Women Fight to Put Violence on Global Agenda

by Monika Manke

UNITED NATIONS - Joyce and Tanya -- two women of different ages, nationalities, cultures and religions -- share something: both became victims of a missing goal.

Combating violence against women is what Inés Alberdi, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), calls the missing goal, because it is not an issue addressed by the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

But it is an issue with a lot of faces, like Joyce, who was raped during the post-election violence in Kenya, and Tanya, who is a survivor of domestic violence in New York City.

"My husband beat me when I was pregnant with his son. He isolated me from my family and held me like a hostage in our home," 42-year-old Tanya told IPS. After about four years of fear and suffering, when her husband killed the dog and threatened her children, she left.

U.N. officials point out that the fight against gender-based violence is making progress on some fronts. "More governments than ever are having violence against women on their agenda," Maria José Alcalá, a senior advisor at UNIFEM, told IPS.

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