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{{Short description|Violent acts against women and girls}}
'''Violence against women''' is a ] used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against ]. Similar to a ], this type of ] targets a specific group with the victim's ] as a primary motive. The ] defines "violence against women" as ''"any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, ], ] or ] harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of ], whether occurring in public or in private life."'' The 1993 ''Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women'' noted that this violence could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the "State" itself.<ref></ref> Worldwide governments and organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. A ] designated November 25th as ''International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women''.<ref></ref>
{{For|the journal|Violence Against Women (journal)}}
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]
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Violence against women}}
{{Discrimination sidebar |expanded=Manifestations}}
{{Feminism sidebar |expanded=concepts}}
'''Violence against women''' ('''VAW'''), also known as '''gender-based violence'''{{r|Krantz}}<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Russo | first1 = Nancy Felipe | last2 = Pirlott | first2 = Angela | title = Gender-based violence: concepts, methods, and findings | journal = ] |issue=Violence and Exploitation Against Women and Girls | volume = 1087 | pages = 178&ndash;205 | publisher = ] and ] | doi = 10.1196/annals.1385.024 | pmid = 17189506 | date = November 2006 | bibcode = 2006NYASA1087..178R | s2cid = 34389352 }}</ref> and '''sexual and gender-based violence''' ('''SGBV'''),<ref> (WHO)</ref> is ] acts primarily committed by ] or ]s against ] or ]s. Such violence is often considered a form of ],<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite book | last = Angelari | first = Marguerite | chapter = Hate crime statutes: a promising tool for fighting violence against women | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2YdCbgXjr-EC&pg=PA405 | editor-last = Maschke | editor-first = Karen J. | title = Pornography, sex work, and hate speech | pages = 405&ndash;448 | publisher = Taylor and Francis | location = New York | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780815325208 }}
* {{cite book | last = Gerstenfeld | first = Phyllis B. | chapter = The hate debate: constitutional and policy problems | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DiBIZcx1nPcC&pg=PA58 | editor-last = Gerstenfeld | editor-first = Phyllis B. | title = Hate crimes: causes, controls, and controversies | page = 58 | publisher = Sage | location = Thousand Oaks, California | year = 2013 | isbn = 9781452256627 }}
* {{cite book | last = McPhail | first = Beverly | chapter = Gender-bias hate crimes: a review | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZNnXj_SbOsC&pg=PA271 | editor-last = Perry | editor-first = Barbara | title = Hate and bias crime: a reader | page = 271 | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | year = 2003 | isbn = 9780415944076 }}</ref> committed against persons specifically because they are of the ] ], and can take many forms.


VAW has a very long history, though the incidents and intensity of such violence have varied over time and between societies. Such violence is often seen as a mechanism for the subjugation of women, whether in society in general or in an ].{{sfnp|Brownmiller|1975|p=15-17}}{{sfnp|Miles|1988|p=1-14}}
==History of violence against women==
Some experts believe that the history of violence against women is tied to the history of women being viewed as property and a gender role assigned to be subservient to men and also other women.<ref> Penelope Harvey & Peter Gow ''Sex and violence : issues in representation and experience'' (1994) pg 36 Routledge ISBN 0-415-05734-5 </ref>


The UN ] states, "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women" and "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un-documents.net/a48r104.htm |title=A/RES/48/104 - Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women |publisher=United Nations General Assembly |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref>
==Impact on society==
The ] reports that violence against women put an undue burden on ] services with women who have suffered violence being more likely to need health services and at higher costs.<ref></ref>


], ], declared in a 2006 report posted on the ] (UNIFEM) website:<blockquote>Violence against women and girls is a problem of ] proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.<ref name="Moradian">{{cite web |url=http://en.tolerancy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=176:2009-09-15-08-37-55&catid=43:events-a-reports&Itemid=90 |title=Domestic Violence against Single and Married Women in Iranian Society |last=Moradian |first=Azad |work=Tolerancy.org |publisher=] |date=10 September 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425230632/http://en.tolerancy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=176%3A2009-09-15-08-37-55&catid=43%3Aevents-a-reports&Itemid=90 |archive-date=25 April 2012 |access-date=1 March 2015}}</ref></blockquote>
==Types of violence==
{{TOC limit|3}}
===Domestic violence===
{{main|Domestic violence}}


==Definition==
Women are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called "Intimate Partner Violence" or (IPV). The impact of domestic violence in the sphere of total violence against women can be understood through the example that 40-70% of murders of women are committed by their husband or boyfriend.<ref name="WHO">{{cite web
A number of international instruments that aim to eliminate violence against women and domestic violence have been enacted by various international bodies. These generally start with a definition of what such violence is, and a proposal to combat it. The Istanbul Convention (]) of the ] describes VAW as "a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women" and defines VAW as "all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life".<ref name="COE 210">{{cite web |url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/210 |title=Details of Treaty No.210: Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence |publisher=Council of Europe |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref>
| author =
| year = 2002
| title = Intimate Partner Violence
| publisher = World Health Organization
| accessdate = 2007-09-04
| url = http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/factsheets/en/ipvfacts.pdf#search=%22most%20common%20Intimate%20Partner%20violence%22
}}</ref> Studies have shown that violence is not always perpetrated as a form of physical violence but can also be psychological and ].<ref name="IPH">{{cite journal
| last =A Pourreza
| first =
| authorlink =
| coauthors =A Batebi; A Moussavi
| title =A Survey about Knowledge and Attitudes of People towards Violence against Women in Community Family Settings
| journal =Iranian Public Health Journal
| volume =33
| issue =2
| pages =33-37
| date =2004
| url =http://diglib.tums.ac.ir/pub/magmng/pdf/119.pdf
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate =2007-09-04 }}</ref><ref> </ref> In unmarried relationships this is commonly called ], whereas in the context of marriage it is called ]. Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts believe that the true magnitude of the problem is hard to estimate.<ref name="CDC">{{cite web
| author =
| year = 2006
| title = Intimate Partner Violence: Overview
| publisher = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
| accessdate = 2007-09-04
| url = http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm
}}</ref>


The 1979 ] (CEDAW) of the ] makes recommendations relating to VAW,<ref>{{cite web |title=General recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women |url=https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm#recom1 |website=www.un.org |access-date=2015-05-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510132556/http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm#recom1 |archive-date=10 May 2015}}, General Recommendations 12 and 19</ref> and the ] mentions VAW.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 July 1993 |url=http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topic&tocid=459d17822&toid=459b17a82&docid=3ae6b39ec&skip=O |title=Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action |publisher=UN General Assembly |access-date=3 April 2016}}, paragraph 18</ref> However, the 1993 United Nations General Assembly resolution on the ] was the first international instrument to explicitly define VAW and elaborate on the subject.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/global-norms-and-standards |title=What We Do: Ending Violence against Women: Global Norms and Standards |publisher=UN Women |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref> Other definitions of VAW are set out in the 1994 ''Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/treaties/a-61.html |title=Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment And Eradication of Violence Against Women "Convention of Belem Do Para" |publisher=Organization of American States |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref> and by the 2003 ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/women-protocol/achpr_instr_proto_women_eng.pdf |title=Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa |publisher=African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights |access-date=3 April 2016 |archive-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302101029/http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/women-protocol/achpr_instr_proto_women_eng.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Though this form of violence is often portrayed as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, it also occurs in ] relationships,<ref name="Girshick">Girshick, Lori B., "No Sugar, No Spice: Reflections on Research on Woman-to-Woman Sexual Violence." ''Violence Against Women'' Vol. 8 No. 12, December 2002, pgs. 1500-1520.</ref> daughter-mother relationships, ] relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Very little research has been done on lesbian relationship violence, so reliable source information is hard to come by.<ref name="Girshick"/> Violence against women by women also exists outside the sphere of relationship violence, probably even less research has been done on this subject.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} Some researchers report of violence against men from women or other men. There are statistics in USA, UK, and Australia, but no systematic study was yet performed to get evidence of all different cases of domestic violence<ref></ref>.


In addition, the term ''gender-based violence'' refers to "any acts or threats of acts intended to hurt or make women suffer physically, sexually, or psychologically, and which affect women because they are women or affect women disproportionately".<ref>{{cite book | last = Richters | first = J.M. Annemiek | title = Women, culture and violence: a development, Health and Human Rights issue | publisher = Women and Autonomy Centre (VENA), Leiden University | location = Leiden, The Netherlands | year = 1994 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KvbtAAAAMAAJ | oclc = 905570045 | isbn = 9789072631374 }}</ref> ''Gender-based violence'' is often used interchangeably with ''violence against women'',<ref name="Krantz">{{cite journal | last1 = Krantz | first1 = Gunilla | last2 = Garcia-Moreno | first2 = Claudia | title = Violence against women | journal = ] | volume = 59 | issue = 10 | pages = 818&ndash;821 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1136/jech.2004.022756 | jstor = 25570854 | pmid = 16166351 | pmc = 1732916 | date = October 2005 }}</ref> and some articles on VAW reiterate these conceptions by stating that men are the main perpetrators of this violence.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Sen | first = Purna | title = Development practice and violence against women | journal = Gender & Development | volume = 6 | issue = 3 | pages = 7&ndash;16 | publisher = ] and ] | doi = 10.1080/741922827 | pmid = 12294415 | jstor = 4030497 | date = November 1998 }}</ref> Moreover, the definition stated by the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women also supported the notion that violence is rooted in the inequality between men and women when the term ''violence'' is used together with the term ''gender-based''.<ref name="Krantz"/>
===State violence===
] Let me feed my child for the last time]]
====Labor camps====
Many women underwent ] in ] of ] and the ]. Their suffering was described in memories of former ] women prisoners ], ] and others.


In ''Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence'', the Council of Europe stipulated that VAW "includes, but is not limited to, the following":<ref>{{cite web |date=30 April 2002 |url=https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=280915&Site=CM&BackColorInternet=C3C3C3&BackColorIntranet=EDB021&BackColorLogged=F5D383|title=Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence |publisher=Council of Europe Committee of Ministers |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref>
====War and militarism====
Militarism produces special environments that allow for increased violence against women. For example, during World War II, the Japanese military established brothels for soldiers, exploiting women for the purpose of creating access and entitlement for men (see ]). Another example of violence against women incited by militarism during war took place in the ]. Jewish male prisoners had access to (and used) Jewish women forced into camp brothels by the Nazis, who also used them.<ref>Dworkin, Andrea: ''Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel and Women's Liberation.'' pg. 316. Free Press, 2000. ISBN 0-684-83612-2</ref>


:a. violence occurring in the family or domestic unit, including, ''inter alia'', physical and mental aggression, emotional and psychological abuse, rape and sexual abuse, incest, rape between spouses, regular or occasional partners and cohabitants, crimes committed in the name of honour, female genital and sexual mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women such as forced marriages;
====Violence in empowerment systems====

] workers are often reduced themselves to contributing to violence against women by exploiting their vulnerability in exchange for a paying job.<ref>Koyama, Emi "Disloyal to feminism: Abuse of survivors within the domestic violence shelter system." in Smith A, Richie BE, Sudbury J, eds. ''The Color of Violence: INCITE! Anthology.'' Cambridge, Mass.: South End Press, 2006. ISBN 0-89608-762-X</ref>
:b. violence occurring within the general community, including, ''inter alia'', rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in institutions or elsewhere; trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and economic exploitation and sex tourism;

:c. violence perpetrated or condoned by the state or its officials;

:d. violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular the taking of hostages, forced displacement, systematic rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and economic exploitation.

These definitions of VAW as being gender-based are seen by some to be unsatisfactory. These definitions understand society as patriarchal, signifying unequal relations between men and women.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Ertürk | first = Yakin | title = Towards a post-patriarchal gender order: confronting the universality and the particularity of violence against women | journal = Sociologisk Forskning | volume = 46 | issue = 4 | pages = 61&ndash;70 | publisher = Sveriges Sociologförbund | jstor = 20853687 | date = 2009 | doi = 10.37062/sf.46.19221 | s2cid = 248629521 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Opponents of such definitions argue that the definitions disregard violence against men and that the term '']'', as used in ''gender-based violence'', only refers to women. Other critics argue that employing the term ''gender'' in this particular way introduces notions of inferiority and subordination for femininity and superiority for masculinity.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Visaria | first = Leela | title = Violence against women: a field study | journal = ] | volume = 35 | issue = 20 | pages = 1742&ndash;1751 | publisher = Sameeksha Trust, Mumbai, India | jstor = 4409296 | date = 13 May 2000 }}</ref><ref name="Michau, L. 2007 pp.96">{{cite journal | last = Michau | first = Lori | title = Approaching old problems in new ways: community mobilisation as a primary prevention strategy to combat violence against women | journal = Gender & Development | volume = 15 | issue = 1 | pages = 95&ndash;109 | publisher = ] and ] | doi = 10.1080/13552070601179144 | jstor = 20461184 | date = March 2007 | s2cid = 73218820 }}</ref> There is no widely accepted current definition that covers all the dimensions of gender-based violence.<ref name="Prügl, E. 2013">{{cite book |last=Prügl |first=Elisabeth (Director) |title=Violence Against Women. Gender and International Affairs Class 2013. Lecture conducted from The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) |date=25 November 2013 |location=Geneva, Switzerland}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Comparison of definitions in human rights instruments
|-
! style="width:12%" | Document
! style="width:9%" | Adopted by
! style="width:8%" | Date
! Definition
|-
| General Recommendation 19
| ]
| 1992
| 'The definition of discrimination includes gender-based violence, that is, violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.'<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/INT_CEDAW_GEC_3731_E.pdf |title=General recommendation No. 19: Violence against women |author=CEDAW Committee |work=ohchr.org |publisher=] |date=1992 |access-date=10 March 2021 |archive-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720005758/https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/INT_CEDAW_GEC_3731_E.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
| ]
| ]
| 20 December 1993
| '...the term "violence against women" means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women'.<ref name="DEVAW text">{{Cite web |url=http://www.un-documents.net/a48r104.htm |title=A/RES/48/104 – Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women – UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements |work=un-documents.net |date=20 December 1993 |access-date=11 March 2021}}</ref>
|-
| ]
| ]
| 9 June 1994
| '...violence against women shall be understood as any act or conduct, based on gender, which causes death or physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, whether in the public or the private sphere.'<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oas.org/en/mesecvi/docs/BelemDoPara-ENGLISH.pdf |title=Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará) |work=oas.org |publisher=Organization of American States |date=9 June 1994 |access-date=11 March 2021}}</ref>
|-
| ]
| ]
| 11 July 2003
| '"Violence against women" means all acts perpetrated against women which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm, including the threat to take such acts; or to undertake the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on or deprivation of fundamental freedoms in private or public life in peace time and during situations of armed conflicts or of war...'<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.wikisource.org/Maputo_Protocol |title=Maputo Protocol |work=Wikisource |publisher=African Union |date=11 July 2003 |access-date=11 March 2021}}</ref>
|-
| ]
| ]
| 11 May 2011
| '..."violence against women" is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life; ... "gender" shall mean the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men; "gender-based violence against women" shall mean violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately...'. The preamble notes: '...Recognising that women and girls are exposed to a higher risk of gender-based violence than men; Recognising that domestic violence affects women disproportionately, and that men may also be victims of domestic violence...'<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/rms/090000168008482e |title=Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence |work=coe.int |publisher=Council of Europe |date=11 May 2021 |access-date=11 March 2021}}</ref>
|}

=== Forms of violence ===
Violence against women can fit into several broad categories. These include violence carried out by individuals as well as by states. Some of the forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]; as well as harmful customary or traditional practices such as ], ], ], ] and ]. There are forms of violence that may be perpetrated or condoned by the government, such as ]; ] and ] during conflict, ]; ]; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; ] and ]. Many forms of VAW, such as ] and ] are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks.<ref name="Prügl, E. 2013" /> Historically, there have been forms of organized WAV, such as the ] or the ] of the ].
The Gender Equality Commission of the ] identifies nine forms of violence against women based on subject and context rather than life cycle or time period:<ref name="Hagemann-White">{{Cite web |author=Carol Hagemann-White |date=February 2014 |title=Analytical study of the results of the fourth round of monitoring the implementation of Recommendation Rec(2002)5 on the protection of women against violence in Council of Europe member states |url=https://rm.coe.int/16805915e9 |access-date=5 April 2020 |publisher=Council of Europe Equality Division |pages=7, 8, 11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=] |date=May 2014 |title=State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe (2014) |url=https://edoc.coe.int/en/fundamental-freedoms/5949-state-of-democracy-human-rights-and-the-rule-of-law-in-europe.html |access-date=5 April 2020 |work=Report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe |publisher=Council of Europe |page=48}}</ref>
*'Violence within the family or domestic violence'
*'Rape and sexual violence'
*'Sexual harassment'
*'Violence in institutional environments'
*'Female genital mutilation'
*'Forced marriages'
*'Violence in conflict and post-conflict situations'
*'Killings in the name of honour'
*'Failure to respect freedom of choice with regard to reproduction'

==== By age groups ====
The ] (WHO) has developed a typology of violence against women based on their cultural life cycles.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| '''Phase''' || '''Type of violence'''
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Pre-birth || Sex-selective abortion; effects of battering during pregnancy on birth outcomes
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Infancy || Female infanticide; physical, sexual and psychological abuse
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Girlhood || Child marriage; female genital mutilation; physical, sexual and psychological abuse; incest; child prostitution and pornography
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Adolescence and adulthood || Dating and courtship violence (e.g. acid throwing and date rape); economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with "sugar daddies" in return for school fees); incest; sexual abuse in the workplace; rape; sexual harassment; forced prostitution and pornography; trafficking in women; partner violence; marital rape; dowry abuse and murders; partner homicide; psychological abuse; abuse of women with disabilities; forced pregnancy
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| Elderly || Forced "suicide" or homicide of widows for economic reasons; sexual, physical and psychological abuse<ref name="WHO_VAW" />
|}

== Sexual violence ==
{{main|Sexual violence|Sexual assault|Rape|Sexual harassment}}
] includes a range of actions with unwelcome sexual overtones, including verbal transgressions.<ref>Dziech, Billie Wright; Weiner, Linda. ''The Lecherous Professor: Sexual Harassment on Campus''.{{page needed|date=October 2012}} Chicago Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1990. {{ISBN|978-0-8070-3100-1}}; Boland, 2002{{page needed|date=October 2012}}</ref> ] is a broader term referring to the use of violence to obtain a sexual act, including, for example, trafficking.<ref name="WHO definition">World Health Organization., World report on violence and health (Geneva: ], 2002), Chapter 6, pp. 149.</ref><ref name="icc-cpi.int"></ref> ] is usually defined as unwanted sexual contact<ref name="Cameron">{{cite book |author=Peter Cameron |author2=George Jelinek |author3=Anne-Maree Kelly |author4=Anthony F. T. Brown |author5=Mark Little |title=Textbook of Adult Emergency Medicine E-Book|publisher=]|isbn=978-0702049316|year=2011|page=658|access-date=December 30, 2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZnQAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA658}}</ref> and when this involves ] or ] it is referred to as ].

