Offline: The love of power is the demon of men

摘要

Power matters in global health. Last week, Charlotte Watts and her colleagues launched a Series of papers on violence against women and girls, timed to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (on Nov 25). One in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner. The main reason for what is now nothing less than an epidemic of assault on women, which occurs at every age and stage of life, is the imbalance of power between men and women—discriminatory laws and policies, inequitable practices, stigma, shame, silence, submissive femininity, and dominant masculinity. Part of the solution is to use whatever power we have to ensure that every woman can live free of violence. Part of the solution is to call on others to use their power to speak loudly and consistently to demand change.