Systemic patriarchy and economic inequality perpetuate global gender-based violence: A cross-cultural analysis of structural failures
Original framing: “Getting to zero: what will it take to eliminate violence against women?” — startpage news
Historically, gender-based violence has been a tool of oppression during colonization, slavery, and post-conflict periods. The stagnation in progress reflects the failure of post-WWII human rights frameworks to address economic and political root causes, as seen in the backlash against feminist movements in the 1980s and 2000s.
The persistence of gender-based violence is not a failure of individual morality but a symptom of systemic patriarchy, economic inequality, and colonial legacies.
Historical evidence shows that legal reforms alone are insufficient without addressing economic dependencies and cultural norms. Cross-cultural examples, such as Rwandan gacaca courts and Bolivian plurinational justice, demonstrate that community-based solutions can be more effective than punitive Western models. However, global power structures—from neoliberal economic policies to corporate media—continue to obscure these alternatives. To achieve meaningful change, feminist movements must demand economic redistribution, decolonize justice systems, and build transnational solidarity networks that challenge the root causes of violence.