Women are most often the victims of rape, usually perpetrated by men known to them.<ref>''Relevant citations'':
* {{cite journal | last1 = Abbey | first1 = Antonia | last2 = BeShears | first2 = Renee | last3 = Clinton-Sherrod | first3 = A. Monique | last4 = McAuslan | first4 = Pam | title = Similarities and differences in women's sexual assault experiences based on tactics used by the perpetrator | journal = ] | volume = 28 | issue = 4 | pages = 323&ndash;332 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1111/j.1471-6402.2004.00149.x | pmid = 26257466 | pmc = 4527559 | date = December 2004 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130108020408/http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Similarities_And_Differences_In_Women_s_Sexual_Assault_Experiences_Based_On_Tactics.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 8 January 2013| url = http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Similarities_And_Differences_In_Women_s_Sexual_Assault_Experiences_Based_On_Tactics.pdf }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.rainn.org/statistics/|title=Statistics | website = rainn.org |publisher= ] (RAINN) |access-date=1 January 2008}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Tjaden | first1 = Patricia | last2 = Thoennes | first2 = Nancy | title = Extent, nature, and consequences of rape victimization: findings From the national violence against women survey | url = https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=210346 | publisher = ], U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs | date = January 2006 }}
* {{cite web | last = ABS | author-link = Australian Bureau of Statistics | title = Sexual assault in Australia: a statistical overview, 2004 |url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4523.0 |website =abs.gov.au | publisher = ] |date=7 September 2004 |access-date=31 December 2010}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Myhill | first1 = Andy | last2 = Allen | first2 = Jonathan | title = Rape and sexual assault of women: findings from the British Crime Survey | url = http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r159.pdf | access-date = 31 December 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r159.pdf | archive-date = 18 February 2011| publisher = ] | location = London | year = 2002 | series = ] Findings No. 159 }}</ref> The rate of reporting, prosecution, and convictions for rape vary considerably in different jurisdictions and reflect, to some extent, society's attitudes toward such crimes. It is considered the most underreported violent crime.<ref>{{cite book | last = AMA | author-link = American Medical Association | title = Strategies for the treatment and prevention of sexual assault | publisher = ] | location = Chicago, Illinois | year = 1995 | oclc = 33901581 }}</ref><ref name="rds.homeoffice.gov.uk">{{cite book | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Liz | last2 = Regan | first2 = Linda | last3 = Lovett | first3 = Jo | author-link = Liz Kelly | title = A gap or a chasm?: Attrition in reported rape cases | publisher = Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate | location = London | id = 293 | year = 2005 | isbn = 9781844735556 | archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors293.pdf | archive-date = 18 February 2011 | url = http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors293.pdf | url-status = dead| access-date = 31 December 2010 }}</ref> Following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats of violence from the rapist and, in many cultures, from the victim's own family and relatives. Violence or intimidation of the victim may be perpetrated by the rapist or by friends and relatives of the rapist, as a way of preventing the victims from reporting the rape, punishing them for reporting it, or forcing them to withdraw the complaint; or it may be perpetrated by the relatives of the victim as a punishment for "bringing shame" to the family. Internationally, the incidence of rapes recorded by police during 2008 varied between 0.1 per 100,000 people in ] and 91.6 per 100,000 people in ] with 4.9 per 100,000 people in ] as the ].<ref name="unodc1">{{cite book | last = UNODC | author-link = United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime | title = Rape at the National Level, number of police recorded offenses | url = http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Crime-statistics/Sexual_violence_sv_against_children_and_rape.xls | format = spreadsheet | publisher = ] }}</ref> Around the world, rape is often not reported or handled properly by law enforcement for a wide variety of reasons.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parti |first1=Katalin |last2=Robinson |first2=Robin A. |title=What Hinders Victims from Reporting Sexual Violence: A Qualitative Study with Police Officers, Prosecutors, and Judges in Hungary |journal=International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |date=16 June 2021 |volume=10 |issue=2 |doi=10.5204/ijcjsd.1851 |hdl=10919/106368 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lievore |first=Denise |url=https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/non-reporting-and-hidden-recording-of-sexual-assault-an-international-literature-review.pdf |title=Non-reporting and Hidden Recording of Sexual Assault: An International Literature Review |date=2003 |publisher=Commonwealth Office of the Status of Women |isbn=1-877042-41-2 |language=en}}</ref>

In 2011, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that "nearly 20% of all women" in the ] suffered attempted rape or rape sometime in their lives. More than a third of the victims were raped before the age of 18.<ref name="CDC2">{{cite news |date=15 December 2011 |title=Nearly 97% of women in the US are raped or suffer attempted rape at some point in their lives, a US study says. |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16192494 |access-date=15 December 2011 |newspaper=BBC World}}</ref><ref name="NISVS20102">{{cite web |title=National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2010 Summary Report |url=https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf |access-date=16 August 2016 |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}}</ref>

===Survival sex===
{{See also|Survival sex|Violence against prostitutes}}
Women who are sex workers end up in the profession for several reasons. Some were victims of sexual and domestic abuse. Many women have said they were raped as working girls. They may be apprehensive about coming forward and reporting their attacks. When reported, many women have said that the stigma was too great and that the police told them they deserved it and were reluctant to follow police policy. Decriminalizing sex work is argued to help sex workers in this aspect.<ref>Violence Against Women in Prostitution in San Francisco. San Francisco: San Francisco, CA. Commission on the Status of Women, 1998. Women and Social Movements in the United States,1600-2000 Database. Web.</ref>

In some countries, it is common for older men to engage in "compensated dating" with underage girls. Such relationships are called ] in Japan and are also common in Asian countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The WHO condemned "economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with "sugar daddies" (] in return for school fees)" as a form of violence against women.<ref name="WHO_VAW">{{cite book | last = WHO | author-link = World Health Organization | title = Violence against women: Definition and scope of the problem, 1, 1-3 | url =https://www.who.int/gender/violence/v4.pdf | publisher = ] | date = July 1997 | access-date = 30 November 2013 }}</ref>

] women from outcast or slave families.]]
Women from certain lower castes have been involved in prostitution as part of a tradition, called ]. In pre-modern Korea, women from the ] ], known as ], were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class.<ref name="Cho103">{{cite book |last= Cho |first= Grace |title= Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy, and the Forgotten War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VagzEDjnZpcC&pg=PA103 |publisher= ] |year=2008 |isbn= 978-0816652754 |page= 103}}</ref>

Women with illegal resident status are disproportionately involved with prostitution. For example, in 1997, '']'' stated that 80% of prostitutes in ] were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/netherl.htm |title=Netherlands – Facts on Trafficking and Prostitution |publisher=Uri.edu |access-date=26 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002222727/http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/netherl.htm |archive-date=2 October 2012 }}</ref>

===Forced sexual services===
{{Main|Sexual slavery}}

====By military forces====
{{Main|Wartime sexual violence}}
] and His Share of the Spoils'', by ], 1893]]
], ]. 8 August 1945. A young ] woman from one of the ]'s "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an ] officer.]]

Militarism produces special environments that allow for increased violence against women. ] have accompanied warfare in virtually every known historical era.<ref>{{cite book | last = Washington | first = Harold C. | chapter = 'Lest he die in battle and another man take her': violence and the construction of gender in the laws of Deuteronomy 20-22 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2rZnXQwPX8gC&pg=PA203 | editor-last1 = Matthews | editor-first1 = Victor H. | editor-last2 = Levinson | editor-first2 = Bernard M. | editor-last3 = Frymer-Kensky | editor-first3 = Tikva | title = Gender and law in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East | page = 203 | publisher = T & T Clark | location = London New York | year = 2004 | isbn = 9780567080981 }}</ref> War rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants, or civilians during armed conflict or war or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rapes committed amongst troops in military service. It also covers the situation where women are forced into prostitution or ] by an occupying power. During World War II, the Japanese military established brothels filled with "]", girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery for soldiers, exploiting women for the purpose of creating access and entitlement for men.<ref>{{cite news |last=Benedict |first=Helen |url=http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3848/ |title=Why soldiers rape |work=] |date=14 August 2008 |access-date=10 November 2012 |archive-date=18 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518145847/http://inthesetimes.com/article/3848/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Morris-Suzuki | first = Tessa | title = Japan's 'Comfort Women': It's time for the truth (in the ordinary, everyday sense of the word) | journal = Japan Focus (The Asia-Pacific Journal) | volume = 5 | issue = 3 | date = 1 March 2007 | url = http://www.japanfocus.org/-Tessa-Morris_Suzuki/2373 |access-date=4 August 2011 }}</ref>

] by members of the ] and the ]s that supported them led to 200,000 women being raped over a period of nine months. ] was used as a highly systematized instrument of war by Serb armed forces, predominantly targeting women and girls of the Bosniak ethnic group for physical and moral destruction. Estimates of the number of women raped during the war range from 50,000 to 60,000; as of 2010 only 12 cases have been prosecuted.<ref>{{cite book | last = UNSC | author-link = United Nations Security Council | title = Report of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia Since 1991 | id = A/52/375{{spaces|2}}S/1997/729 | publisher = ] |url=http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/Reports%20and%20Publications/AnnualReports/annual_report_1997_en.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804004034/http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/Reports%20and%20Publications/AnnualReports/annual_report_1997_en.pdf |archive-date=4 August 2012 | date = 18 September 1997 | access-date = 10 November 2012}}</ref>

The 1998 ] recognized rape in the ] as a war crime.<ref>{{cite book| last = Pillay | first = Navanethem | author-link = Navi Pillay |title=Honorary doctorate acceptance address by Navanethem Pillay, Rhodes University |url=http://www.ru.ac.za/academic/graduation/addresses_and_citations/2005/Judge_Pillay_citation.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060926231120/http://www.ru.ac.za/academic/graduation/addresses_and_citations/2005/Judge_Pillay_citation.doc |archive-date=26 September 2006|date = 2005 |access-date=27 February 2008}}</ref>

According to one report, the ]'s capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnapping and rape.<ref>''Articles'':
* {{cite news | last1 = Radwan | first1 = Zahra | last2 = Blumenfeld | first2 = Zoe|title=OP-ED: Surging violence against women in Iraq|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/06/op-ed-surging-violence-against-women-in-iraq/|work=]|date=27 June 2014|access-date=5 July 2014}}
* {{cite news|last1=Winterton|first1=Clare|title=Why we must act when women in Iraq document rape |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/clare-winterton/why-we-must-act_b_5528162.html|date=25 June 2014|work=] |access-date=10 July 2014}}
* {{cite news | last = Ali | first = Esraa Mohamed | title = Kuwaiti media: "Daash" demands the people of Mosul to provide unmarried to "Jihad marriage" | url = https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ar&u=http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/466402&prev=search | work = ] | date = 18 June 2014 |access-date=10 July 2014}}
:* ''Original Arabic version'': {{cite news|last=إسراء محمد علي|title=إعلامي كويتي: "داعش" يطالب أهالي الموصل بتقديم غير المتزوجات لـ"جهاد النكاح|url=http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/466402|work=المصری الیوم|access-date=10 July 2014}}</ref> '']'' reported that ISIL's extremist agenda extended to women's bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped.<ref>{{cite news|last=Susskind|first=Yifat|title=Under Isis, Iraqi women again face an old nightmare: violence and repression|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/jul/03/isis-iraqi-women-rape-violence-repression|work=]|date=3 July 2014|access-date=17 July 2014}}</ref> Fighters are told that they are free to have sex and rape non-Muslim captive women.<ref>{{cite news|language=sv|title=Det jag har bevittnat i al-Raqqa kommer alltid förfölja mig|url=http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/det-jag-har-bevittnat-i-al-raqqa-kommer-alltid-forfolja-mig/|access-date=25 September 2014|work=]|date=23 September 2014}}</ref> Haleh Esfandiari from the ] has highlighted the abuse of local women by ISIL militants after they captured an area. "They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave market and try to sell them. The younger girls... are raped or married off to fighters," she said, adding, "It's based on temporary marriages, and once these fighters have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them on to other fighters."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Brekke|first1=Kira|title=ISIS is attacking women, and nobody is talking about it|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/08/isis-attacks-on-women_n_5775106.html?cps=gravity |work=] |date=8 September 2014 |access-date=11 September 2014}}</ref> In December 2014 the ] announced that the ] had killed over 150 women and girls in ] who refused to participate in ].<ref>{{cite news|last = NOW News | author-link = NOW News|title=ISIS just executed more than 150 women in Fallujah|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-just-executed-more-than-150-women-in-fallujah-2014-12|work=]|date= 17 December 2014 | access-date =23 February 2015}}</ref>

During the ] (2016–present), the ], along with the Myanmar ] and Buddhist militias of ], committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the ] Muslim women and girls. A January 2018 study estimated that the military and local Rakhine Buddhists perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Baykan|first=Dildar|date=2 Dec 2019|title=UN official cites horrific crimes against Rohingya|work=Anadolu Agency|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/un-official-cites-horrific-crimes-against-rohingya/1390565|access-date=12 Nov 2020}}</ref> The ] stated that gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of the military's ethnic cleansing campaign, while the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, said that Rohingya women and girls were made the ]. Other forms of sexual violence included ] in military captivity, forced public nudity, and humiliation.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Quadir|first=Serajul|date=2017-11-12|title=U.N. official says will raise sexual violence against Rohingya with ICC|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-myanmar-idUSKBN1DC0N7|access-date=2020-11-12}}</ref> Some women and girls were raped to death while others were found traumatised with raw wounds after they had arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch reported of a 15-year-old girl who was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet and then was raped by 10 Burmese soldiers.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Bigio|first1=Jamille|last2=Vogelstein|first2=Rachel|title=Analysis {{!}} 5 reasons the U.N. Security Council should care about the Burmese military's sexual assaults on the Rohingya|language=en-US|newspaper=]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/01/03/5-reasons-the-u-n-security-council-should-care-about-the-burmese-militarys-sexual-assaults-on-the-rohingya/|access-date=2020-11-12|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-11-16|title=Burmese military 'guilty of widespread rape of Rohingya Muslims'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/rohingya-crisis-latest-today-burmese-military-rape-accusation-human-rights-watch-muslim-refugees-rakhine-a8057846.html|access-date=2020-11-12|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>

