A Deafening Silence.

How society conceals violence against women

Psychologist Patrizia Romito has a controversial feminist perspective. She argues that we are unable to solve the problem of “men´s violence against women and children” unless we stop euphemistic labeling like “marital disputes”. In her book “A Deafening Silence – Hidden violence against women and children” (2008) she applies Albert Bandura´s cognitive strategies for coping with conflict – which are typically applied to understanding genocide and war – to understanding gender conflicts and inequality. Romito argues that we employ Bandura’s cognitive strategies – moral justification, displacement/distribution of responsibility, indifference/distortion of consequences, dehumanization, and attribution of blame – to cope with gender injustices that we see daily, and to relieve ourselves of feelings of responsibility to act on these injustices. 

Commentator Robin May Schott is a Senior Researcher at DIIS with a focus on Peace, Risk and Violence. Her work in the field of post-Holocaust and genocide studies is informed by her background in ethics, social and political philosophy, and feminist philosophy. She has worked particularly with gender-related issues of war-time violence including mass war rape. She works on topics related to violence and the harms to political communities and rights.

Robin May Schott & Inge Henningsen have contributed to the debate around the report in Jyllands-Posten´s debate section with the title: “Violence against Women – Where is Denmark compared to Europe?” (The Danish title: “Vold mod kvinder – Hvor er Danmark i Europa?”). Here they summarize some of the shocking facts from the study: “In Denmark 11% of all women reported to have be exposed to violence within the last 12 months, and 55% had been exposed to violence after they turned 15 years old. Overall Denmark received high scores regarding different forms of violence against women, as did countries like Sweden, Finland, France and Holland.” They continue to comment on the possible cause of this high level of violence against women in Denmark: “One could ask oneself if there are specific characteristics in Danish society which contribute to violence against women – like women´s high rate of participation in the workforce. The report shows that women in the workforce to a higher extent than others are exposed to sexual harassment (around 60% have experienced sexual harassment), and the percentages are even higher for university educated women (69%) and women in leadership positions (75%). These numbers reflect a work culture with a high degree of male dominance, a sexualized environment, and a tolerance of sexual harassment in the workplace” (translation by Lea Skewes, Jyllands-Posten´s debat, the 20^th of June 2014).