Som Oeurn MAO
Sharing knowledge with peers, friends and others is one of my habits and passion, and I hope that this little preparation will help others to gain more knowledge for their own benefits, family and society as a whole.
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Gender and Power by Kasumi July 13, 2018
1. Read the case study and answer to the questions.
Your sister, who is single (with no boyfriend being introduced to you / your family
members) and 25 years old working women, said to you by asking you to keep it
secret, that she was raped and it seems that she is now pregnant due to that rape.
What action will you take?
What will I reply to her after she spoke to me immediately?
Since it is already pretty scary, what I can do is being patient, being her good listener,
focusing and finding ways to comfort her rather than blame, pin point or ask her
“why” and “what’s going on?”, and what I should reply immediately after hearing this
is “I understand you are feeling lots of emotions, and I know this is scary, but
remember none of this is your fault, and no one wants this happening in life, and I’m
right here with you, and I will make sure you are safe.” And I will always remind her
that she is not alone.
Bellows are some of the advices I will tell / advise her.
• Ask her to take care of herself both physical and psychological needs;
• Always remind her that it was not her fault;
• Learn how to let the pain flow, and it will get better soon;
• Get immediate medical attention;
• See a therapist or a counselor, especially one who has experience with rape
and sexual assault;
• Focus on eating right;
• Stay physically active;
• Try mindfulness exercises;
• Consider calling the police to report the incident;
• Get distance from the perpetrator;
• Get help with pursuing court charges and legal action;
• Terminate the pregnancy if she wants;
• Focus on your studies or work; and
• Read inspirational books.
If she refuses to take any quick action, what will I do?
If she refuses to take any quick action that I have proposed for her, I will try to
persuade her more. But if it still doesn’t work, I will become her good listener.
Whatever makes her happy, I will follow her decision, except committing suicide. In
Instruction
• Answer to the question and type your answer, submit to the Teaching Assistant
on July 20, 2018.
• Avoid plagiarism: any homework plagiarized will result in “F” from the course.
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addition, I will try my best to help her as much as I can and support whatever she
needs and asks for. Since she has got lots of pressures already, and I don’t want to
put more pressures on her, and I want to her to take control her own pace a long with
my rational purposes, good intention and love from me as her brother and other
family members.
2. Same above, your brother, who is 25-year-old business man, told you that he was
raped / sexually assaulted. (same scenario but he was not pregnant.)
What will I reply to him after he spoke to me immediately?
What I reply to him immediately after hearing this are:
1. “I understand you are feeling lots of emotions, and no one wants this happening
in life, and I’m right here with you.”
2. “Somehow, I know this is going to impact your life, but it is not very serious issue
comparing to women. I understand that you might feel like you can’t, just move
on or forget about it because you are a man, and you have big responsibility for
your future family.”
Bellows are some of the advices I will tell / advise her.
• Ask him to take care of himself both physical and psychological needs;
• Always remind him that it was not her fault;
• Learn how to ignore bad effect of nurture;
• Learn how to let the pain flow because time will help with this;
• See a doctor in case of disease affection;
• See a therapist or a counselor;
• Focus on eating right;
• Stay physically active;
• Try mindfulness exercises;
• Consider calling the police to report the incident;
• Get distance from the perpetrator;
• Get help with pursuing court charges and legal action;
• Focus on your studies or work; and
• Read inspirational books.
3. What is the definition of violence against women according to UN? Cite appropriate
web-site or book/reference to answer to this question.
“Violence against women means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or
is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or in private life.” 1 (Awareness, 2018)
1 http://stoprelationshipabuse.org/educated/definitions/united-nations-definition-of-violence-
against-women/
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4. What are causes / reasons of violence against women? Raise only the main one reason
for this. Check and do some research on this. You need to quote / cite at least one
reliable source to identify the main cause of violence against women.
Birendranagar Multiple Campus, Mid-Western University, Surkhet, Nepal, it stated
that the causes of violence against women are economic status and perception on
spouse (Yount & Carrera, 2006), support from men and issues of autonomy, gender
biased in socialization (Clinton, 2017), perception on law and policy, family support
and issues of decision making, and marital status in early life (Yount & Carrera, 2006).
The main root causes of the violence against women were their “low literacy and
economic dependence over male” (Astbury & Walji, 2014). Consequently, they have
had low status in the family and community which led them to poor access in decision
making and were sometimes considered as a commodity (Khatri, 2013). Luckily,
violence against women will be the explicit target to be eliminated in the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development. It is indeed a priority and these demands accelerated
action (Mlambo-Ngcuca, 2015).
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References
Astbury & Walji. (2014). Journal of Interpersonal Violence. The Prevalence and
Psychological Costs of Household Violence by Family Members Against Women
With Disabilities in Cambodia.
Awareness, C. f. (2018). stoprelationshipabuse. Retrieved from
http://stoprelationshipabuse.org:
http://stoprelationshipabuse.org/educated/definitions/united-nations-
definition-of-violence-against-women/
Clinton, H. R. (2017). What Happened. New York: New Yourk TImes.
Khatri, R. B. (2013). Health Prospect Journal of Public Health. Causes of Violence
against Women: A Qualitative Study at Bardiya District, 13.
Mlambo-Ngcuca, P. (2015, Nov 30). phnompenhpost. Retrieved from
www.phnompenhpost.com: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/opinion/stop-
violence-against-women-and-girls-it-happens
UN. (2011, Nov). UN. Retrieved from www.un.org:
http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/pdf/pressmaterials/unite_the_situ
ation_en.pdf
Yount & Carrera. (2006). Domestic Violence in Cambodia. Domestic Violence Against
Married Women in Cambodia, 357.