====By criminal groups====
]
{{Main|Human trafficking|Forced prostitution}}
Human trafficking refers to the acquisition of persons by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of ] them.<ref>{{cite web| last = UNODC| author-link =United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|url=http://www.unodc.org/unodc/human-trafficking/index.html?ref=menuside |title=UNODC on human trafficking and migrant smuggling (index) |publisher=] |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref> The ] states,<ref>{{cite web | last = OSCE | author-link = OSCE|url=http://www.osce.org/odihr/19223 |title=U.N. protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations convention against transnational organized crime |publisher=] |date=15 November 2000 |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref>

{{blockquote|"Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.}}

Because of the illegal nature of trafficking, reliable data on its extent is very limited.<ref name="apps.who.int">{{cite book | last = WHO | author-link = World Health Organization|title=Understanding and addressing violence against women: Human trafficking |url=http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/77394/1/WHO_RHR_12.42_eng.pdf | id = WHO/RHR/12.42 |publisher=] | date = 2012 |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref> The ] states "Current evidence strongly suggests that those who are trafficked into the ] and as domestic servants are more likely to be women and children."<ref name="apps.who.int"/>
A 2006 study in Europe on trafficked women found that the women were subjected to serious forms of abuse, such as physical or sexual violence, that affected their physical and mental health.<ref name="apps.who.int"/>

] is ] that takes place as a result of ] by a third party. In forced prostitution, the party/parties who force the victim to be subjected to unwanted sexual acts exercise control over the victim.<ref>{{cite web | last = McDougall | first = Gay J. | author-link = Gay McDougall|url=http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/0/3d25270b5fa3ea998025665f0032f220?OpenDocument#Bsl |title=Report of the Special Rapporteur on systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict | id = E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13 | publisher = ] (ECOSOC) |access-date=25 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112211407/http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/0/3d25270b5fa3ea998025665f0032f220?OpenDocument |archive-date=12 January 2013 }}</ref>

==Domestic violence==
===Violence related to acquiring a partner===
{{See also|Stalking|Acid throwing}}
Single women and women who are economically independent have been vilified by certain groups of men. In ] in ] in 2001, ], attacking 95 and killing at least six<ref name="Amnesty">{{cite web|title=Algerian authorities must investigate and stop attacks against women |url=https://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/22931/ |publisher=Amnesty International|access-date=13 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903140432/http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/22931/|archive-date=3 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grozelle|first=Renee S.|date=2015|title=Mob Violence Against Women in Algeria: A Historical Case Analysis|url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1016/mob-violence-against-women-in-algeria-a-historical-case-analysis|journal=Inquiries Journal|language=en|volume=7|issue=3}}</ref> and, in 2011, similar attacks happened again throughout Algeria.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stop renewed attacks on women|url=http://www.wluml.org/node/7420|publisher=Women Living Under Muslim Laws|access-date=13 August 2011|archive-date=23 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123064402/http://www.wluml.org/node/7420|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Algerian authorities must investigate and stop attacks against women|url=https://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/22931/|publisher=Amnesty International|access-date=13 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903140432/http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/22931/|archive-date=3 September 2011}}</ref>

Stalking is unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person, often manifested through persistent ], ], or following/monitoring of the victim. Stalking is often understood as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victimsofcrime.org/our-programs/stalking-resource-center/stalking-information |title=Stalking information |website =victimsofcrime.org | publisher = Stalking Resource Center |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref> Although stalkers are frequently portrayed as being strangers, they are most often known people, such as former or current partners, friends, colleagues or acquaintances. In the U.S., a survey by NVAW found that only 23% of female victims were stalked by strangers.<ref name="victimsofcrime.org">{{cite journal | last1 = McFarlane | first1 = Judith M. | last2 = Campbell | first2 = Jacquelyn C. | last3 = Wilt | first3 = Susan | last4 = Sachs | first4 = Carolyn J. | last5 = Ulrich | first5 = Yvonne | last6 = Xu | first6 = Xiao | title = Stalking and intimate partner femicide | journal = ] | volume = 3 | issue = 4 | pages = 300&ndash;316 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1177/1088767999003004003 | date = November 1999 | s2cid = 145522253 }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223220047/http://victimsofcrime.org/docs/src/mcfarlane-j-m-campbell-j-c-wilt-s-sachs-c-j-ulrich-y-xu-x-1999.pdf |date=23 December 2017 }}</ref> Stalking by partners can be very dangerous, as sometimes it can escalate into severe violence, including murder.<ref name="victimsofcrime.org"/> Police statistics from the 1990s in Australia indicated that 87.7% of stalking offenders were male and 82.4% of stalking victims were female.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dussuyer |first=Inez |url=http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/conferences/stalking/dussuyer.pdf |title=Is stalking legislation effective in protecting victims? |publisher=] |location=Sydney |date=December 2000 |access-date=3 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052637/http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/conferences/stalking/dussuyer.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}} Paper presented at the ''Stalking: Criminal Justice Responses Conference'' convened by the ] and held in Sydney 7–8 December 2000.</ref>

]s and it is often motivated by rejection and jealousy.|thumb|250px]]
An ] is the act of throwing acid at someone with the intention of injuring or disfiguring them. Women and girls are the victims in 75–80% of cases<ref>{{cite news | last = de Castella | first = Tom | title=How many acid attacks are there? | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23631395 | work=] | date=9 August 2013 |access-date= 18 November 2013}}</ref> and are often connected to domestic disputes, including dowry disputes, refusal of a proposal of marriage, or sexual advances.<ref>{{Cite book | last =Vig |first= Krishan| chapter = Corrosive poisons: vitriolage | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ip1rAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA462 | editor-last =Vig |editor-first=Krishan | title=Textbook of forensic medicine and toxicology: principles and practice | page=462 |publisher=Elsevier | location = India | year=2014 |edition=5th | isbn=9788131226841 }}</ref> The acid is usually thrown at the faces, burning the tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Swanson | first = Jordan | title = Acid attacks: Bangladesh's efforts to stop the violence | journal = Harvard Health Policy Review | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | page = 3 | publisher = Harvard Internfaculty Initiative in Health Policy | date = Spring 2002 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060117184047/http://hcs.harvard.edu/~epihc/currentissue/spring2002/swanson-3.php | archive-date = 17 January 2006 | url = http://hcs.harvard.edu:80/~epihc/currentissue/spring2002/swanson-3.php | url-status = dead}}</ref> The long-term consequences of these attacks include ] and permanent ] of the face and body.<ref>{{cite news | last = AP | author-link = Associated Press |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/south/11/11/bangladesh.acid.ap/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922210725/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/south/11/11/bangladesh.acid.ap/index.html |archive-date=22 September 2007 |title= Bangladesh combats an acid onslaught against women |work=]|date= 12 November 2000 |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Bahl | first1 = Taur | last2 = Syed | first2 = M. H. | title = Encyclopaedia of Muslim world | publisher = Anmol Publications | location = New Delhi | year = 2003 | isbn = 9788126114191}}</ref> Such attacks are common in South Asia, in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India; and in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia.<ref>''Articles'':
* {{cite news | last = Shackle | first = Samira | title = Acid attacks in Pakistan: A sorry litany of male egotism | url = http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2012/11/acid-attacks-pakistan-sorry-litany-male-egotism | work = ] | date = 9 November 2012 | access-date = 8 September 2013 }} ''Interview with ] one of the directors the documentary "]".''
* {{cite news | last = CBC | title = Longueuil woman burned and in coma after acid attack | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/08/28/nikolas-stefanatos-quebec-acid-attack_n_1838232.html | work = ] | date = 28 October 2012 | access-date = 8 September 2013 | archive-date = 19 December 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131219031343/http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/08/28/nikolas-stefanatos-quebec-acid-attack_n_1838232.html | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite news | last = Ungaro | first = Cosima | title = Nurbanu, Bangladeshi woman, forced to return to husband after acid attack | url = https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/nurbanu-acid-attack_n_2206621.html | work = ] | access-date = 8 September 2013 | date = 28 November 2012 }}
* {{cite news| last =Scholte| first =Marianne| title =Acid attacks in Bangladesh: a voice for the victims| work =]| url =http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,406485,00.html| date =17 March 2006| access-date =21 March 2008}}
* {{cite book | last = Various | title = Combating acid violence in Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia | url = http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/womenandjustice/upload/Combating-Acid-Violence-Report.pdf | publisher = ], ], ] and the Virtue Foundation | location = New York | access-date = 3 April 2016 }}
* {{cite book |last=CASC |title=Breaking the silence: addressing acid attacks in Cambodia |url=http://www.cambodianacidsurvivorscharity.org/docs/breaking_the_silence.pdf |publisher=Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) |access-date=3 April 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219010314/http://www.cambodianacidsurvivorscharity.org/docs/breaking_the_silence.pdf |archive-date=19 December 2013 |date=May 2010 }}</ref>

====Forced marriage====
{{main|Forced marriage}}
{{See also|Bride kidnapping}}
]. ] for the purpose of ] and ] was common through the history in many countries.]]
] custom of ], as depicted in the early 20th-century satirical periodical ]]]
A ] is a marriage in which one or both parties are married against their will. Forced marriages are common in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The customs of ] and ], which exist in many parts of the world, contribute to this practice. A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other.<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = Ethics guide – Slavery: Modern slavery | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/slavery/modern/modern_1.shtml#section_2 | work = ] | access-date = 5 September 2013}}
* {{cite book | last = Shahinian | first = Gulnara | title = Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Gulnara Shahinian: Thematic report on servile marriage (A/HRC/21/41) | url = http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/A-HRC-21-41_en.pdf | publisher = United Nations. Human Rights Council Twenty-first session | date = 10 July 2012}}
* {{cite book | last = UNIFEM | author-link = United Nations Development Fund for Women | title = Ending violence against women & girls – Evidence, data and knowledge in the Pacific Island Countries: literature review and annotated bibliography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708174234/http://www.undp.org.fj/pdf/unp/evaw.pdf | url = http://www.undp.org.fj/pdf/unp/evaw.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 July 2011 | publisher = ] | date = August 2010 | access-date = 8 July 2011}}</ref>

The custom of ] continues to exist in some Central Asian countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Caucasus, or in parts of Africa, especially Ethiopia. A girl or woman is abducted by the would-be groom, who is often helped by his friends. The victim is often raped by the would be groom, after which he may try to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage.<ref>''News articles'':
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title=World: Africa, Ethiopia: Revenge of the abducted bride | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/371944.stm | work =] | date=18 June 1999 | access-date = 19 November 2013}}
* {{cite news| last = Gena | first = Alem | title = Ethiopia: Surviving forced marriage | url = http://www.irinnews.org/report/69993/ethiopia-surviving-forced-marriage | work = ] | date = 23 February 2007 | access-date = 3 April 2016}}
* {{cite book | last = PI | author-link = Pathfinder International | title = Report on causes and consequences of early marriage in Amhara Region |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323124732/http://www.pathfinder.org/publications-tools/pdfs/Causes-and-Consequesnces-of-Early-Marriage-in-the-Amhara-Region-of-Ethiopia.pdf |archive-date=23 March 2013 |url-status=dead|url=http://www.pathfinder.org/publications-tools/pdfs/Causes-and-Consequesnces-of-Early-Marriage-in-the-Amhara-Region-of-Ethiopia.pdf | date = July 2006 |access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref>

Forced and child marriages are practiced by some inhabitants of Tanzania. Girls are sold by their families to older men for financial benefits, and often girls are married off as soon as they hit puberty, which can be as young as seven years old.<ref name="Human Rights Watch-2014">{{Cite news|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/29/tanzania-child-marriage-harms-girls|title=Tanzania: Child Marriage Harms Girls|date=2014-10-29|work=Human Rights Watch|access-date=2018-11-30|language=en}}</ref> To the older men, these young brides act as symbols of masculinity and accomplishment. Child brides endure forced sex, causing health risks and growth impediments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ezer |first1=Tamar |last2=Kerr |first2=Kate |last3=Major |first3=Kara |last4=Polavarapu |first4=Aparna |last5=Tolentino |first5=Tina |title=Child Marriage and Guardianship in Tanzania: Robbing Girls of Their Childhood and Infantilizing Women |journal=The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law |volume=7 |date=2006 |pages=357–450 |ssrn=3936796 |url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Child-Marriage-and-Guardianship-in-Tanzania-Robbing-Girls-of-their-Childhood-and-Infantilizing-Women.pdf }}</ref> Primary education is usually not completed for young girls in forced marriages. Married and pregnant students are often discriminated against, expelled, and excluded from school.<ref name="Human Rights Watch-2014" /> The Law of Marriage Act currently does not address issues with guardianship and child marriage. The issue of child marriage is not addressed enough in this law, and only establishes a minimum age of 18 for the boys of Tanzania. A minimum age needs to be enforced for girls to stop these practices and provide them with equal rights and a less harmful life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Glicksman |first1=Robert |last2=Kaime |first2=Thoko |title=An International Legal Framework for SE4All: Human Rights and Sustainable Development Law Imperatives |journal=Fordham International Law Journal |date=2015 |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=1405–1444 |doi=10.15495/EPub_UBT_00004910 |ssrn=3621546 }}</ref>

====Dowry violence====
{{Main|Dowry death|Bride burning}}
]]]

The custom of ], which is common in South Asia, especially in India, is the trigger of many forms of violence against women. ] is a form of violence against women in which a bride is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to his dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. ] refers to the phenomenon of women and girls being killed or committing ] due to disputes regarding dowry. Dowry violence is common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India, in 2011 alone, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry deaths, while unofficial figures suggest the numbers to be at least three times higher.<ref>{{cite book | last = UN Women | author-link = UN Women | title = Confronting dowry-related violence in India: women at the center of justice | url = http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2012/12/confronting-dowry-related-violence-in-india-women-at-the-center-of-justice | publisher = ] | date = 24 December 2012 | access-date = 18 November 2013 }}</ref>

===Violence within a relationship===
{{Main|Intimate partner violence}}
]]]
{{See also|Coverture|Criticism of marriage}}
The relation between violence against women and marriage laws, regulations and traditions has also been discussed.<ref>{{cite book | last = Chambers | first = Clare | title = Recognizing marriage as a symbolic institution | url = http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/4/1/2/5/p41259_index.html | publisher = American Political Science Association | location = Washington, D.C. | date = 1 September 2005 | access-date = 12 December 2013 | archive-date = 28 December 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171228232431/http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/4/1/2/5/p41259_index.html | url-status = dead }} Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association.
:For a later version of this paper, see {{cite book | last = Chambers | first = Clare | title = Feminism, liberalism and marriage (workshop) | url = https://www.brown.edu/Research/ppw/past_07_08.html | publisher = Political Philosophy Workshop at ] | date = 10 April 2008 }} </ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Jeffreys | first = Sheila | author-link = Sheila Jeffreys | title = The industrial vagina: the political economy of the global sex trade | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9mlFgjEBYWYC | publisher = Routledge | location = London New York | year = 2009 | series = RIPE Series in Global Political Economy | isbn = 9780415412322 }}</ref> Roman law gave men the right to chastise their wives, even to the point of death.<ref name="Roman Law">{{cite journal |last=Stedman |first=Berne |date=August 1917 |title=Right of husband to chastise wife |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=241&ndash;248 |doi=10.2307/1106112 |jstor=1106112}} Also available at . Full text available here .</ref> The US and English law subscribed until the 20th century to the system of ], that is, a legal doctrine under which, upon marriage, a woman's legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband.<ref>{{cite book | last = Blackstone | first = William | author-link = William Blackstone | chapter = Husband and wife | chapter-url = http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/bla-115.htm | title = Commentaries on the laws of England (1765-1769), vol 1: Of the rights of persons | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford, United Kingdom New York, NY | year = 2016 | orig-year = 1765 | isbn = 9780199600991 | access-date = 12 December 2013 | archive-date = 13 October 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141013224551/http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/bla-115.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> Common-law in the United States and in the UK allowed for domestic violence<ref>{{cite book | last = Calvert | first = Robert | chapter = Criminal and civil liability in husband-wife assaults | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fCpHAAAAMAAJ | editor-last1 = Steinmetz | editor-first1 = Suzanne | editor-last2 = Straus | editor-first2 = Murray A. | title = Violence in the family | pages = 88&ndash;91 | publisher = Harper & Row | location = New York | year = 1974 | isbn = 9780060464196 }}</ref> and in the UK, before 1891, the husband had the right to inflict moderate ] on his wife to keep her "within the bounds of duty".<ref>R. v. Jackson . 1 Q.B. 671</ref><ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Corporal Punishment |volume= 07 | pages = 189&ndash;190 |last1= Renton |first1= Alexander Wood |author-link=Alexander Wood Renton}}</ref> Today, outside the West, many countries severely restrict the rights of married women: for example, in ], marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission.<ref>{{cite book | last = AI | author-link = Amnesty International | title = Yemen's dark side: discrimination and violence against women and girls | url = https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE31/014/2009/en/ |publisher=] | id = MDE 31/014/2009 | date = November 2009 | access-date = 12 December 2013}}</ref> In ] husbands have a legal right to "punish" their wives. The criminal code states at Paragraph 41 that there is no crime if an act is committed while exercising a legal right; examples of legal rights include: "The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom".<ref>{{cite book | title = Statutory notice: The penal-code with amendments | id = STS 251/88 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021100954/http://law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf | archive-date = 21 October 2012 | url = http://law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf | publisher = Case Western Reserve University School of Law | date = 1969 | access-date = 12 December 2013}}</ref> In the West, married women faced discrimination until just a few decades ago: for instance, in France, married women received the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965.<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite journal | last = Allwood | first = Gill | title = Women in France | url = http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf | journal = Modern & Contemporary France | publisher = ] | access-date = 12 December 2013 | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092212/http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite web |url=http://marinablue.fr/voicepress/frances-leading-women-show-the-way/ |title=France's leading women show the way |website=marinablue.fr |publisher=Paris Voice |date=November 1997 |access-date=12 December 2013 }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/TWR-07.html|title="''The Wife is Obliged''": The French Civil Code (Napoleonic Code) 1800-1820|website=womeninworldhistory|publisher=Women in World History Curriculum|access-date=12 December 2013}}</ref> In Spain, during the Franco era, a married woman required her husband's consent (''permiso marital'') for nearly all economic activities, including employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the permiso marital was abolished in 1975.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Solsten | first1 = Eric | last2 = Meditz | first2 = Sandra W. | chapter = Social values and attitudes | chapter-url = http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm | editor-last1 = Solsten | editor-first1 = Eric | editor-last2 = Meditz | editor-first2 = Sandra W. | title = Spain: a country study | publisher = Library of Congress, Federal Research Division | location = Washington, DC | year = 1988 | oclc = 712557481}}</ref> Concerns exist about violence related to marriage&nbsp;– both inside marriage (physical abuse, sexual violence, restriction of liberty) and in relation to marriage customs (], ], ], ], ], violence related to female premarital ]). Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writes:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Card |first1=Claudia |title=Against Marriage and Motherhood |journal=Hypatia |date=1996 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=1–23 |doi=10.1111/j.1527-2001.1996.tb01013.x |jstor=3810319 |s2cid=143516578 }}</ref>
:The legal rights of access that married partners have to each other's persons, property, and lives makes it all but impossible for a spouse to defend herself (or himself), or to be protected against torture, rape, battery, stalking, mayhem, or murder by the other spouse... Legal marriage thus enlists state support for conditions conducive to murder and mayhem.

