AWD Report 2020
4. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND HARMFUL PRACTICES In Africa, women face violence in the workplace, educational and health institutions as well as in public social environments.
4.1. Issue Analysis Violence against women (VAW) is prevalent in public and private spheres in most countries. In Africa, women face violence in the workplace, educational and health institutions as well as in public social environments. Sexual harassment, sexual assault and trafficking of women and girls are examples of this phenomenon. In the private sphere, manifestations of VAW include domestic violence; marital rape; child, early and forced marriage; FGM; widow inheritance; and economic abuse and exploitation of girls and women. Owing to fears of stigma and community or familial reprisal, many victims and survivors do not readily access law and justice systems by reporting incidents of VAW.1333 The drivers are often embedded in patriarchal power systems and institutions in which patterns of gender subordination and stereotypes result in inequality between women and men. Unequal power relations between men and women have bred VAW, with women being disproportionately affected as the targets and victims. The Maputo Protocol1334 defines VAW as all acts perpetrated against women that may cause them physical, sexual, psychological and economic harm, and that take place in private or public life, in peace times and during situations of armed conflict or war. Article 4 prohibits all forms of VAW, calling on States Parties to enact and enforce laws prohibiting VAW and to adopt measures, as may be necessary, to ensure the prevention, punishment and eradication of all forms of VAW. The Protocol uniquely calls on governments to undertake measures to eradicate traditional and cultural beliefs, practices and stereotypes that legitimise and exacerbate the persistence and tolerance of VAW. In so doing, it casts light on societal and cultural practices that result in harm to women and girls. The Protocol defines harmful practices as all behaviour, attitudes and/or practices that negatively affect the fundamental rights of women and girls, such as their physical integrity. Article 5 calls
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