Violence against women & girls are of gender relations that assume men to be superior to women. It gives the subordinate status to women; gender violence is considered normal and enjoys social sanction. Physical aggression, such as blows of varying intensity, burns, attempted hanging, sexual abuse and rape, psychological violence through insults, humiliation, coercion, blackmail, economic or emotional threats, and control over speech and actions. In extreme, but not unknown cases, death is the result. Usually, domestic aggression towards women and girls, due to various reasons remain hidden.

Sexual, Physical and psychological violence strikes women in pandemic proportions. It is in all social and economic class, in all religion, race and ethnicity. From domestic abuse to rape as a weapon of war, violence against women is a gross violation of their human rights. Not only does it threaten women's health and their social and economic well-being, violence also affects global efforts to reduce poverty.

CHHASE aims to prevent Violence with combination of efforts that address income, education, health, laws and infrastructure can reduce violence and its tragic consequences. Abusive behavior towards women is required to be viewed as unacceptable. Communities need to have an important role in defining solutions to violence and providing support to victims. Men & boys must be engaged in the process as agents of prevention, standing alongside women to end violence.

If we do not address the issue, it stands to hold back the massive potential of women and girls. When they feel safe, when they are empowered, women and girls will become important change makers of the world.  

Adolescent Girls

Adolescence is important time to lay the base for healthy transitions into adulthood. When young women, girls and men have access to an education, they are more likely to earn an income as adults. And when girls have the right to decide when to marry and have children, they are more likely to lead healthier, productive lives as adults.

• In many developing countries, girls are forced to marry shortly after puberty, often too much older men. In some cases, child brides are as young as 6 or 7.
   
• Girls spend less time in school than boys, and few girls living in poverty have a chance for an education at all. In rural communities, girls often are expected to carry out domestic duties, such as caring for younger siblings, tending to livestock and collecting firewood, which undermines their opportunities for education and employment.
   
• One in six girls under 15 reports experiencing sexual abuse, and the rates are significantly higher in reality.
• Development depends in large part on the contributions that young women,girls and men are able to make. In particular, adolescent girls’ education, health and overall well-being are essential to countries’ future economic and social development.

Adolescent programs and policies require working with not only girls, but boys, parents, teachers, community members, leaders, schools and employers, too.

WOMEN & TECHNOLOGY

Intention and innovation can generate real economic benefits to women in the developing world. In a groundbreaking study, CHHASE examines technology initiatives that have enabled women to develop their economic potential, become stronger leaders and more effective contributors to their families, communities and domestic economies. CHHASE has begun to analyze how certain types of technology can enable women to develop their economic potential. Specifically, we’ve found that various technologies can help women increase their productivity as well as launch income-generating pursuits and entrepreneurial ventures. women can become stronger leaders and to more effectively contribute to their families, communities and local economies

Women, Agriculture and Food Security

Women contribute more to the agricultural sector go unrecognized. Few small-scale women farmers are paid for their labor, and common views of women's roles restrict women’s input in household decisions. Such beliefs also limit their access to land ownership, farm equipment and credit – all of which are needed to be economically successful. These barriers ultimately hold back women’s ability to produce, and can make it difficult for them to escape poverty or provide food for their families.

They can contribute to commercial agriculture, which includes high-value products such as vegetables and cut flowers for local and export markets. In some societies, women also sell agricultural goods.

When women farmers have the opportunity to earn and control income, they are more likely to focus their spending on their children’s nutrition, education and health. Women also are integral to alleviating hunger and malnutrition because they are primarily responsible for ensuring that food for their families is reliably available, accessible and nutritionally balanced.

Women’s Economic Empowerment

Women’s economic empowerment – that is, their capacity to bring about economic change for themselves – is increasingly viewed as the most important contributing factor to achieving equality between women and men. But economically strengthening women – who are half the world’s workforce – is not only a means by which to push economic growth, but also a matter of advancing women's human rights. When governments, businesses and communities invest in women, and when they work to eliminate inequalities, developing countries are less likely to be plagued by poverty. Entire nations can also better their chance of becoming stronger players in the global marketplace.

Consider some of the positive outcomes of women’s economic empowerment:

• Where women's participation in the labor force grew fastest, the economy experienced the largest reduction in poverty rates.

• When women farmers can access the resources they need, their production increases, making it less likely that their families are hungry and malnourished.

• When women own property and earn money from it, they may have more bargaining power at home. This in turn can help reduce their vulnerability to domestic violence and HIV infection.
• Investing in women helps speed up the development of local economies and creates more equitable societies.

Employment and Enterprise Development

When women earn an income, they are more likely than men to spend it on food, education and health care for their children and families. Research show that women access to employment can be empowered:  it boosts women’s self-esteem and bargaining power within the household, gives them more mobility and expose them to new ideas and knowledge.

Despite these potential benefits, women’s status in the labor market is significantly lower to that of men. Women tend to be concentrated in the informal economy, working as day laborers on farms or construction sites, domestic servants or petty traders. Such informal sector jobs can make up more than half of the labor market in developing and emerging economies. These jobs often are characterized by lower pay, less security and poor working conditions with few opportunities to advance.

Where weak job markets and other barriers limit women from accessing formal employment, they support themselves primarily through small business enterprises. But women’s enterprises face multiple challenges. Women have limited access to credit and markets. They often lack education and other life skills, such as money management and negotiation. And they rarely have training opportunities for management, basic book-keeping and accounting.

Women and HIV and AIDS

prospect about women’s roles – in relationships, at home – limit their ability to control their sexual lives and protect themselves from harm. Violence against them also makes many women more vulnerable to HIV; if women fear being abused by their partners; they're less likely to get tested for the virus. That fear can also hinder women who are HIV-positive from seeking counseling or disclosing to their partners that they are infected. Meanwhile, women’s low status in some countries hampers them from earning an education, leading a business or owning property – opportunities that can give women more of a voice at home and in their communities. With such power, studies show they are less likely to become infected with HIV.

And in all responses to the epidemic – whether at the village or national level – it is imperative that women’s unique vulnerabilities to HIV are integrated into prevention, support and treatment programs.

Engaging Men and Boys

Men and boys worldwide continue to hold more power than women – in Government jobs, political and on playgrounds; in the household, the classroom and the workplace. Men in many countries also often decide whether women can take steps to improve their own well-being and that of their families.

Such unequal power dynamics in relationships, coupled with cultural expectations that reinforce gender inequity, make men and boys more vulnerable to harm. For instance, societal messages that encourage men to have multiple sexual partners increase their risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV. But like women, men have the ability to be agents of change in their own lives – as well as in those of their wives, sisters, girlfriends and daughters.

It is imperative to involve men in efforts to better women’s health, economic and social status. Society must acknowledge how some men’s behavior and attitudes limit women’s lives. But it’s also critical to address underlying traditional expectations and structures that lead to their actions – as well as help men understand how they can benefit from changing their behavior. Ultimately, to achieve more equitable relationships, we have to question men’s and women’s beliefs about their roles in society.

INNOVATION

Women in innovative pursuits can produce fundamentally deeper benefits. Innovation can catalyze change and help dramatically shift persistent inequalities between them and men. It also can provide women with the ability to recognize new opportunities and the confidence to jump into them.