====Physical====
]'s ''Cent Proverbes'' (1845) captioned "Qui aime bien châtie bien" (''Who loves well, punishes well''). A man beating a woman is shown in the back.]]
Women are more likely to be ] by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called "]" (IPV). Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts find it hard to estimate the true magnitude of the problem.<ref>{{cite web | title = Intimate partner violence: fact sheet | url = https://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070211183916/http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm | archive-date = 11 February 2007 | website = cdc.gov/ncipc | publisher = National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, ] | date = 2006 | access-date = 4 September 2007}}</ref> Though this form of violence is often considered as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, it also occurs in lesbian relationships,<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Girshick | first = Lori B. | title = No sugar, no spice: reflections on research on woman-to-woman sexual violence | journal = ] | volume = 8 | issue = 12 | pages = 1500–1520 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1177/107780102237967 | date = December 2002 | s2cid = 73280087 }}</ref> daughter-mother relationships, ] relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Violence against women in lesbian relationships is about as common as violence against women in heterosexual relationships.<ref>{{cite web | last = Rose | first = Suzana | title = Lesbian partner violence fact sheet | url = http://www.musc.edu/vawprevention/lesbianrx/factsheet.shtml | publisher = ] }}</ref>

Women are much more likely than men to be ] by an intimate partner. In the United States, in 2005, 1181 women were killed by their intimate partners, compared to 329 men.<ref>{{cite web | title = Intimate partner violence: consequences | url = https://www.cdc.gov/violencePrevention/intimatepartnerviolence/consequences.html | website = cdc.gov/ncipc | publisher = National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, ] | access-date = 9 February 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100129161946/http://www.cdc.gov/violencePrevention/intimatepartnerviolence/consequences.html | archive-date = 29 January 2010 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Wheel gallery | url = http://www.theduluthmodel.org/wheelgallery.php | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110728093413/http://www.theduluthmodel.org/wheelgallery.php | archive-date = 28 July 2011 | publisher=The Duluth Model | access-date = 9 February 2010}}</ref> It is estimated that 30% or more of the women who are admitted to the ER could be victims of domestic violence

<ref>Report on Domestic Violence in New York City: Listening With the Third Ear. New York: New York, NY. Commission on the Status of Women, 1996. Women and Social Movements in the United States,1600-2000 Database. Web.</ref> In ] about 100 women are killed by partners or former partners each year while 21 men were killed in 2010.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13058300 |title=All domestic abuse deaths to have multi-agency review |date=13 April 2011 | work = BBC News |access-date=14 April 2011}}</ref> In 2008, in France, 156 women were killed by their intimate partner, compared to 27 men.<ref>{{cite book | title = L'action du ministère dans le cadre des violences au sein du couple / Aide aux victimes: présentation des différents dispositifs | url = http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/aide_aux_victimes/violence-couple/downloadFile/attachedFile/morts_violentes_au_sein_couples.pdf | language = fr | publisher = ] | access-date = 6 August 2014 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120320014223/http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/aide_aux_victimes/violence-couple/downloadFile/attachedFile/morts_violentes_au_sein_couples.pdf | archive-date = 20 March 2012}}</ref> According to the WHO, globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner.<ref name="WHO VAM Factsheet" /> A UN report compiled from a number of different studies conducted in at least 71 countries found domestic violence against women to be most prevalent in ].<ref>{{cite news | title = Ethiopian women are most abused | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6040180.stm | work = BBC News | date = 11 October 2006 }}</ref> A study by ] conducted in 12 ] countries found the highest prevalence of domestic violence against women to be in ].<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Bott | first1 = Sarah | last2 = Guedes | first2 = Alessandra | last3 = Goodwin | first3 = Mary | last4 = Mendoza | first4 = Jennifer Adams | title = Violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean: a comparative analysis of population-based data from 12 countries | url = http://www.paho.org/Hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8175%3A2013-violence-against-women-latin-america-caribbean-comparative-analysis&catid=1505%3Aabout-us&lang=en | publisher = ] and the ] | date = 2012 }} {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204013306/http://www1.paho.org/hq/dmdocuments/violence-against-women-lac.pdf |date=4 February 2016 }} {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408155433/http://www.paho.org/Hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=24353&Itemid=270&lang=en |date=8 April 2015 }}</ref> In Western Europe, a country that has received major international criticism for the way it has dealt legally with the issue of violence against women is Finland; with authors pointing out that a high level of equality for women in the public sphere (as in Finland) should never be equated with equality in all other aspects of women's lives.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=Kris |title=The Paradoxical Approach to Intimate Partner Violence in Finland |journal=International Perspectives in Victimology |date=5 July 2011 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=9–19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McKie |first1=Linda |last2=Hearn |first2=Jeff |title=Gender-Neutrality and Gender Equality: Comparing and Contrasting Policy Responses to 'Domestic Violence' in Finland and Scotland |journal=Scottish Affairs |date=August 2004 |volume=48 (First Serie |issue=1 |pages=85–107 |doi=10.3366/scot.2004.0043 }}</ref><ref>{{cite report |date=September 2008 |title=Case Closed: Rape and Human Rights in the Nordic Countries |publisher=Amnesty International |url=https://amnesty.dk/media/1557/case-closed.pdf | pages = 89–91 | quote = Finland is repeatedly reminded of its widespread problem of violence against women and recommended to take more efficient measures to deal with the situation. International criticism concentrates on the lack of measures to combat violence against women in general and in particular on the lack of a national action plan to combat such violence and on the lack of legislation on domestic violence. (...) Compared to Sweden, Finland has been slower to reform legislation on violence against women. In Sweden, domestic violence was already illegal in 1864, while in Finland such violence was not outlawed until 1970, over a hundred years later. In Sweden the punishment of victims of incest was abolished in 1937, but not until 1971 in Finland. Rape within marriage was criminalised in Sweden in 1962, but the equivalent Finnish legislation only came into force in 1994 – making Finland one of the last European countries to criminalise marital rape. In addition, assaults taking place on private property did not become impeachable offences in Finland until 1995. Only in 1997 did victims of sexual offences and domestic violence in Finland become entitled to government-funded counselling and support services for the duration of their court cases. }}</ref>

The ] planning and research committees for the forthcoming ] (2013) have canvassed a series of new ]s, which include ''Marital Conflict Disorder Without Violence'' or ''Marital Abuse Disorder (Marital Conflict Disorder With Violence)''.<ref name="Personality">{{cite book | last1 = First | first1 = Michael B. | last2 = Bell | first2 = Carl C. | last3 = Cuthbert | first3 = Bruce | last4 = Krystal | first4 = John H. | last5 = Malison | first5 = Robert | last6 = Offord | first6 = David R. | last7 = Reiss | first7 = David | last8 = Shea | first8 = M. Tracie | last9 = Widger | first9 = Tom | last10 = Wisner | first10 = Katherine L. | chapter = Personality disorders and relational disorders: a research agenda for addressing crucial gaps in DSM | chapter-url = https://contextualscience.org/system/files/Kupfer,2002.pdf | editor-last1 = Kupfer | editor-first1 = David J. | editor-last2 = First | editor-first2 = Michael B. | editor-last3 = Regier | editor-first3 = Darrel A. | title = A research agenda for DSM-V | publisher = ] | location = Washington, D.C. | year = 2002 | isbn = 9780890422922 | access-date = 2 December 2015 | archive-date = 12 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160312035547/https://contextualscience.org/system/files/Kupfer,2002.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref>{{rp|164, 166}} Couples with marital disorders sometimes come to clinical attention because the couple recognize long-standing dissatisfaction with their marriage and come to the ] on their own initiative or are referred by an astute health care professional. Secondly, there is serious violence in the marriage that is "usually the husband battering the wife".<ref name="Personality" />{{rp|163}} In these cases the emergency room or a legal authority often is the first to notify the ]. Most importantly, marital violence "is a major risk factor for serious injury and even death and women in violent marriages are at much greater risk of being seriously injured or killed (] 2000)".<ref name="Personality" />{{rp|166}}
The authors conclude with what they call "very recent information"<ref name="Personality" />{{rp|167, 168}} on the course of violent marriages, which suggests that "over time a husband's battering may abate somewhat, but perhaps because he has successfully ]d his wife. The risk of violence remains strong in a marriage in which it has been a feature in the past. Thus, treatment is essential here; the clinician cannot just wait and watch."<ref name="Personality" />{{rp|167, 168}} The most urgent clinical priority is the protection of the wife because she is the one most frequently at risk, and clinicians must be aware that supporting assertiveness by a battered wife may lead to more beatings or even death.<ref name="Personality" />{{rp|167, 168}}

====Sexual====
{{Main|Intimate partner sexual violence|Date rape|Marital rape}}
{{Further|Dating abuse|Teen dating violence}}
Marital or spousal rape was once widely condoned or ignored by law and is now widely considered unacceptable violence against women, repudiated by international conventions, and increasingly criminalized. Still, in many countries, spousal rape either remains legal or is illegal but is widely tolerated and accepted as a husband's prerogative. The criminalization of spousal rape is recent, having occurred during the past few decades. Traditional understanding and views of ], ], ], ] and ] have started to be challenged in most Western countries during the 1960s and 1970s, which led to the criminalization of marital rape during the following decades. With a few notable exceptions, it was during the past 30 years that most laws against marital rape have been enacted. Some countries in Scandinavia and in the former Communist Bloc of Europe made spousal rape illegal before 1970, but most Western countries criminalized it only in the 1980s and 1990s. In many parts of the world the laws against marital rape are very new, having been enacted in the 2000s.<ref>{{Citation |last=Anderson |first=Michelle J. |title=Marital Rape Laws Globally |date=2016-06-06 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190238360.003.0012 |work=Marital Rape |pages=177–186 |access-date=2024-01-10 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190238360.003.0012|isbn=978-0-19-023836-0 }}</ref>

In Canada, marital rape was made illegal in 1983, when several legal changes were made, including changing the rape statute to ''sexual assault'' and making the laws gender neutral.<ref name=grady>{{cite book | last = Grady | first = William | title = Crime in Canadian context: debates and controversies | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Don Mills, Ontario | year = 2011 | isbn = 9780195433784 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Brennan | first1 = Shannon| last2 = Taylor-Butts | first2 = Andrea | title = Sexual assault in Canada, 2004 | publisher = Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics | location = Ottawa | year = 2008 |url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85f0033m/85f0033m2008019-eng.pdf | isbn = 9781100111636 |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = SIECCAN |title=Sexual assault in Canada: what do we know? |publisher=The Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140722071229/http://sexualityandu.ca/uploads/files/SexualAssault-OCT2011-ENG.pdf | archive-date = 22 July 2014 |url=http://sexualityandu.ca/uploads/files/SexualAssault-OCT2011-ENG.pdf | date = October 2011 |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref> In Ireland, spousal rape was outlawed in 1990.<ref name="Temkin86">{{cite book | last = Temkin | first = Jennifer | chapter = Defining and redefining rape | editor-last = Temkin | editor-first = Jennifer | title = Rape and the legal process | page = 86 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford New York | year = 2002 | edition = second | isbn = 9780198763543 }}
:''Citing'':
:* {{cite web | title = Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act, 1990, section 5 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170429001010/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1990/act/32/section/5/enacted/en/html#sec5 | archive-date = 29 April 2017 | url = http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1990/act/32/section/5/enacted/en/html#sec5 | website = irishstatutebook.ie | publisher = ] | access-date = 21 December 2017}}</ref> In the US, the criminalization of marital rape started in the mid-1970s, and in 1993, North Carolina became the last state to make marital rape illegal.<ref>{{cite news|last =Associated Press|author-link=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1957&dat=19930702&id=_xYxAAAAIBAJ&pg=6288,228462 |title=N.C. the last state to outlaw marital rape |work=]| location = New York |date=2 July 1993 |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref>
In ], marital rape was made illegal in 1991. The views of Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century jurist, published in ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown'' (1736), stated that a husband cannot be guilty of the rape of his wife because the wife "hath given up herself in this kind to her husband, which she cannot retract"; in England and Wales, this would remain law for more than 250 years, until it was abolished by the ], in the case of ''R v. R'' in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1991/12.html |title=R v R ] via Tenea|url=http://www.jurawelt.com/dissertationen/werke/8821|oclc=758907108|access-date=22 December 2017|archive-date=25 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625180730/http://www.jurawelt.com/dissertationen/werke/8821|url-status=dead}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020164804/http://www.jurawelt.com/sunrise/media/mediafiles/13792/tenea_juraweltbd52_kieler.pdf |date=20 October 2013 }}</ref>

The relationship between some religions (] and ]) and marital rape is controversial. The ] at 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 explains that one has a "conjugal duty" to have sexual relations with one's spouse (in sharp opposition to ], which is considered a ]) and states, "The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians%207:3-7:5&version=NKJV |title=1 corinthians 7:3-7:5 NKJV | website = biblegateway.com |publisher=] |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref> Some conservative religious figures interpret this as rejecting to possibility of marital rape.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adn.com/2011/07/22/1980301/readers-blast-valley-paper-over.html |title=Valley paper criticized over pastor's column on spousal rape |work=] |date=22 July 2011 |access-date=6 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203959/http://www.adn.com/2011/07/22/1980301/readers-blast-valley-paper-over.html |archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref> Islam makes reference to sexual relations in marriage too, notably: "Allah's Apostle said, 'If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning';"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/bukhari/bh4/bh4_464.htm |title=Hadith 4:460 | website = Sacred-texts.com |publisher=] |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref> and several comments on the issue of marital rape made by Muslim religious leaders have been criticized.<ref>{{cite news| last = Halliday | first =Josh |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/nov/08/islam-channel-ofcom |title=Islam Channel censured by Ofcom |work=] |date=8 November 2010 |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated-->| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7843909.stm | work=] | title=Cleric 'must deny' views on rape | date=22 January 2009 | access-date = 11 December 2013}}</ref>

