Unit IV:

Political-Legal Perspective
in Gender and Sexuality
Lesson 15: Gender-Based
Violence: Survivor, Victim,
Perpetrator, and Human Rights

Prepared by: Carla Michaela M. Hermoso-Ong, LPT

 Gender-Based
Violence
Gender-based Violence is any harmful act that is perpetrated
against a person’s will and that is based on socially-ascribed
(gender) differences between males and females (Inter-Agency
Standing Committee Guidelines for Integrating Gender-based
Violence in Interventions in Humanitarian Action of 2015).
 Introduction
Gender-based Violence is one of the most widespread and human rights abuses, but
least recognized in the world. It refers to any harm perpetrated against a person’s will
on the basis of gender, the socially ascribed differneces between males and females.
Survivor, Victim, and Perpetrator

Survivor Perpetrator

The preferred term of a person It is the person, group, or

who has lived through an
incident of GBV instead of
vs. institution that inflicts, supports,
or condones violence or other
“victim”. abuse against a person or group
of persons.

Characteristics of them include:

● Persons with real or
perceived power
● Persons in
decision-making
positions
● Persons in authority
Forms of Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
● Battering
● Marital Rape
● Sexual Violence
● Dowry-related Violence
● Female Infanticide
● Sexual Abuse
● Honor Crimes
● Early Marriage
● Forced Marriage
● Female Genital cutting
● Sexual Harassment
● Commercial Sexual Exploitation
● Human Trafficking
● Violence perpetrated against domestic workers
Consequences of Gender-Based Violence
Can cause serious, immediate, and long-term impacts on the sexual, physical, and
psychological health of survivors.
Lesson 16: Gender-Based
Violence: Power, Use of Force,
and Consent
Human Rights
They are universal, inalienable, indivisible, interconnected, and interdependent. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedom without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth, or other status.

Prevention of and response to GBV is directly linked to the protection of human rights. Acts of GBV violate a number of
human rights principles. Enshrined in the International Human Rights Instruments and in the Philippine Constitution are:

● Right to life, liberty, and property of persons

● Right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
● Right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or
punishment
● Right to freedom of opinion and expression and to education (UNFPA, 2014)
Power
Perpetrators can have “real” or “perceived” power. Some examples of different types of power and powerful
people are the following:

● Social -- peer pressure, bullying

● Economic -- the perpetrator controls money or access to goods/ services/ money/ favors

● Political -- elected leaders, discriminatory laws

● Physical -- strength, size, use of weapons, controlling access or security

● Gender-based (social) -- males are usually in a more powerful position than females

● Age-related -- often, the young and elderly people have the least power.
Power
Power is directly related to CHOICE. The more power one has, the more choices available.
The less power one has, the fewer choices available.

Use of Force and Violence

“Force” might be physical, emotional, social, or economic in nature. It may also involve coercion or pressure.
Force also includes intimidation, threats, persecutions, or other forms of psychological or social pressure.
The target of such violence is compelled to behave as expected or to do what is being requested, for fear of
real and harmful consequences.

“Violence” consists of the use of physical force or other means of coercion such as threat inducement or
promise of a benefit to obtain something from a weaker or more vulnerable person. Using violence involves
forcing someone to do something against his or her will -- use of force.
Informed Consent
“Consent” means saying “yes”, agreeing to something. Informed consent means making an informed
choice, freely and voluntarily, by persons in an equal power relationship.

Acts of GBV occur without informed consent. Even if she says “yes”, this is NOT TRUE CONSENT, because it
was said under duress -- the perpetrator/s use some kind of force to get her to say “yes”.

Children under age 18 are deemed unable to give informed consent for acts such as female genital cutting,
marriage, sexual relations, etc.