Violence against Women essay

All women regardless of their race, color, age, ability, sexuality or class are potential victims of male violence. Similarly, race, color, age, ability, sexuality or class does not influence the tendencies of males to be violent against women (Rosenberg & Duffy 161). One of the most prevalent acts of violence against women is rape. Perpetrators of this heinous act could be strangers, family members or acquaintances of the victim. The second wave feminist movement brought to the attention of the public the issue of rape while also creating understanding that rape is a serious offense. Statistics show that 58% of women there are worried about their safety while in public transit or after dark (Rosenberg & Duffy 166). This is worsened by the existing notion that women should be in charge of their own safety with a lot of safety guidance being offered on how best women can ensure their own safety.

While this may be helpful to the women in the wake of an attack, it is not the best approach as measures should instead be put into place to enhance security. Violence against women is a pervasive societal issue with statistics showing that about 35% of women all over the world have been victims of violence. In patriarchal societies, male violence against women is perpetrated as means to exert control or power. The wave is thought to have focused mostly on white and middle-class women thereby alienating women who did not belong to these groups. According to Audre Lorde, sisterhood, as put forward in the second wave, doesn’t actually exist, and this discredits the homogeneity approach assumed in this wave (Lorde 116).

As a result of these concerns with the second wave feminism, there was a need to acknowledge that gender indeed intersects with other social divisions such as class, race and age and therefore the concerns of the Western middle-class woman did not represent the concerns of all other women. This gave rise to the third wave of feminism which was characterized by feminists who embraced diversity and individuality (Karaian & Michelle 64). This wave was grounded on the concept of intersectionality which acknowledged that the different forms of oppression that women faced were not limited to gender alone as the causative factor but were also caused by other aspects such as race, class, age and sexuality among other differences (Karaian & Michelle 65, Reece 92). Census Bureau n.

p. This means that the economic success of women of color will be of great significance to the nation. White female privilege is a reality. It is characterized by white women enjoying benefits that are denied to women of coloron the grounds of their race and skin color (Reece 103). This explains the higher levels of poverty among women of color. Women of color also experience limited access to health care. While there are several factors that this may be attributed to, socio-economic status is the leading factor. Being low-income earners makes it impossible for women of color to be able to access health insurance and other health services and this translates into poor health outcomes. In addition, people of color and especially women are exposed to environmental factors that predispose them to diseases (Ahmad& Iverson 14).