Dating abuse, or dating violence, is the perpetration of coercion, intimidation, or assault in the context of ] or ]. It is also when one partner tries to maintain ]. Dating violence is defined by the CDC as "the physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship, including stalking".<ref>{{cite web | title = Intimate partner violence: teen dating violence | url = https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/teen_dating_violence.html | website = cdc.gov | publisher = ] | date = 2016 | access-date = 21 October 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181230230859/https://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/intimatepartnerviolence/teen_dating_violence.html | archive-date = 30 December 2018 | url-status = dead }} </ref>

===Widowhood related violence===
] (a Hindu practice whereby a ] immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband) ceremony]]
] town of ] in 1531]]
{{See also|Widow#Abuse|Widow inheritance|Sexual rites of passage#Sexual cleansing of widows}}
Widows have been subjected to forced remarriage called ], where they are forced to marry a male relative of their late husband.<ref>{{cite book | last = Owen | first = Margaret | chapter = Human rights, equality and legal protection | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Bh8sGfNKUTEC&pg=PA181 | editor-last = Owen | editor-first = Margaret | title = A world of widows | publisher = Zed Books | location = London Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey | year = 1996 | isbn = 9781856494205 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/worldofwidows0000owen }}</ref> Another practice is the banned remarriage of widows, which is legal in India<ref name=peers-2006-pp52-53>{{cite book|last=Peers |first=Douglas M. |author-link=Douglas Peers |title=India under colonial rule: 1700-1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iNuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=8 November 2018|year=2006|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=978-0-582-31738-3|pages=52&ndash;53}}</ref> and Korea.<ref name=uhn>{{cite journal|title=The Invention of Chaste Motherhood: A Feminist Reading of the Remarriage Ban in the Chosun Era|last1=Uhn |first1=Cho|journal=Asian Journal of Women's Studies|year=1999 |volume=5 |issue=3|pages=45–63|doi=10.1080/12259276.1999.11665854}}</ref> A more extreme version is the ritual killing of widows, as seen in India and Fiji. ] is the burning of widows, and although sati in India is today an almost defunct practice, isolated incidents have occurred in recent years, such as the 1987 sati of ], as well as several incidents in rural areas in 2002<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2178102.stm | work=] | title=Arrests in Indian ritual burning | date=7 August 2002 | access-date = 25 January 2014}}</ref> and 2006.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5366506.stm | work=] | title=Sons arrested in sati death probe | date=21 September 2006 | access-date = 25 January 2014}}</ref> A traditional idea upheld in some places in Africa is that an unmarried widow is unholy and “disturbed” if she is unmarried and abstains from sex for some period of time. This fuels the practice of ] where the unmarried widow is required to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification, which is commenced with a ceremony for the neighborhood to witness that she is now purified.<ref name="farmradio">{{cite web |author=Rachel Awuor |date=2007-11-01 |title=Widow cleansing: 'Good' intentions – negative consequences |url=http://www.farmradio.org/radio-resource-packs/package-82/widow-cleansing-good-intentions-negative-consequences/ |access-date=2016-07-23 |publisher=]}}</ref>

Unmarried widows are most likely to be accused and killed as ]s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21725040-law-criminalising-sorcery-was-only-repealed-2013-gruesome-fate-witches-papua-new|title=The gruesome fate of "witches" in Papua New Guinea|newspaper=The Economist|date=13 July 2017 |access-date=23 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="Film script">{{cite book|last=Ireland|first=Patricia | title=No Safe Place: Violence Against Women (script) |url=https://www.pbs.org/kued/nosafeplace/script/script.html|publisher=] documentary |date =1996|access-date=2 December 2013}}</ref> ] (between the 15th and 18th centuries) were common in Europe and in the European colonies in North America. Today, there remain regions of the world (such as parts of ], rural ], and ]) where belief in ] is held by many people, and women accused of being witches are subjected to serious violence.<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite journal | last = Diwan | first = Mohammed A. | title = Conflict between state legal norms and norms underlying popular beliefs: witchcraft in Africa as a case study | journal = ] | volume = 14 | issue = 2 | pages = 351&ndash;388 | publisher = ] | date = Summer 2004 | url = https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/djcil/vol14/iss2/5/ }}
* {{cite book |last=Ally |first=Yaseen |title=Witch hunts in modern South Africa: an under-represented facet of gender-based violence (fact sheet) |url=http://www.mrc.ac.za/crime/witchhunts.pdf |publisher=] |date=June 2009 |access-date=12 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425074549/http://www.mrc.ac.za/crime/witchhunts.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated-->| title=Woman burned alive for 'sorcery' in Papua New Guinea | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21363894 | work=] | date=7 February 2013 | access-date=12 December 2013 }}</ref>

==Non-intimate partner family violence==
===Infanticide and abandonment===
]
]
].]]
''Son preference'' is a custom prevalent in many societies<ref name="StopVAW_son">{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = Son preference | url =http://www.stopvaw.org/harmful_practices_son_preference | website = stopvaw.org | publisher = Stop Violence Against Women | date = June 2010 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}</ref> that in its extreme can lead to the rejection of daughters. ] of females is more common among the higher income population, who can access ]. After birth, neglect and diverting resources to male children can lead to some countries having a skewed ratio with more boys than girls,<ref name="StopVAW_son" /> with such practices killing an approximate 230,000 girls under five in India each year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/may/15/discrimination-deaths-girls-under-five-india-lancet-study|title=Discrimination kills 230,000 girls under five in India each year, study shows |date=15 May 2018|access-date=20 August 2018|work=The Guardian}}</ref> In China, the ] increased sex-selective abortions and was largely responsible for an unbalanced sex ratio.'']'' is a 1995 ] ] about Chinese state orphanages, which documented how parents abandoned their newborn girls into ], where the staff would leave the children in rooms to die of thirst, or starvation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thurston |first=Anne F. |date=1996-04-01 |title=In a Chinese Orphanage |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/04/in-a-chinese-orphanage/376563/ |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=P. R. I. |date=1996-01-01 |title=The dying rooms: Chinese orphanages adopt a 'zero population growth policy' |url=https://www.pop.org/the-dying-rooms-chinese-orphanages-adopt-a-zero-population-growth-policy/ |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=PRI |language=en-US}}</ref>

Another manifestation of son preference is the violence inflicted against mothers who give birth to girls.<ref>''News articles'':
* {{cite news | last = Sarwary | first = Bilal | title = Afghan woman is killed 'for giving birth to a girl' | url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16787534 | work = ] | location = Kabul, Afghanistan | date = 30 January 2012 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}
* {{cite news | last = Agarwal | first = Keshav | title = 23-year-old woman killed for giving birth to twin daughters | url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/23-year-old-woman-killed-for-giving-birth-to-twin-daughters/articleshow/57785767.cms | work = ] | date = 23 March 2017 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated-->| title = 56 killed for giving birth to girl child in Pakistan | url = https://www.deccanchronicle.com/131127/news-world/article/56-killed-giving-birth-girl-child-pakistan | work = ] | location = Hyderabad, Telangana, India | date = 27 November 2013 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}</ref>

===Body modification===
====Genitalia====
{{Main|Female genital mutilation|labia stretching}}
]
] road sign, Bakau, Gambia, 2005]]
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the ] (WHO) as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".<ref name="WHO FGM">{{cite book | last = WHO | author-link = World Health Organization |title=Female genital mutilation (factsheet) |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/ |publisher=] |date= June 2000 |access-date=18 November 2013}}</ref>

The WHO states: "The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women" and "Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility, and complications in childbirth increase the risk of newborn deaths".<ref name="WHO FGM"/>

According to a 2016 UNICEF report, the top rates for FGM are in Somalia (with 98 percent of women affected), Guinea (97 percent), Djibouti (93 percent), Egypt (87 percent), Eritrea (83 percent), Mali (89 percent), Sierra Leone (90 percent), Sudan (87 percent), Gambia (75 percent), Burkina Faso (76 percent), Ethiopia (74 percent), Mauritania (69 percent), Liberia (50 percent), and Guinea-Bissau (45 percent).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=UNICEF |date=2016 |title=Female Genital Mutilation: A global concern |url=https://data.unicef.org/resources/female-genital-mutilationcutting-global-concern/ |website=UNICEF}}</ref> More than half of the cases documented by Unicef are concentrated in just three countries (Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia).<ref>{{Cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021224539/http://data.unicef.org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/FGM-C-Brochure-7_15-Final-LR_167.pdf | title=Female genital mutilation/cutting: What might the future hold? | url=http://data.unicef.org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/FGM-C-Brochure-7_15-Final-LR_167.pdf | archive-date=2014-10-21 | website=data.unicef.org}}</ref><ref name=":1"/>

FGM is linked to cultural rites and customs, including traditional practices, and religion. It continues to take place in different communities in Africa and the Middle East, including in places where it is banned by national legislation. According to a 2016 UNICEF report, at least 200 million of women and girls in Africa and the Middle East have experienced FGM.<ref name=":1"/> Due to globalization and immigration, FGM is spreading beyond the borders of Africa and the Middle East to countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, the U.S., and UK.<ref>{{cite book | last = Nussbaum | first = Martha | author-link = Martha Nussbaum | chapter = Judging other cultures: the case of genital mutilation | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=43U8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 | editor-last = Nussbaum | editor-first = Martha | editor-link = Martha Nussbaum | title = Sex & social justice | pages = | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0195110326 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sexsocialjustice00nuss/page/120 }}</ref>

Although FGM is today associated with developing countries, this practice was common until the 1970s in parts of the Western world, too. FGM was considered a standard medical procedure in the United States for most of the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref name="Webber-2003">{{cite journal |last1=Webber |first1=Sarah |last2=Schonfeld |first2=Toby |title=Cutting History, Cutting Culture: Female Circumcision in the United States |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |date=May 2003 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=65–66 |id={{Project MUSE|44151}} |doi=10.1162/152651603766436324 |pmid=12859826 |s2cid=13202773 }}</ref> Physicians performed surgeries of varying invasiveness to treat a number of diagnoses, including ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LViJROLfEGQC&q=Watson,+M.+(2005).+Female+circumcision+from+Africa+to+the+Americas:+Slavery+to+the+present.+The+Social+Sciences+Journal,+42,+421-437.&pg=PA106|title=Women in Developing Countries: A Reference Handbook|last=Kinnear|first=Karen L.|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781598844252|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Webber-2003" />

As of 2016, in Africa, FGM has been legally banned in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite news | last = Lyons | first = Kate | title = The Gambia bans female genital mutilation | url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/24/the-gambia-bans-female-genital-mutilation | work = ] | date = 24 November 2015 | access-date = 9 May 2016}}
* {{cite news | last = Richards | first = Kimberly | title = History has been made: female genital mutilation banned in Nigeria | url = http://aplus.com/a/nigeria-bans-genital-mutilation | work = ] | date = 3 June 2015 | access-date = 9 May 2016}}
* {{cite book | last = UNFPA | author-link = UNFPA | title = Female genital mutilation (FGM) frequently asked questions | url = http://www.unfpa.org/resources/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions | publisher = ] | date = December 2015 | access-date = 9 May 2016}}</ref> The ] prohibits female genital mutilation (Article 38).<ref>{{cite book | title = Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence | url = https://rm.coe.int/168046031c | date = 12 April 2011 | access-date = 8 October 2017}}</ref>

] is the act of lengthening the '']'' (the inner lips of the female genitals) through manual manipulation (pulling) or equipment (such as weights).<ref name="Rwanda">"", retrieved on 18 June 2008</ref> It is often done by older women to girls.<ref name=Beeb>{{cite news|title=Labia stretching: Why some British girls are told to do it|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-39448355/labia-stretching-why-some-british-girls-are-told-to-do-it|accessdate=24 April 2018|work=BBC News|agency=BBC|date=7 April 2017}}</ref>

====Feet====
], China]]
] was a practice in China done to reduce the size of feet in girls. It was seen as more desirable and was likely to make a more prestigious marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hershatter |first=Gail|date=2019 |title=Women and China's Revolutions|publisher=The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group |page=47 |isbn=978-1-4422-1568-9}}</ref>

====Force-feeding====
{{Main|leblouh}}
In some countries, notably Mauritania, young girls are forcibly fattened to prepare them for marriage because obesity is seen as desirable. This practice of ] is known as '']'' or ''gavage''.<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite book | last = Popenoe | first = Rebecca | chapter = Getting fat | editor-last = Popenoe | editor-first = Rebecca | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=25H0_G9MG10C&pg=PA39 | title = Feeding desire: fatness, beauty, and sexuality among a Saharan people | pages = 33&ndash;50 | publisher = Routledge | location = London New York | year = 2004 | isbn = 9780415280969 }}
::''Book review'': {{cite web | last = Fan | title = Space and body modification: Rebecca Popenoe's ''Feeding Desire'' (blog) | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304231342/http://www.savagemind.org/tag/body/ | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | url = http://www.savagemind.org/tag/body/ |publisher= Savage Mind via ] |date=3 August 2012 |access-date=3 April 2016}}
* {{cite news | last = LaFraniere | first = Sharon | title = In Mauritania, seeking to end an overfed ideal | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/world/africa/04mauritania.html | work = ] | quote = Girls as young as 5 and as old as 19 had to drink up to five gallons of fat-rich camel's or cow's milk daily, aiming for silvery stretch marks on their upper arms. If a girl refused or vomited, the village weight-gain specialist might squeeze her foot between sticks, pull her ear, pinch her inner thigh, bend her finger backward or force her to drink her own vomit. In extreme cases, girls die, due to a burst stomach. The practice was known as gavage, a French term for force-feeding geese to obtain foie gras. | date = 4 July 2007 | access-date = 30 June 2011}}</ref> The practice dates back to the 11th century, and has been reported to have made a significant comeback after a ].<ref>{{cite news | last = Smith | first = Alex Duval | title = Girls being force-fed for marriage as junta revives fattening farms | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/01/mauritania-force-feeding-marriage | work = ] | date = 1 March 2009 | access-date = 22 December 2015}}</ref>

===Sexual initiation rites===
{{Main|Sexual rites of passage}}

Sexual "cleansing" is a ceremony where girls have sexual intercourse as a cleansing ritual following their first menstruation<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |author=Ed Butler |date=21 July 2016 |title=The man hired to have sex with children |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36843769 |access-date=22 July 2016}}</ref> and is referred to as ''kusasa fumbi'' in some regions of Malawi.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=E-L |url=http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9780230292888 |title=Gender, HIV and Risk: Navigating structural violence |date=2015 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan}}</ref> Prepubescent girls are often sent to a training camp where women known as ''anamkungwi'', or "key leaders," teach the girls how to cook, clean, and have sexual intercourse in order to be wives.<ref name="theatlantic">{{cite news |author=Beenish Ahmed |date=January 20, 2014 |title=Confronting a Sexual Rite of Passage in Malawi |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/confronting-a-sexual-rite-of-passage-in-malawi/283196/ |access-date=22 July 2016}}</ref> After the training, a man known as a hyena performs the cleansing for 12- to 17-year-old females for three days and the girl is sometimes required to perform a bare-breasted dance, known as ''chisamba'', to signal the end of her initiation in front of the community.<ref name="theguardian">{{cite news |date=2 February 2020 |title=Kusasa Fumbi – The Sexual Rite Of Passage |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://guardian.ng/life/kusasa-fumbi-the-sexual-rite-of-passage/ |access-date=22 October 2021}}</ref>

