On March 10th of 2018, the committee of World Conference on Women had their last session debating violence towards women. There was a crisis in the middle of the debate where a new law in Russia was revealed, causing controversy between delegations.

Based on the three sessions that have taken place since Thursday, one of the main solutions proposed, was to improve education for women so they can stand up for their rights and take action towards protecting themselves.

According to UN Women, a woman’s rights web page sponsored by the United Nations, “In the majority of countries with available data, less than 40 percent of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort.”

During the moment of crisis, a new law was passed and approved by Russia that referred to domestic violence. According to the new law,  domestic violence only occurs if there are broken bones and/or if it lasts for one year. The only punishment for the aggressor will be 15 days in jail.

“Russia decided to decriminalize violence towards women, since they are strong, they need to take care of themselves,” Loaisa, said.

Likewise, the delegation of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan is expressing how women are inferior to men and how their rights should not be taken into consideration.

“The education in Afghanistan is based on the Quran. Men are physically stronger.  Women are not stronger than men and men have more influence in the government,” Daniel Ospina, delegate of Afghanistan, said.

Some delegates have questioned and disputed comments that were made because they failed to provide ideas which create solutions to end violence towards women.

“Women are raised from birth by their mothers to serve their husbands,” Leila Arbabi, delegate of Saudi Arabia, said.

Even though the idea of implementing education to solve these issues was agreed upon by various of delegations, some expressed that education alone wasn’t enough to change the way many men think towards their opposite sex.

“Education is not going to modify anything and it is useless. Empowering women through education is not going to work,” Sofia Loaisa, delegate of Russia, said.

There are different actions that refer to violence towards women, there are delegations that believe and state that some ways are inferior to others, but other delegations think that it does not matter what type of action is committed, all are equally violent.

“What is permitted is enforced, if the delegations don’t pay attention to small acts of violence, big acts of violence will happen. Sexist attitudes and sexist comments may arise to comments like “she was raped because of what she was wearing,” Camila Duque, delegate of France, said.