Ministry book fights gender-based violence

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The Family and Social Policies Ministry has published a “Fighting Gender-Based Violence Manual,” which includes the definition of previously unnamed forms of violence that women in Turkey are exposed to as well as information about the institutions abused women can apply to.

According to the book, gender-based violence is violence perpetrated on women solely because of their gender, and gender-based discrimination against women results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological and economic damage and suffering.

The book particularly underlines that gender-based violence cases do not occur only in the solitude of the family home but may spread to the public sphere, and occur on streets and in workplaces.

The book defines new types of gender-based violence that had not been previously defined in legal terms. According to the book, forcing a woman to live in unsanitary conditions and preventing her from obtaining medical services are defined as forms of gender-based violence. Honor killings are defined as among the most severe cases of gender-based violence.

The book also defines restrictions and pressures on women within the guise of jealousy as a form of gender-based

violence. Shouting, ridiculing, calling insulting names, belittling a woman’s thoughts and causing her lose her self-esteem are defined as verbal violence against women.