The fragile and ignored condition of Mongolian women’s Rights
Since the first shelter for women opened in 1995 by the help of NCAV(National Centre Against Violence) women’s rights has remained a grossly neglected issue. Government support for women has been lacking to the point that shelters provide the sole support for those who live in a constant state of fear and psychological pain.
No politician to date has actively sought to have women’s rights as a strong policy mentioned in their agenda. In the 2008 election campaign, there was a mere one line that mentioned the lives of women to be improved. But we have seen no effort to put any promise into practice. This is what NGOs and the victims themselves will be looking out for with the forthcoming election. Policies including women’s rights may be ignored yet again unless either party attaches the issue substantially to their campaigns.
When the United Nations Development Fund for Women published their Project Annual Report in 2009, in their extensive research they found some horrific facts and disturbing views on women’s rights.
After UNIFEM conducted a psychological and legal counseling service of 1,555 victims of abuse, interesting results emerged. Violence was the key ingredient in their experiences of abuse. From those 1,555 women 90.4 per cent were domestic violence victims, 7.2 per cent were rape victims, 0.5 per cent were a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace. 58.9 per cent of rape victims were subjected to rape in marriage, 26.3 per cent to rape by relatives, 8.9 per cent to rape in the streets and 7.1 per cent were raped in dating. But in reality these figures will not always uphold the reality that rape is such a continuously vaguely reported crime as it is in some incidences considered the norm, consent is often irrelevant.
Yesterday I visited a women’s shelter in the City for my first in a series of reports looking into the state of Mongolian women’s rights. Of the six women I spoke with who had come to shelter for reasons all related to unprovoked violence, all but one described how their abuser was an alcoholic. It seemed clear that women continue to bear the brunt of their male partner or relative’s anger as a result of their addiction to the cheap vodka bottle. I asked each woman who had been abused by alcoholics whether they would like to see stronger regulation on the sale of cheap alcohol. But the answer was similar from each of them, that it would “not solve the problem”.
It appears the problem is perhaps deeper rooted than simple sale regulation. “Education” was what the women spoke of as a real problem with abusers. If women’s rights was an issue spoken about in schools with students and instilled within school curriculum. The motto of NCAV, the NGO behind the shelters is: “Leaving a safe environment for the next generation”. Within this message is the emphasis on the youth of Mongolia’s safety. But the next generation in this message can also be aimed at the male youth’s perception of women.
The women also highlighted that the countryside perceptions of women were prominent in the city, especially within newly formed Ger districts. The view that a women is a subservient object designed to carry out the maintenance of the home whilst the men are out, in certain cases going to find other nomadic women. The obvious problem with women’s protection in the countryside is that there is no where to whide and no where to seek shelter if you are abused hours from the nearest town.
One victim I spoke with can barely be called a woman at the vulnerable age of fourteen and had been at this shelter for nearly two months. She explained, albeit in a voice so tender it resembled a whisper that the reason she had to take refuge in the shelter was that her mother was an unemployed alcoholic who walked the streets collecting rubbish for money. She also mentioned how her aunt had beaten her. The shelter provided her with an escape from the abuse but not from the psychological fear and mistrust she has for adults. But she did say she “felt safe” in the shelter but “not safe on the streets”.
Another woman aged 26 spoke about the violence she had endured in her marriage. “Like an animal”, she said as she described her husband attacking and violating her. She complained, as did others, that when she contacted police or went to the police in person, the police officers would always reject calls to make an arrest unless there was obvious bruising or scars on her face.
A mother in her mid twenties has three children at the shelter with her. Her story highlights the lack of welfare support in place to help her and her children. Her fourth month year old baby girl has arthritis and her six year old girl is death because her ear drums were broken. The violence she received from her husband surpassed the levels of the others. She claims to have attempted suicide three times. She has been taken underground into the hot water pipe system and repeatedly tied up and raped by her husband whilst other men tried to violate her children. Her husband is not the father of the six year old and this, she said, was the reason he beat this little girl more than the others. She has been offered the chance to send the children to a children’s care centre whilst she finds work but even if she does this, she cannot read or write and therefore will struggle to find an adequately paid job.
Since visiting the shelter I have heard other, very similar stories of domestic violence with the crucial link to all being alcoholism and a far more deep rooted problem of lack of education. It seems for now it is up to the younger generation to shift perceptions of women from being objects to people. But until this happens, the Government will need stronger legislation to rights these evident wrongs that course through society with a disturbing force. At the moment these NGOs that focus on women’s rights have to depend heavily upon donations. Without this generosity, such shelters would not exist. Do the victims who have sought shelter and those yet to seek shelter have to sit and wait until their fear can be lifted? This is the resounding conclusion that you will find when scratching beneath the surface on this recurring problem.
