December 23, 2014 – Women and Violence

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Anchor lead: One-third of women worldwide report themselves as victims of violence, Elizabeth Tracey reports.

One in three women around the world suffer violence of some sort, a recent Lancet special issue reports, with the World Health Organization supporting the assertion. Michael Klag, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says the place to start to intervene is with young people.

Klag: There are multiple studies in the literature that shows that intervening with young girls and providing messages about self-worth, and how to prevent violence how to prevent unwanted sexual intercourse, they work.  They work in a variety of settings.  We also know that we can teach young men about respect for women.  We need to change social norms, the definition of masculinity.  That also decreased the risk of sexual violence to women.   :27

Klag notes that violence against women crosses all cultural and economic barriers and is largely invisible to much of society, so bringing awareness and a message of unacceptability is key.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.