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SVRI Knowledge Exchange. Engaging the private sector to prevent and address violence against women. SVRI Knowledge Exchange. SVRI and BSR

Pino, A., Dartnall, E., Shields, L., Flores Guevara, L., Duma, T., Lawrence, T., Majumdar, S., Rizvi, R. (2020).

Violence against women (VAW) remains a globally pervasive human rights violation. According to Care International, one-third of women worldwide will experience physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of men at some point in their lives.i Much of this happens in the workplace, including the factory environments of global supply chains. In India and Bangladesh, for example, research shows that some 60% of garment workers have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.ii To most effectively respond to VAW – and successfully prevent it – both multi-sectoral and broad societal involvement are required. The initiatives of governments and civil society organisations alone are not sufficient for the effective roll-out of the vast number of programmes required to affect the widespread change in social norms and behaviour that is required. Nor are they sufficient to cater for survivors in need of services. Active engagement with the private sector is required. The UN’s 17 Social Development Goals (SDGs) represent a plan of action to promote partnerships with the private sector in order to achieve what the UN calls the 2030 Agenda. The International Labour Organization’s Violence and Harassment Convention of 2019 (or ILO’s C190) additionally draws attention to how workplace violence, which includes sexual harrassment and abuse, is a human rights violation. Global movements such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, #Cuéntalo, #NiUnaMás, and #NiUnaMenos, have further opened the door for millions of women to share their stories, not only of sexual abuse, harassment and rape, but also of everyday sexism, including sexism in the workplace. These conventions and movements are helping to leverage impetus for a wider discussion of the role of the private sector in not only responding to violence against women, but ending it. Private sector engagement in the VAW terrain is not new, but it is also by no means exhaustive.

This Knowledge Exchange is based on a SVRI/BSR joint webinar discussing the role of the private sector in violence against women (VAW) prevention and response. It offers tips and recommendations for effective private sector partnership with due consideration for the ongoing prevalence of violence and harassment of women in the workplace


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