In my next report I will be visiting a NCAV shelter in the countryside to see just how the women are being treated, viewed and helped in comparison with their city counterparts.
No politician to date has actively sought to have women’s rights as a strong policy mentioned in their agenda. In the 2008 election campaign, there was a mere one line that mentioned the lives of women to be improved. But we have seen no effort to put any promise into practice. This is what NGOs and the victims themselves will be looking out for with the forthcoming election. Policies including women’s rights may be ignored yet again unless either party attaches the issue substantially to their campaigns.
When the United Nations Development Fund for Women published their Project Annual Report in 2009, in their extensive research they found some horrific facts and disturbing views on women’s rights.
After UNIFEM conducted a psychological and legal counseling service of 1,555 victims of abuse, interesting results emerged. Violence was the key ingredient in their experiences of abuse. From those 1,555 women 90.4 per cent were domestic violence victims, 7.2 per cent were rape victims, 0.5 per cent were a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace. 58.9 per cent of rape victims were subjected to rape in marriage, 26.3 per cent to rape by relatives, 8.9 per cent to rape in the streets and 7.1 per cent were raped in dating. But in reality these figures will not always uphold the reality that rape is such a continuously vaguely reported crime as it is in some incidences considered the norm, consent is often irrelevant.
Yesterday I visited a women’s shelter in the City for my first in a series of reports looking into the state of Mongolian women’s rights. Of the six women I spoke with who had come to shelter for reasons all related to unprovoked violence, all but one described how their abuser was an alcoholic. It seemed clear that women continue to bear the brunt of their male partner or relative’s anger as a result of their addiction to the cheap vodka bottle. I asked each woman who had been abused by alcoholics whether they would like to see stronger regulation on the sale of cheap alcohol. But the answer was similar from each of them, that it would “not solve the problem”.
It appears the problem is perhaps deeper rooted than simple sale regulation. “Education” was what the women spoke of as a real problem with abusers. If women’s rights was an issue spoken about in schools with students and instilled within school curriculum. The motto of NCAV, the NGO behind the shelters is: “Leaving a safe environment for the next generation”. Within this message is the emphasis on the youth of Mongolia’s safety. But the next generation in this message can also be aimed at the male youth’s perception of women.
The women also highlighted that the countryside perceptions of women were prominent in the city, especially within newly formed Ger districts. The view that a women is a subservient object designed to carry out the maintenance of the home whilst the men are out, in certain cases going to find other nomadic women. The obvious problem with women’s protection in the countryside is that there is no where to whide and no where to seek shelter if you are abused hours from the nearest town.
One victim I spoke with can barely be called a woman at the vulnerable age of fourteen and had been at this shelter for nearly two months. She explained, albeit in a voice so tender it resembled a whisper that the reason she had to take refuge in the shelter was that her mother was an unemployed alcoholic who walked the streets collecting rubbish for money. She also mentioned how her aunt had beaten her. The shelter provided her with an escape from the abuse but not from the psychological fear and mistrust she has for adults. But she did say she “felt safe” in the shelter but “not safe on the streets”.
Another woman aged 26 spoke about the violence she had endured in her marriage. “Like an animal”, she said as she described her husband attacking and violating her. She complained, as did others, that when she contacted police or went to the police in person, the police officers would always reject calls to make an arrest unless there was obvious bruising or scars on her face.
A mother in her mid twenties has three children at the shelter with her. Her story highlights the lack of welfare support in place to help her and her children. Her fourth month year old baby girl has arthritis and her six year old girl is death because her ear drums were broken. The violence she received from her husband surpassed the levels of the others. She claims to have attempted suicide three times. She has been taken underground into the hot water pipe system and repeatedly tied up and raped by her husband whilst other men tried to violate her children. Her husband is not the father of the six year old and this, she said, was the reason he beat this little girl more than the others. She has been offered the chance to send the children to a children’s care centre whilst she finds work but even if she does this, she cannot read or write and therefore will struggle to find an adequately paid job.
Since visiting the shelter I have heard other, very similar stories of domestic violence with the crucial link to all being alcoholism and a far more deep rooted problem of lack of education. It seems for now it is up to the younger generation to shift perceptions of women from being objects to people. But until this happens, the Government will need stronger legislation to rights these evident wrongs that course through society with a disturbing force. At the moment these NGOs that focus on women’s rights have to depend heavily upon donations. Without this generosity, such shelters would not exist. Do the victims who have sought shelter and those yet to seek shelter have to sit and wait until their fear can be lifted? This is the resounding conclusion that you will find when scratching beneath the surface on this recurring problem.
In my next report I will be visiting a NCAV shelter in the countryside to see just how the women are being treated, viewed and helped in comparison with their city counterparts.
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