===Honor killings===
] are a common form of violence against women in certain parts of the world. Honor killings are perpetrated by family members (usually husbands, fathers, uncles, or brothers) against women in the family who are believed to have caused dishonor to the family. The death of the dishonorable woman is believed to restore honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/womenscourage/communitybasedsolutions/the_role_of_community_in_combating_honor_killings.html|title=the role of community in combating honor killings|website=web.stanford.edu|access-date=2018-12-08|archive-date=30 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930135748/http://web.stanford.edu/group/womenscourage/communitybasedsolutions/the_role_of_community_in_combating_honor_killings.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> These killings are a traditional practice{{where|date=January 2019}} believed to have originated from tribal customs where an allegation against a woman can be enough to defile a family's reputation.<ref name="BBC_ethics">{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = Ethics guide – Honour crimes | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes/crimesofhonour_1.shtml | work = ] | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated-->| title = Definition of honor killing | url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honor%20killing | website = merriam-webster.com | publisher = ] | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref> Women are killed for reasons such as refusing to enter an ], being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relatives, attempting to leave a marriage, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, and dressing in ways that are deemed inappropriate, among others.<ref name="BBC_ethics" /><ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news | last = Harter | first = Pascale | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13760895 | work= BBC News | title=Libya rape victims 'face honour killings' | date=14 June 2011| access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref> In cultures where female ] is highly valued and considered mandatory before marriage, in extreme cases, rape victims are killed in ]. Victims may also be forced by their families to marry the rapist in order to restore the family's "honor.".<ref>''Relevant articles'':
* {{cite news | last = PTI | author-link =Press Trust of India | title = Rape victim threatened to withdraw case in UP | url = http://zeenews.india.com/news/uttar-pradesh/rape-victim-threatened-to-withdraw-case-in-up_694364.html | work = ] | publisher = ] | location = Mumbai, India | date = 19 March 2011 | access-date = 3 February 2013 }}
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title =Stigmatization of rape & honor killings |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121108041415/http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/currentissues/stigmitizationofrape/ | archive-date = 8 November 2012 | url = http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/currentissues/stigmitizationofrape/ | work = WISE Muslim Women | publisher = ] | date = 31 January 2002 | access-date = 3 February 2013 }}
* {{cite news | last = Harter | first = Pascale | title = Libya rape victims 'face honour killings' | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13760895 | work = ] | date=14 June 2011 |access-date= 3 February 2013 }}
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated-->| title = Morocco protest after raped Amina Filali kills herself | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17379721 | work = ] | date = 15 March 2012 | access-date = 19 November 2013}}</ref> In Lebanon, the ] was launched in December 2016 to abolish the article that permitted a rapist to escape prison by marrying his victim. In Italy, before 1981, the Criminal Code provided for mitigating circumstances in case of a killing of a woman or her sexual partner for reasons related to honor, providing for a reduced sentence.<ref>{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|1011050411}} |last1=Kirti |first1=Anand |last2=Kumar |first2=Prateek |last3=Yadav |first3=Rachana |title=The Face of Honour Based Crimes: Global Concerns and Solutions |journal=International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences |volume=6 |issue=1/2 |date=2011 |pages=343–357 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Barazzetti | first1 = Donatella | last2 = Garreffa | first2 = Franca | last3 = Marsico | first3 = Rosaria | title = Daphne Project "Proposing new indicators: measuring violence's effects, GVEI (Gender Violence Effects Indicators)" | url = http://www.surt.org/gvei/docs/national_report_italy.pdf | publisher = Centre Women's Studies "Milly Villa", ] | location = Rende, Italy | date = July 2007 | quote = Before 1981, Art. 587 read: He who causes the death of a spouse, daughter, or sister upon discovering her in illegitimate carnal relations and in the heat of passion caused by the offence to his honour or that of his family will be sentenced to three to seven years. The same sentence shall apply to whom, in the above circumstances, causes the death of the person involved in illegitimate carnal relations with his spouse, daughter, or sister.}}</ref>

Honor killings are common in countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/><ref>{{cite web | last = UN Women | author-link = UN Women | title = Violence against women: work of the General Assembly on violence against women | url = https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/v-work-ga.htm | website = un.org/womenwatch | publisher = ], Violence Against Women | access-date = 18 November 2013}}
:''Listing for'':
:* {{cite book | last = UN Secretary-General | author-link = Secretary-General of the United Nations | title = Working towards the elimination of crimes against women committed in the name of honour | url = http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/57/169&Lang=E | id = A/57/169 | publisher = ] | language = en | date = 2 July 2002 }} </ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Ghanizada | title = 240 cases of honor killing recorded in Afghanistan, AIHRC | url = http://www.khaama.com/240-cases-of-honor-killing-recorded-in-afghanistan-aihrc-2177 | publisher = ] | location = Afghanistan | date = 9 June 2013 | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = UPI |author-link=United Press International | title = AIHRC: 400 rape, honor killings registered in Afghanistan in 2 years | url = http://latinbusinesstoday.com/2013/06/aihrc-400-rape-honor-killings-registered-in-afghanistan-in-2-years/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150214224858/http://latinbusinesstoday.com/2013/06/aihrc-400-rape-honor-killings-registered-in-afghanistan-in-2-years/ | archive-date = 14 February 2015 | work = Latin Business Today | location = Kabul, Afghanistan | date = 10 June 2013 | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last1 = Bayoumy | first1 = Yara | last2 = Kami | first2 = Aseel | title="Honor killings" require tougher laws, say Iraqi women | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-women-idUSTRE82510920120306 | work = Reuters | date=6 March 2012 | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref> Honor killings also occur in immigrant communities in Europe, the United States, and Canada. Although honor killings are most often associated with the Middle East and South Asia, they occur in other parts of the world too.<ref name="BBC_ethics" /><ref>{{cite web | title = International Domestic Violence Issues | url = http://www.sanctuaryforfamilies.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=252&Itemid=259 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141016194204/http://www.sanctuaryforfamilies.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=252&Itemid=259 | archive-date = 16 October 2014 | website = sanctuaryforfamilies.org | publisher = Sanctuary for Families }}</ref> In India, honor killings occur in the northern regions of the country, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.<ref>{{cite news | last1 = Donald | first1 = Alice | last2 = Bishop | first2 = Hilary | title = World agenda: what justice? | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1817_wawryw/page4.shtml | publisher = ] | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated-->| title = India court seeks 'honour killing' response | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10364986 | work = BBC News |date = 21 June 2010 | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref> In Turkey, honor killings are a serious problem in Southeastern Anatolia.<ref>{{cite news | last = Rainsford | first = Sarah | title = 'Honour' crime defiance in Turkey | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4357158.stm | work = BBC News | date = 19 October 2005 | access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Kardam | first = Filiz | editor-last = Murray | editor-first = Genevra | title = The dynamics of honor killings in Turkey: prospects for action | url = http://www.unfpa.org/publications/dynamics-honour-killings-turkey | publisher = ], Population Association (Turkey) and ] | date = 2005 | access-date = 18 November 2013 }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111193108/http://www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/676_filename_honourkillings.pdf |date=11 November 2012 }}</ref>

==Pregnancy-related violence==
] worldwide, as defined by the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management, excluding accidental or incidental causes.<ref name=CIA2010> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108112903/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html?countryName=Australia&countryCode=as&regionCode=aus&rank=156#as |date=8 November 2012 }} in ]. Date of Information: 2010</ref>]]
{{See also|Domestic violence and pregnancy|Reproductive coercion}}
] refers to acts categorized as physically or psychologically violent in the context of labor and birth. A pregnant woman can sometimes be coerced into accepting surgical interventions that are done without her consent.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Habek | first1 = Dubravko | last2 = Vuković Bobić | first2 = Mirna | last3 = Hrgović | first3 = Zlatko | title = Possible feto-maternal clinical risk of the Kristeller's expression | journal = ] | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages = 3&ndash;6 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.2478/s11536-008-0008-z | date = 2008 | s2cid = 57243548 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="WHO_Normal">{{cite book | last = WHO | author-link = World Health Organization | title = Care in normal birth: a practical guide | id = WHO/FRH/MSM/96.24 | url =https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/who_frh_msm_9624/en/ | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111226071459/http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/who_frh_msm_9624/en/ | url-status =dead | archive-date =26 December 2011 | publisher = ] | location = Geneva, Switzerland | series = Safe Motherhood Practical Guide | year = 1996 | access-date = 2 December 2013}}
:''Also as'':
:* {{cite journal | last = Technical Working Group, World Health Organization | author-link = World Health Organization | title = Care in normal birth: a practical guide | journal = ] | volume = 24 | issue = 2 | pages = 121&ndash;123 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1111/j.1523-536X.1997.00121.pp.x | date = June 1997 }}</ref> This could include the "]" in which one or more additional sutures than necessary are used to repair a woman's perineum after it has been torn or cut during childbirth with the intent of tightening the opening of the vagina and thereby enhancing the pleasure of her male sex partner during penetrative intercourse. Several Latin American countries have laws to protect against obstetric violence.<ref>{{cite web | last = WHO | author-link = World Health Organization | title = Sexual and reproductive health: Prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth | url =https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/maternal_perinatal/statement-childbirth-govnts-support/en/ | website = who.int | publisher = ] | year = 2015 | access-date = 21 October 2017}}
:''See also'':
:* {{cite book | last = WHO | author-link = World Health Organization | title = WHO statement: The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth | id = WHO/RHR/14.23 | url = http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/134588/1/WHO_RHR_14.23_eng.pdf | publisher = ] | location = Geneva, Switzerland | series = Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) | year = 2015}}</ref> ] is a collection of behaviors that interfere with decision-making related to ].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Grace KT, Anderson JC| title = Reproductive Coercion: A Systematic Review | language = en-US | journal = Trauma, Violence & Abuse | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 371–390 | date = October 2018 | pmid = 27535921 | doi = 10.1177/1524838016663935 | pmc = 5577387 }}</ref> According to the WHO, "discrimination in health care settings takes many forms and is often manifested when an individual or group is denied access to health care services that are otherwise available to others. It can also occur through denial of services that are only needed by certain groups, such as women."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-06-2017-joint-united-nations-statement-on-ending-discrimination-in-health-care-settings|title=Joint United Nations statement on ending discrimination in health care settings|website=www.who.int}}</ref>

===Restrictions around menstruation===
]
{{see also|Chhaupadi}}
Women in some cultures are forced into ] during their ]s. In parts of Nepal, for instance, they are forced to live in sheds, are forbidden to touch men or even to enter the courtyard of their own homes, and are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and various other foods for fear they will contaminate those goods. Women have died during this period because of starvation, bad weather, or bites by snakes.<ref>''Articles'':
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = PM concerned over death of woman in Chaupadi | url = http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-11-19/pm-concerned-over-death-of-woman-in-chaupadi.html | work = ] | date = 19 November 2016 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}
* {{cite news| last = Pokharel | first = Sugam | title = Nepali 'mensuration hut' ritual claims life of teenage girl | url = http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/10/asia/nepal-menstruation-hut-deaths-outrage/index.html | work = ] | date = 10 July 2017 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated-->| title = Nepal criminalises banishing menstruating women to huts | url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40885748 | work = ] | date = 10 August 2017 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = Nepali girl dies due to banned mensuration practice | url = http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/nepali-girl-dies-menstruation-chhaupadi-161219090727200.html | work = ] | date = December 2016 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}</ref> In cultures where women are restricted from being in public places, by law or custom, women who break such restrictions often face violence.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = Freedom of movement and women's economic empowerment | url = https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/who-we-are/news/2016/2/freedom-of-movement-and-womens-economic-empowerment | work = Empower Women | date = February 2016 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}</ref>

===Forced pregnancy===
{{Main|Forced pregnancy}}
] is the practice of forcing a woman or girl to become ]. A common motivation for this is to help establish a ], including by means of ]. This was also used as part of a program of breeding ]s (see ]). In the 20th century, state mandated forced marriage with the aim of increasing the population was practiced by some authoritarian governments, notably during the ] regime in ], which systematically forced people into marriages ordering them to have children, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution.<ref>{{cite book | last = Anderson | first = Natalae | title = Memorandum: Charging forced marriage as a crime against humanity | url = http://www.d.dccam.org/Abouts/Intern/Natalae_Forced_marriage.pdf | publisher = Documentation Center of Cambodia | date = 22 September 2010 | access-date = 8 October 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171020153617/http://www.d.dccam.org/Abouts/Intern/Natalae_Forced_marriage.pdf | archive-date = 20 October 2017 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The issue of ''forced continuation of pregnancy'' (i.e. denying a woman safe and legal abortion) is also seen by some organizations as a violation of women's rights. For example, the ] considers the criminalization of abortion a "violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights" and a form of "gender based violence".<ref>{{cite book | last = Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women | author-link = Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women#Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women | title = General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 | url = http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CEDAW_C_GC_35_8267_E.pdf | publisher = ] (CEDAW) | id = CEDAW/C/GC/35 | date = 14 July 2017 | quote = "Violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as forced sterilizations, forced abortion, forced pregnancy, ''criminalisation of abortion'', ''denial or delay of safe abortion and post abortion care'', ''forced continuation of pregnancy'', abuse and mistreatment of women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, are forms of gender based violence that, depending on the circumstances, may amount to torture or cruel, ]." | access-date = 8 October 2017 | archive-date = 20 February 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190220225958/https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CEDAW_C_GC_35_8267_E.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref>

In addition, in some parts of Latin America, with very strict anti-abortion laws, pregnant women avoid the medical system due to fear of being investigated by the authorities if they have a miscarriage, or a stillbirth, or other problems with the pregnancy. Prosecuting such women is quite common in places such as ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/07/el-salvador-rape-survivor-sentenced-to-30-years-in-jail-under-extreme-anti-abortion-law/|title=El Salvador: Rape survivor sentenced to 30 years in jail under extreme anti-abortion law|website=www.amnesty.org|date=6 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-latin-america-32491838/el-salvador-women-jailed-for-miscarriages|title=Jailed for a miscarriage|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Prügl, E. (Lecturer) (2 December 2013). Gender and International Affairs 2013. INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST MOVEMENTS. Lecture conducted from The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), Geneva, Switzerland.</ref><ref name="reuters.com">{{cite news|last=Hosenball |first=Mark |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wiretaps-verizon-idUSBRE95502920130606 |title=Obama administration defends massive phone record collection |work=Reuters |date=6 June 2013 |access-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>

===Forced sterilization and forced abortion===
{{Main|Forced sterilization|Forced abortion}}
]
] and ] are considered forms of gender-based violence.<ref>{{cite web |last=EIGE |author-link=European Institute for Gender Equality |title=What is gender-based violence? |url=http://eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence |website=eige.europa.eu |publisher=] |date=24 August 2015 |access-date=18 November 2013 |archive-date=9 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509145046/http://eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ] prohibits forced abortion and ].<ref>{{cite book | last = CoE | author-link = Council of Europe | title = Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence | url = https://rm.coe.int/168046031c | publisher = ] | date = 12 April 2011 }}</ref> According to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, all "women are guaranteed the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number of and spacing of their children, and to have access to information, education, and means to enable them to exercise these rights."<ref>{{cite web |title=Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women |url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx |publisher = ] |access-date=9 May 2016}}</ref>

Studies show forced sterilizations often target socially and politically disadvantaged groups such as racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, and indigenous populations.<ref name="Volscho, Thomas W 2010">{{cite journal | last = Volscho | first = Thomas W. | title = Sterilization racism and pan-ethnic disparities of the past decade: the continued encroachment on reproductive rights | journal = ] | volume = 25 | issue = 1 | pages = 17&ndash;31 | publisher = ] | jstor = 40891307 | date = Spring 2010 | doi=10.1353/wic.0.0053| s2cid = 159856987 | doi-access = free }}</ref> In the United States, much of the history of forced sterilization is connected to the legacy of eugenics and ].<ref name="Volscho, Thomas W 2010" /> Many doctors thought that they were doing the country a service by sterilizing women who were poor, disabled, or a minority; the doctors considered those women to be a drain on the system.<ref name="Volscho, Thomas W 2010"/><ref name="North Carolina Sterilization Program 2011">{{cite news | last1 = Kessel | first1 = Michelle | last2 = Jessica | first2 = Hopper | title = Victims speak out about North Carolina sterilization program, which targeted women, young girls and Blacks | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111108182852/http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/07/8640744-victims-speak-out-about-north-carolina-sterilization-program-which-targeted-women-young-girls-and-blacks | archive-date = 8 November 2011 | url = http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/07/8640744-victims-speak-out-about-north-carolina-sterilization-program-which-targeted-women-young-girls-and-blacks | work =] | publisher = ] | date = 7 November 2011 | access-date = 9 May 2016}}</ref> ], ], ] and ] women were coerced into sterilization programs, with Native Americans and African Americans especially being targeted.<ref name="Volscho, Thomas W 2010" /> Records have shown that Native American girls as young as eleven years-old had ] operations performed.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vincenti Carpio|first=Myla|date=2004|title=The Lost Generation: American Indian Women and Sterilization Abuse|journal=]|volume=31|issue=4|pages=40–53}}</ref>

In Europe, there have been a number of lawsuits and accusations towards the ] and ] of ] without adequate information and waiting period.<ref>{{Cite book|last=ERRC|title=Coercive and cruel – a report by the European Roma Rights Centre: Sterilisation and its consequences for Romani women in the Czech Republic (1966–2016) |url=http://www.errc.org/cms/upload/file/coercive-and-cruel-28-november-2016.pdf|publisher=European Roma Right Centre| location = Budapest, Hungary|date=November 2016|isbn = 9789638991638}}</ref> In response, both nations have instituted a mandatory seven-day waiting period and written consent. Slovakia has been condemned on the issue of forced sterilization of Roma women several times by the ] (see '']'', '']'' and '']'').<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldberg |first=Justin |date=2012-11-14 |title=European Court of Human Rights Finds Slovakia violated Romani women's rights in another involuntary sterilization case |url=https://reproductiverights.org/european-court-of-human-rights-finds-slovakia-violated-romani-womens-rights-in-another-involuntary-sterilization-case/ |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=Center for Reproductive Rights |language=en-US}}</ref>

