Or at least tries to. The UN Gender Theme Group in commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women demanded an end to violence against women and some practical solutions for it.
The event kicked off a 16-day international campaign against gender violence, which includes domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape."Fundamentally, it is time for us to make the commitment publicly and personally," Malik said.
About 34.7 per cent of families suffer from domestic violence, according to a survey conducted by the Domestic Violence Network in nine cities of three provinces between 2000 to 2001, the latest figures available.
About 80 to 90 per cent of these victims are female, said Chen Mingxia, chair of the board of the network.
The picture is gloomier in rural China, where more than 170,000 women die of suicide every year.Of these suicide cases, 66 per cent were a result of domestic violence, said Xie Lihua, director of the cultural development centre for rural women.
More than one third of rural women suffer from physical violence every few months, Xie said. Her figures were based on 10 years of investigation in rural areas of China.
Some not so happy stats. Also Saturday was International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Hope you all celebrated, because I was so distracted by writing my thesis, I shamefully forgot about it. But I guess we should really be fighting violence against women and celebrating its elimination everyday.
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More on suicide. China is the only country in the world where the suicide rate for females is higher than for males. It is the number one cause of death for Chinese women aged 18 to 34. This mostly affects rural women because they have access to pesticides and because they feel burdened by work both inside and outside the home. The highest suicide rate in the world is among teen girls in India ages 15-19, 148 out of 100,000, due to issues of marriage and dowry.