemic In Ukraine | – Ukraine’s Global Voice.” KyivPost. Web. 8 Sept. 2019.

Lambert, V. A., & Lambert, C. E. (2012). Qualitative descriptive research: An acceptable design. Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research, 16(4), 255-256.

Mandal, M., Muralidharan, A., &Pappa, S. (2017). A review of measures of women’s empowerment and related gender constructs in family planning and maternal health program evaluations in low- and middle-income countries. BMC Pregnancy And Childbirth, 17(S2). doi: 10.1186/s12884-017-1500-8

Ribeiro, M., Silva, A., Alves, M., Batista, R., Ribeiro, C., &Schraiber, L. et al. (2017). Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Social Support on Violence against Pregnant Women: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis. PLOS ONE, 12(1), e0170469. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170469

Robinson, O. C. (2014). Sampling in interview-based qualitative research: A theoretical and practical guide. Qualitative research in psychology, 11(1), 25-41.

Rubin, A., & Babbie, E. (2013). Brooks/Cole Empowerment Series: Research Methods for Social Work. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Rubin, A., & Babbie, E. R. (2010). Essential research methods for social work. Belmont, Calif: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

Trevillion, K., Oram, S., Feder, G., & Howard, L. (2012). Experiences of Domestic Violence and Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Plos ONE, 7(12), e51740. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051740

UNFPA Ukraine., 2019. “Masculinity Today: Men’s Attitudes To Gender Stereotypes And Violence Against Women.” Web. 8 Sept. 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendices

Sample Questionnaire

Tick the most appropriate answer to you and give further explanations where necessary

1. Do you know what it means by gender violence?

• [ ] No [ ]

1. Have you ever experienced gender violence?

• [ ] No [ ]

1. Who abused you?

• your answer and explain your relationship with the person]

1. Did you report the matter to the relevant authorities?

• a detailed response on what you did after the incident]

1. How often does the violence occur?

• your answer]

1. What are some of the effects of gender violence against women?

• a few effects]

1. Does your city have special regulations that protect women against violence?

• [ ] NO [ ]

1. What is the first step you will advise someone to take after being abused?

• your answer]

1. Do you know anyone who has been physically abused at the office, in a commuter or a store?

• yes state who it was and what happened]

1. Do you think the state is doing enough to prevent the increase of cases in gender violence?

• your answer]

Informed Consent Form

TITLE OF STUDY

Impact of gender violence on women and empowerment programs.

 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

[Name]

[Department]

[Address]

[Phone]

[Email]

PURPOSE OF STUDY

You are being asked to take part in a research study. Before you decide to participate in this study, it is important that you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please read the following information carefully. Please ask the researcher if there is anything that is not clear or if you need more information.

The purpose of this study is to determine the causes and effects of violence directed towards women in the society and how to empower girls and women to fight against the brutality.

STUDY PROCEDURES

The participants will complete questionnaires as part of the study and then take part in interviews either face-to-face or through a phone call.

RISKS

Emotional torture could be a risk due to the stresses of enduring violence.

You may decline to answer any or all questions and you may terminate your involvement at any time if you choose.

BENEFITS

The study does not result into direct benefits for the participants but it could inform many women empowerment programs that will enable them fight the vice in the society.

 

CONFIDENTIALITY

Your responses to this study will be anonymous. Please do not write any identifying information on your questionnaire and also do not disclose information you deem personal to you. You will be assigned code names which will be used throughout the study.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have questions at any time about this study, or you experience adverse effects as the result of participating in this study, you may contact the researcher whose contact information is provided on the first page. If you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant, or if problems arise which you do not feel you can discuss with the Primary Investigator, please contact the (insert contact).

VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION

Your participation in this study is voluntary. It is up to you to decide whether or not to take part in this study. If you decide to take part in this study, you will be asked to sign a consent form. After you sign the consent form, you are still free to withdraw at any time and without giving a reason.

 

CONSENT

I have read and I understand the provided information and have had the opportunity to ask questions. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason and without cost. I understand that I will be given a copy of this consent form. I voluntarily agree to take part in this study.

 

Participant’s signature ______________________________ Date __________

Investigator’s signature _____________________________ Date __________