On Friday the World Conference on Women continued to debate about the issues begun in Thursday’s session, Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage. Also, the delegates made allies with each other and complete their working papers to present amendments. They then started their second topic, violence towards women.

Throughout the debate in WCW different points of views of violence towards women were expressed. Even though most of the delegations were against this mistreatment towards the female gender, there were others that had controversial opinions towards those events. Violence does not only affect women physically but also psychologically which are harmful for their daily life-style.

According to Womankind Worldwide, a global women’s rights organization, “38% of all women who have been murdered were murdered by their intimate partners.”

The delegations made emphasis on the general topic of violence towards women and how their rights are being violated.

“It is not just a couple of bruises, women are killed by their husbands,” Camila Duque, delegate of France, said.

Some delegates were angered by the comments expressed by delegations such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Their comments were intepreted negtively by several other committes members.

“This issue is serious, it’s not a joke. The delegation of Portugal wants to modify new laws so finally, women can count in society. Portugal has been in many conventions regarding violence towards women and against FGM,” Luciana Alzate, delegate of Portugal, said.  

Due to the controversy of the debate, and by the delegate of Saudi Arabia being a woman, there were some ambassadors that questioned the accuracy of her words.

“The delegate of Saudi Arabia is a woman and has stated that women thoughts and ideas are inferior to man. Is that credible coming from a woman that is here to propose solutions to these issues?” Camila Duque, delegate of France, asked.

A debate ended in the morning session, a Fatlya Faham, a Saudi Arabia victim of intrafamily violence was invited to share her story. It received a variety of reactions from the ambassadors, the majority supporting her, but others expressing that it was right for her father to mistreat her.

“What a man does to his daughter or wife is not our concern. A woman needs to be on the man’s side. The beatings are just a small way for them to pay. It is essential for everybody to know that men provide women food and a home. Women are their property and are used by men,” Leila Arbabi, delegate of Saudi Arabia, said.

Violence towards women was a very delicate topic in the debate due to the the diversity of cultures of each country, still some stated that women are humans, just like men.

“All genders deserve to live and be considered equal to each other. We want to work with countries that don’t have a solution. It is unbelievable that is the 21st century, and the thought of women being  “inferior” to men is going through a lot of people’s mind,” Luciana Alzate, delegate of Portugal, said.