In ], in 1995, ] launched a family planning initiative that especially targeted poor and indigenous women. In total, over 215,000 women were sterilized, with over 200,000 believed to have been coerced.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Boesten | first = Jelke | title = Free choice or poverty alleviation? Population politics in Peru under Alberto Fujimori | journal = European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies | volume = 82 | issue = 82 | pages = 3&ndash;20 | publisher = Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation | doi = 10.18352/erlacs.9637 | date = 2007 | doi-access = free }}</ref> In 2002, Health Minister ] admitted that the government gave misleading information, offered food incentives, and threatened to fine parents if they had additional children. The procedures have also been found to have been negligent, with less than half using proper anesthetic.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated-->| title = Mass sterilisation scandal shocks Peru | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2148793.stm | work = ] | date = 24 July 2002 | access-date = 9 May 2016}}</ref>

In China, the ] included forced abortions and forced sterilization.<ref>''Citations'':

* {{cite news|url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130409/china-mother-dies-after-forced-sterilization-one-child-policy|title=China: Mother of 2 dies after forced sterilization|last=Jackson|first=Allison|date=9 April 2013|work=]|access-date=18 November 2013}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/thousands-risk-forced-sterilization-china-2010-04-22|title=Thousands at risk of forced sterilization in China|last=AI|author-link=Amnesty International|date=22 April 2010|publisher=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529125647/https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/thousands-risk-forced-sterilization-china-2010-04-22|archive-date=29 May 2013|access-date=18 November 2013}}
* {{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18435126|title=China forced abortion photo sparks outrage|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=14 June 2012|work=]|access-date=18 November 2013}}
* {{cite book|url=http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf|title=The Hidden Gulag|last=Hawk|first=David|date=2012|publisher=The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea|edition=2nd|location=Washington DC|oclc=793983613|access-date=18 November 2013}}</ref> Forced sterilization is also practiced in Uzbekistan.<ref>{{cite news | last = Antelava | first = Natalia | title=Uzbekistan's policy of secretly sterilising women| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17612550 | work=] | date=12 April 2012| access-date = 18 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media | people = Natalia Antelava (reporter) and Wesley Stephenson (producer) | access-date = 18 November 2013 |date=16 April 2012 | title= Forced sterilisation in Uzbekistan | medium= Audio | minutes = 20:30 | series = ] | publisher= ] | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fjx63}}</ref>

==Women-specific state restrictions==
] beating an Afghan woman in ] on 26 August 2001]]

===Dress===
In ], since 1981, after the ], all women are required to wear loose-fitting clothing and a headscarf in public.<ref name="Ramezani10">Ramezani, Reza (2010). ''Hijab dar Iran az Enqelab-e Eslami ta payan Jang-e Tahmili '' (Persian), Faslnamah-e Takhassusi-ye Banuvan-e Shi’ah , Qom: Muassasah-e Shi’ah Shinasi, {{ISSN|1735-4730}}</ref><ref name="Milani">Milani, Farzaneh (1992). ''Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers'', Syracuse, New York: ], p. 19, 34–37, {{ISBN|9780815602668}}</ref> In 1983, the Islamic Consultative Assembly decided that women who do not cover their hair in public will be punished with 74 lashes. Since 1995, unveiled women can also be imprisoned for up to 60 days.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Welle (www.dw.com) |first=Deutsche |title=Why Iranian authorities force women to wear a veil {{!}} DW {{!}} 21.12.2020 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/why-iranian-authorities-force-women-to-wear-a-veil/a-56014027 |access-date=2022-07-08 |website=Deutsche Welle |language=en-GB}}</ref> The ] continued into the ] which was triggered in response to the killing of ], who was allegedly beaten to death by police due to wearing an "improper hijab". In ], after the Grand Mosque seizure of 1979, it became mandatory for women to veil in public<ref>The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics. (2016). Storbritannien: Oxford University Press.</ref> but this was no longer required since 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|date=March 2018|title=Women in Saudi Arabia do not need to wear head cover, says crown prince|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/women-in-saudi-arabia-do-not-need-to-wear-head-cover-says-crown-prince-1.3433096|newspaper=]}}</ref> In Afghanistan, since May 2022, women are required to wear a hijab and face covering in public.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/taliban-order-all-afghan-women-to-wear-burqa | title=Taliban order all Afghan women to cover their faces in public &#124; Afghanistan &#124; the Guardian | date=7 May 2022 }}</ref> In countries without mandatory hijab women can face harassment and victim blaming due to not wearing a ].<ref name="a604">{{cite journal | last1=Bergenfeld | first1=Irina | last2=Clark | first2=Cari Jo | last3=Sandhu | first3=Seema | last4=Yount | first4=Kathryn M. | last5=Essaid | first5=Aida A. | last6=Sajdi | first6=Jude | last7=Abu Taleb | first7=Rand | last8=Robbin | first8=Zoe | last9=Batayeh | first9=Brian | last10=Zwooqar | first10=Ahad | last11=Spencer | first11=Rachael A. | title="There Is Always an Excuse to Blame the Girl": Perspectives on Sexual Harassment at a Jordanian University | journal=Violence Against Women | volume=28 | issue=14 | date=2022 | issn=1077-8012 | doi=10.1177/10778012221079373 | pages=3457–3481| pmid=35200046 }}</ref>

The hijab has seen bans in places such as Austria,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/oesterreich-beschliesst-kopftuch-verbot-an-grundschulen-a-1267656.html|title=Österreich beschließt Kopftuchverbot an Grundschulen|date=15 May 2019|newspaper=]|language=DE|access-date=18 May 2019}}</ref> Yugoslavia,<ref>:''''</ref> Kosovo,<ref> news.bbc.co.uk 24 August 2010. Link retrieved 24 August 2010</ref> Kazakhstan,<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 2018|title=KAZAKHSTAN: Parents challenge schoolgirl headscarf ban|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/5af009144.html|website=]|publisher=]|language=en}}</ref> the Soviet Union,<ref name="Subaltern">], p. 115.</ref> and Tunisia.<ref name=tunisiahijab>Abdelhadi, Magdi , ''BBC News'', 26 September 2006. Accessed 6 June 2008.</ref> On 8 January 1936,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://navideshahed.com/en/news/385296/how-did-reza-pahlavi%E2%80%99s-dictatorship-affect-iranian-women|title=How did Reza Pahlavi's dictatorship affect Iranian women?|website=navideshahed.com}}</ref> ] issued a decree, ], banning all veils.<ref name="Milani"/> To enforce this decree, the police were ordered to physically remove the veil from any woman who wore it in public. Women who refused were beaten, their headscarves and ]s torn off, and their homes forcibly searched.<ref name="Hoodfar">{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|194879317}} |last1=Hoodfar |first1=Homa |title=The veil in their minds and on our heads: the persistence of colonial images of Muslim women |journal=Resources for Feminist Research |volume=22 |issue=3/4 |date=1993 |pages=5–18 }}</ref>

===Freedom of movement===
Women are, in many parts of the world, severely restricted in their ].
Freedom of movement is an essential right, recognized by international instruments, including Article 15 (4) of ].<ref>{{cite book | last = UN General Assembly | author-link = UN General Assembly | title = The convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140326154350/http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm | archive-date = 26 March 2014 | url = http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm | publisher = ] | date = 1979 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}</ref> Nevertheless, in some countries, women are not legally allowed to leave home without a ] (male relative or husband).<ref>{{cite news | last = Lee | first = Dave | title = Saudi Arabian woman challenges male guardianship laws | url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13932287 | work = ] | date = 29 June 2011 | access-date = 3 October 2017}}</ref> Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where women were ] motor vehicles until June 2018.<ref name=bashraheel>{{cite news|title=Women's transport: Solutions needed|author=Laura Bashraheel|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/325728|newspaper=]|date=27 June 2009|access-date=6 October 2012|archive-date=7 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407203350/http://www.arabnews.com/node/325728|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Sexuality===
Sex crimes such as adultery and ] are disproportionately levelled against women and the punishment is often ] and ]. This has been seen in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and some states in Nigeria.<ref>{{cite news | last = Batha | first = Emma | title = FACTBOX: Stoning - where does it happen? | work = ] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160125051613/http://news.trust.org//item/20130927165059-w9g0i | archive-date = 25 January 2016 | url = http://news.trust.org//item/20130927165059-w9g0i | publisher = ] | date = 29 September 2013 | access-date = 19 November 2013}}</ref> Additionally this can deter victims of ] from reporting the crime, because the victims may themselves be punished (if they cannot prove their case, if they are deemed to have been in the company of an unrelated male, or if they were unmarried and not virgins at the time of the rape).<ref>{{cite news | last = Lang | first = Olivia | title=Maldives girl to get 100 lashes for pre-marital sex | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21595814 | work=] | date=26 February 2013 | access-date = 19 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Jamali |first=Hasan |url=http://www.today.com/id/15836746/ns/today-today_news/t/rape-case-calls-saudi-legal-system-question/ |title=Rape case brings Saudi laws into focus |work=] |publisher=] |agency=Associated Press |date=Nov 21, 2006 |access-date=19 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019125957/http://www.today.com/id/15836746/ns/today-today_news/t/rape-case-calls-saudi-legal-system-question/ |archive-date=19 October 2013}}</ref> Another aspect is the denial of medical care often occurs with regard to reproductive and sexual health. Sometimes women themselves avoid the medical system for fear of being reported to the police or facing family violence due to having ] or being the victims of ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=katharina.kiener-manu |title=Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice Module 9 Key Issues: Topic 1 - Gender-based discrimination and women in conflict with the law |url=https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/crime-prevention-criminal-justice/module-9/key-issues/1--gender-based-discrimination-and-women-in-conflict-with-the-law.html |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=www.unodc.org |language=en}}</ref>

== Violence in specific areas==

=== Male-dominated spheres ===
]

==== Politics ====
Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) is the act or threat of physical, emotional or psychological violence against female politicians on the basis of their ], most often with the intent of discouraging the victims and other female politicians from participating in the political process. VAWP has been growing in significance among the fields of gendered political science and feminist political theory studies. The main intent behind creating a separate category that is distinct from Violence Against Women, is to highlight the barriers faced by women who work in politics, or wish to pursue a career in the political realm. VAWP is unique from Violence Against Women in three important ways: victims are targeted because of their gender; the violence itself can be gendered (i.e., sexism, sexual violence); the primary goal is to deter women from participating in politics (including but not limited to voting, running for office, campaigning, etc.).<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2016 |title=Sexism, harassment, and violence against women parliamentarians |url=https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/issue-briefs/2016-10/sexism-harassment-and-violence-against-women-parliamentarians |journal=Inter-Parliamentary Union Issues Brief |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920191211/https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/issue-briefs/2016-10/sexism-harassment-and-violence-against-women-parliamentarians |archive-date= Sep 20, 2023 }}</ref> It is also important to distinguish VAWP from ], which is defined by the use or threats of force to reach political ends, and can be experienced by all politicians.<ref name="Krook-2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Krook |first1=Mona Lena |last2=Sanín |first2=Juliana Restrepo |date=September 2020 |title=The Cost of Doing Politics? Analyzing Violence and Harassment against Female Politicians |journal=Perspectives on Politics |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=740–755 |doi=10.1017/S1537592719001397 |s2cid=198599058 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

While women's participation in national parliaments has been increasing, rising from 11% in 1995 to 26.5% in 2023, there is still a large disparity between male and female ] in governmental politics.<ref name="UN Women">{{Cite web|title=Facts and figures: Women's leadership and political participation |url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures|access-date=2021-02-26|website=UN Women|language=en |date=18 September 2023 }}</ref> Expanding ] is a crucial goal for many countries, as female politicians have proven invaluable with respect to bringing certain issues to the forefront, such as elimination of gender-based violence, parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws, electoral reform, and providing fresh perspectives on numerous policy areas that have typically remained a male-dominated realm.<ref name="UN Women" /> In order to increase women's participation in an effective manner, the importance of recognizing the issues related to VAWP and making every effort to provide the necessary resources to victims and condemn any and all hostile behaviour in political institutions cannot be understated. Experiencing VAWP can dissuade women from remaining in politics (and lead to an early exit from their career or from aspiring higher political office. Witnessing women in politics experience VAWP can serve as one of many deterrents for aspirants to run for office and for candidates to continue campaigning.<ref name="Krook-2020" />

Acts of ] or ] are often not deemed to be gendered when they are reported, if they are reported at all. VAWP is often dismissed as "the cost of doing politics" and reporting can be seen as "political suicide", which contributes to the normalization of VAWP.<ref name="Krook-2020" /> This ambiguity results in a lack of information regarding attacks and makes the issue appear to be relatively commonplace. While it is reported that ] are more often targeted by violence than their male counterparts,<ref>{{Citation|last1=Schneider|first1=Paige|title=Conceptualizing more inclusive elections: violence against women in elections and gendered electoral violence|date=2020-11-25|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003051954-4|work=Building Inclusive Elections|pages=60–77|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-003-05195-4|access-date=2021-02-26|last2=Carroll|first2=David|doi=10.4324/9781003051954-4|s2cid=241638877}}</ref> the specific cause is often not reported as a gendered crime. This makes it more difficult to pinpoint where the links between gender-specific violence and political violence really are. In many countries, the practice of electoral politics is traditionally considered to be a ] domain.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Garnett |first1=Holly Ann |last2=James |first2=Toby S. |title=Measuring electoral integrity: using practitioner knowledge to assess elections |journal=Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties |date=3 July 2021 |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=348–367 |doi=10.1080/17457289.2020.1824186 |s2cid=224924792 |url=https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/76913/1/Garnett_and_James_Manuscript_R2_8000_words_single_file.pdf }}</ref>

The history of male dominated politics has allowed some male politicians to believe they have a right to participate in politics while women should not, since women's participation is a threat to the social order. Women in positions of power are thus more likely than their male counterparts to receive threats and experience violence. As one professor of sociology, Marie E. Berry, wrote: "as women are trained and encouraged to vie for these seats, they risk taking power (and resources) that male politicians see as rightfully theirs, opening them up to the risk of violence and other efforts to limit the effectiveness of their campaigns."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Violence Against Female Politicians |url=https://www.cfr.org/article/violence-against-female-politicians |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-21 |title=Violence against female politicians |url=https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/violence-against-female-politicians |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=CEPR |language=en}}</ref>

48% of ] against women is against supporters, this is most likely the largest percentage as it has the largest amount of the public participating. 9% of electoral violence against women is targeting candidates, while 22% targets female voters. This means that women who are directly acting in politics are likely to face some form of violence, whether physical or emotional.<ref name="Bardall-2011">{{Cite book |last=Bardall |first=Gabrielle |title=Breaking the Mold: Understanding Gender and Electoral Violence |publisher=International Foundation for Electoral Systems |year=2011 |location=United States |pages=1–6}}</ref> Regarding violence against female politicians, younger women and those with ], particularly racial and ethnic minorities, are more likely to be targets. Female politicians who outwardly express and act from feminist perspectives are also more likely to be victimized.<ref name="Krook-2020" />

===== Sub-types =====
Gabrielle Bardell's 2011 report "Breaking the mold: Understanding Gender and Electoral Violence" was one of the first documents published that showed examples and figures for how women are intimidated and attacked in politics.<ref name="Bardall-2011" /> Since Bardall's report, other scholars have conducted further research on the topic. Notably, Mona Lena Krook's work on VAWP introduced 5 forms of violence and harassment: physical, sexual, psychological, economic, and semiotic/symbolic. Physical violence encompasses inflicting, or attempting to inflict, bodily harm and injury.<ref name="Krook-2020" /><ref name="Journal of Democracy">{{Cite web |title=Violence Against Women in Politics |url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/violence-against-women-in-politics/ |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=Journal of Democracy |language=en-US}}</ref> While physical violence is the most easily identified form, it is actually the least common type.<ref name="Krook-2020" /> Sexual violence involves (attempts at) sexual acts through coercion, including unwanted sexual comments, advances, and harassment.<ref name="Krook-2020" /><ref name="Journal of Democracy" /> Psychological violence includes causing emotional and mental damage through means of death/rape threats, stalking, etc.<ref name="Krook-2020" /><ref name="Journal of Democracy" /> Economic violence involves denying, withholding, and controlling female politicians' access to financial resources, particularly regarding campaigns.<ref name="Krook-2020" /><ref name="Journal of Democracy" /> Semiotic or symbolic violence, the most abstract subtype of VAWP, refers to the erasure of female politicians through degrading images and sexist language.<ref name="Krook-2020" /><ref name="Journal of Democracy" /><ref name="Krook-2022">{{cite journal |last1=Krook |first1=Mona Lena |title=Semiotic Violence against Women: Theorizing Harms against Female Politicians |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |date=2022 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=371–397 |doi=10.1086/716642 |s2cid=244923072 }}</ref> Krook theorizes that semiotic violence against women in politics works in two related ways: rendering women invisible and rendering women incompetent. By symbolically removing women from the public political sphere, semiotic violence renders women invisible. Examples include using masculine grammar when speaking about and to political women, interrupting female politicians, and not portraying political women in the media. By highlighting the role incongruity between stereotypically feminine attributes (e.g., warm, polite, submissive), and traits typically ascribed to good leaders (e.g., strong, powerful, assertive), semiotic violence emphasizes that women are incompetent to be political actors.<ref name="Krook-2022" /> This form of semiotic violence can manifest through denying and minimizing women's political qualifications, sexual objectification, and labeling political women as emotional, among other actions.<ref name="Krook-2022" />

==== Higher education ====
{{Further|Campus sexual assault}}
Sexual violence on college campuses is considered a major problem in the United States. According to the conclusion of a major Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study: "The CSA Study data suggest women at universities are at considerable risk for experiencing sexual assault."<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Krebs | first1 = Christopher P. | last2 =Lindquist | first2 = Christine H. | last3 =Warner | first3 = Tara D. | last4 =Fisher | first4 = Bonnie S. | last5 =Martin | first5 = Sandra L. | title = Campus sexual assault (CSA) study: final report | publisher = ] | url = https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=243011 | date = October 2007 }} {{NCJ|243011}} </ref>

==== Sports ====
Sport-related violence against women is any physical, sexual, mental acts that are "perpetrated by both male athletes and by male fans or consumers of sport and sporting events, as well as by coaches of female athletes".<ref name="Catherine Palmer">{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Catherine|title=Violence against women and sport: Literature review|year=2011|publisher=Durham University|location=London|pages=2–5|url=http://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/resources/22/violence-against-women-and-sport-a-literature-review-by-dr-catherine-palmer|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106162130/http://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/resources/22/violence-against-women-and-sport-a-literature-review-by-dr-catherine-palmer|archive-date=6 November 2014}}</ref> The documenting reports and literature suggest that there are obvious connections between contemporary sport and violence against women. Such events as the ], the ] and ] "have highlighted the connections between sports spectatorship and intimate partner violence, and the need for police, authorities and services to be aware of this when planning sporting events".<ref name="Catherine Palmer" /> Sport-related violence occurs in various contexts and places, including homes, pubs, clubs, hotel rooms, the streets.<ref name="Catherine Palmer" />

Violence against women is a topic of concern in the United States' collegiate athletic community. From the 2010 UVA lacrosse murder, in which a male athlete was charged guilty with second degree murder of his girlfriend, to the 2004 University of Colorado Football Scandal when players were charged with nine alleged sexual assaults,<ref>{{cite news|last=Vaughan|first=Kevin|title=Colorado woman seeks justice in alleged sexual assault Read more: Colorado woman seeks justice in alleged sexual assault|url=http://www.denverpost.com/firstinthepost/ci_12557039|work=]|date=9 June 2009|access-date=17 April 2012}}</ref> studies suggest that athletes are at higher risk for committing sexual assault against women than the average student.<ref>{{cite news|last=Brady|first=Jeff|author-link=Jeff Brady (reporter)|title=Scandal Returns to University of Colorado Football|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105381707|work=]|publisher=]|access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref><ref name="chandler1999">{{cite journal|last1=Chandler|first1=Steve B.|last2=Johnson|first2=Dewayne J.|last3=Carroll|first3=Pamela S.|title=Abusive behaviors of college athletes | journal = ] | volume = 33 | issue = 4 | pages = 638&ndash;645 | publisher = ] | date = 1 December 1999 |oclc=193500507}}</ref> It is reported that one in three college assaults are committed by athletes.<ref name="johnshopkins1">{{cite journal|last=Mak|first=Stephanie|title=Are athletes more abusive than the rest of the student population?|url=http://web1.johnshopkins.edu/hurj/issue3/spotlight-mak.html|journal=Hopkins Undergraduate Research Journal Online|access-date=12 March 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229044851/http://web1.johnshopkins.edu/hurj/issue3/spotlight-mak.html|archive-date=29 February 2012|date=2004}}</ref> Surveys suggest that male student athletes who represent 3.3% of the college population, commit 19% of reported sexual assaults and 35% of domestic violence.<ref>{{cite web|author=<!--Not stated-->|title=Game stats|publisher=The National Coalition Against Violent Athletes (NCVA)|access-date=27 December 2017|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117092517/http://www.ncava.org/statistics.html|archive-date=17 November 2016|url=http://www.ncava.org:80/statistics.html}}
:''Citing'':
:*{{cite journal | last1 = Crosset | first1 = Todd W. | last2 = Benedict | first2 = Jeffrey R. | last3 = McDonald | first3 = Mark A. | title = Male student-athletes and violence against women: a survey of campus judicial affairs offices | journal = ] | volume = 19 | issue = 2 | pages = 126&ndash;140 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1177/019372395019002002 | date = May 1995 | pmid = 12295457 | s2cid = 146752259 }}
:*{{cite journal | last1 = Crosset | first1 = Todd W. | last2 = Ptacek | first2 = James | last3 = McDonald | first3 = Mark A. | last4 = Benedict | first4 = Jeffrey R. | title = Male student-athletes and violence against women: a survey of campus judicial affairs offices | journal = ] | volume = 2 | issue = 2 | pages = 163&ndash;179 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1177/1077801296002002004 | pmid = 12295457 | date = June 1996 | s2cid = 22814832 | doi-access = free }}

:''See also'':
:*{{cite book | last1 = Benedict | first1 = Jeff | last2 = Keteyian | first2 = Armen | title = The system: the glory and scandal of big-time college football | publisher = Doubleday | location = New York | year = 2013 | url = https://archive.org/details/systemgloryscand0000bene | url-access = registration | isbn = 9780345803030 }}
</ref> The theories that surround these statistics range from misrepresentation of the student-athlete to an unhealthy mentality towards women within the team itself.<ref name="johnshopkins1" /> Sociologist Timothy Curry, after conducting an observational analysis of two big time sports' locker room conversations, deduced that the high risk of male student athletes for gender abuse is a result of the team's subculture.<ref name="Curry1991">{{cite journal|last=Curry|first=Timothy Jon|title=Fraternal Bonding in the Locker Room: A Profeminist Analysis of Talk About Competition And Women|journal=Sociology of Sport Journal|year=1991|volume=8|issue=2|pages=119–135 |url=http://www.umt.edu/sociology/faculty_staff/ellestad/documents/275_Curry1991fraternalbondinginthelockerroom_s10.pdf |access-date=12 March 2012|doi=10.1123/ssj.8.2.119}}</ref> Curry states, "Their locker room talk generally treated women as objects, encouraged sexist attitudes toward women and, in its extreme, promoted rape culture."<ref name="Curry1991" /> He proposes that this objectification is a way for the male to reaffirm his heterosexual status and hyper-masculinity. Claims have been made that the atmosphere changes when an outsider (especially women) intrude in the locker room.<ref name="Disch" />

In the wake of the reporter ] being harassed by a Patriots player in the locker room in 1990, she said, "We are taught to think we must have done something wrong and it took me a while to realize I hadn't done anything wrong."<ref name="Disch">{{cite journal|last=Disch|first=Lisa|author2=Kane, Mary Jo |title=When a Looker is Really a Bitch: Lisa Olson, Sport, and the Heterosexual Matrix|journal=Signs|date=Winter 1996|volume=21|issue=2|pages=278–308|jstor=3175065|doi=10.1086/495067|s2cid=145061857}}</ref> Other female sports reporters (college and professional) have said that they often brush off the players' comments, which leads to further objectification.<ref name="Disch" /> Some sociologists challenge this assertion. Steve Chandler says that because of their celebrity status on campus, "athletes are more likely to be scrutinized or falsely accused than non-athletes."<ref name="chandler1999" /> Stephanie Mak says that "if one considers the 1998 estimates that about three million women were battered and almost one million raped, the proportion of incidences{{verify spelling|date=September 2022|reason=''incidence'' is normally used only in the singular form, perhaps ''incidence'', ''incidents'', or ''instances'' was intended}} that involve athletes in comparison to the regular population is relatively small."<ref name="johnshopkins1" />

In response to the proposed link between college athletes and gender-based violence, and media coverage holding universities as responsible for these scandals more universities are requiring athletes to attend workshops that promote awareness.<ref>{{cite news|last=Newsom|first=John|title=Few Colleges Tackle Issue of Athlete Sex Assaults|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-22-mn-7249-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times Online |date=22 March 1992 |access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> Other groups, such as the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, have formed to provide support for the victims.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mission|url=http://www.ncava.org/Mission.html|publisher=National Coalition Against Violent Athletes|access-date=12 March 2012|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416074831/http://www.ncava.org/Mission.html|archive-date=16 April 2012}}</ref>

==== Military ====
A 1995 study of female war veterans found that 90 percent had been sexually harassed. A 2003 survey found that 30 percent of female vets said they were raped in the military and a 2004 study of veterans who were seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder found that 71 percent of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving.<ref>{{cite news | last = Benedict | first = Helen | title = The plight of women soldiers |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103844570 |work=The Nation |publisher=] |date=6 May 2009 |access-date= 10 November 2012}}</ref>

In 2021, '']'' reported that about one in four women in the military had experienced sexual assault.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wenner Moyer |first=Melinda |date=2021 |title='A Poison in the System': The Epidemic of Military Sexual Assault |website=] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/magazine/military-sexual-assault.html |access-date=January 10, 2021}}</ref> Until the end of 2023, these reports went through the service member's chain-of-command, and many women reported that their reports were dismissed without due process and/or resulted in professional reprisal, ostracism, or other maltreatment.<ref>{{Cite web |author-link=RAND Corporation |date=2019 |title=Prevalence of Sexual Assault in the Military: Risk and Protective Factors, Data Sources, and Data Uses |url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TLA746-2/handbook/resources/data-on-sexual-assault-in-the-military.html |access-date=January 10, 2024}}</ref> Beginning in December 2023, however, sexual assault reports are handled outside of the chain-of-command, hopefully reducing biases in the process of investigation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sexual Assault Now Tried Outside Military Chain of Command |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3627107/sexual-assault-now-tried-outside-military-chain-of-command/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.defense.gov%2FNews%2FNews-Stories%2FArticle%2FArticle%2F3627107%2Fsexual-assault-now-tried-outside-military-chain-of-command%2F |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=U.S. Department of Defense |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Online ===

==== Cyberbullying ====
] is a form of intimidation using electronic forms of contact. In the 21st century, cyberbullying has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers in Western countries.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Peter K. |last2=Mahdavi |first2=Jess |last3=Carvalho |first3=Manuel |last4=Fisher |first4=Sonja |last5=Russell |first5=Shanette |last6=Tippett |first6=Neil | title = Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils | journal = ] | volume = 49 | issue = 4 | pages = 376&ndash;385 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01846.x |pmid=18363945 | date = 2008 |s2cid=28942016 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Almost 75% of women have encountered harassment and threats of violence online, known as ], as reported by the ] in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2015/9/cyber-violence-report-press-release |title=cyber violence report press release |date=24 September 2015 |publisher=UN Women |access-date=2016-04-03}}</ref> Misogynistic rhetoric is prevalent online, and the public debate over gender-based attacks has increased significantly, leading to calls for policy interventions and better responses by social networks like ] and ].<ref>{{cite journal |last= Jane |first= Emma Alice | title = 'Back to the kitchen, cunt': speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny | journal = ] | volume = 28 | issue = 4 | pages = 558&ndash;570 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1080/10304312.2014.924479 | date = 2014 |s2cid= 144492709 | hdl = 1959.4/unsworks_81563 | hdl-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last= Filipovic |first= Jill | title = Blogging while female: how internet misogyny parallels real-world harassment | journal = ] | volume = 19 | issue = 2 | pages = 295&ndash;303 | publisher = ] | date = 2007 | url = http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/yjlf/vol19/iss1/10/ }} </ref> Some specialists have argued that gendered online attacks should be given particular attention within the wider category of hate speech.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=KhosraviNik |first1=Majid |last2=Esposito |first2=Eleonora |title=Online hate, digital discourse and critique: Exploring digitally-mediated discursive practices of gender-based hostility |journal=Lodz Papers in Pragmatics |date=26 June 2018 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=45–68 |doi=10.1515/lpp-2018-0003 |s2cid=149965889 |url=https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/fulltext.aspx?url=251602/322E5DAA-E68C-486D-8EBC-FD98202D4745.pdf&pub_id=251602 }}</ref> Abusers quickly identified opportunities online to humiliate their victims, destroy their careers, reputations and relationships, and even drive them to suicide or "trigger so-called 'honor' violence in societies where sex outside of marriage is seen as bringing shame on a family".<ref name="HRW">{{cite web |title=Internet Bringing New Forms of Violence Against Women |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/28/internet-bringing-new-forms-violence-against-women |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en |date=28 October 2019}}</ref>
According to a poll conducted by Amnesty International in 2018 across 8 countries, 23% of women have experienced online abuse of harassment. These are often sexist or misogynistic in nature and include direct of indirect threats of physical or sexual violence, abuse targeting aspects of their personality and privacy violations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Read about violence against women online in 2018 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/12/rights-today-2018-violence-against-women-online/ |website=www.amnesty.org |date=10 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
According to Human Rights Watch, 90% of those who experienced sexual violence online in 2019 were women and girls.<ref name="HRW"/>

==== Journalists ====
According to ],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Dr. Rumman Chowdhury |title=Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in an Era of Generative AI |date=2023 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-100631-9}}</ref> women journalists in prominent and visible positions tend to attract more virulent abuse. In their survey of 901 journalists, nearly three quarters (73%) said they had experienced online violence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |date=2021 |title=The Chilling: global trends in online violence against women journalists; research discussion paper |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377223.locale=en}}</ref> In another survey by ] that looked at comments received on articles, women writers were 4 times more likely to be abused compared to their male counterparts.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gardiner |first1=Becky |last2=Mansfield |first2=Mahana |last3=Anderson |first3=Ian |last4=Holder |first4=Josh |last5=Louter |first5=Daan |last6=Ulmanu |first6=Monica |date=2016-04-12 |title=The dark side of Guardian comments |url=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-comments |access-date=2024-02-07 |work=the Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> This is a trend that is persistent across geography - in the Netherlands, 82% of the 300 female journalists surveyed in 2022 said they encountered abuse online.<ref>{{Cite web |last=International Press Institute |date=2023-03-24 |title=Netherlands: Women journalists facing widespread online harassment |url=https://ipi.media/netherlands-women-journalists-facing-widespread-online-harassment/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=International Press Institute |language=en}}</ref>

==== Generative AI ====
] can lead to an increase in the number of attackers, the creation of sustained and automated attacks and the generation of content such as posts, texts, and emails that are written convincingly from multiple ‘voices’. This makes existing harms such as ], ], ], and ] - all of which rank in the top five most common vectors of technology-facilitated gender-based violence - have a much wider reach and be more dangerous.<ref name=":0" />

====Video games====

Video games with graphically sexual content have been criticized by scholars for promoting the indecent portrayal of women.<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal |last=Imran |first=Mohd |date=2021-08-19 |title=Sexual Violence Depicted Against Women in Video Games: The Effect of Virtual World on the Real World |url=https://www.academia.edu/75793127}}</ref> Games like now banned ], ], and ] incorporate the objectification of women within their plot lines to attract more players, majority of whom are male, but perpetuate a culture of exaggerated gender stereotypes and ].<ref name=":14"/> A study found that 21% of video games feature violence against women.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alias |first=Dilla |date=1998-01-01 |title=An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior |url=https://www.academia.edu/830776 |journal=Sex Roles}}</ref> An additional study has shown that players of these violent and sexual video games often have more accepting attitudes to rape, also known as ],<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=Victoria Simpson |last2=Boys |first2=Stephanie |last3=Rose |first3=Christopher |last4=Beck |first4=Eric |date=October 2012 |title=Violence Against Women in Video Games: A Prequel or Sequel to Rape Myth Acceptance? |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260512441078 |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |language=en |volume=27 |issue=15 |pages=3016–3031 |doi=10.1177/0886260512441078 |pmid=22550147 |issn=0886-2605}}</ref> as the hyperrealism when playing these video games results in a difficult differentiation between the digital and real world.<ref name=":02" />

==Effect on society==
According to an article published in the '']'' journal,<ref name="Fried">{{cite journal |last=Fried |first=Susana T. |date=2003 |title=Violence against women |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=88&ndash;111 |doi=10.2307/4065431 |jstor=4065431}} </ref> regardless of many years of advocacy and involvement of many feminist activist organizations, the issue of violence against women still "remains one of the most pervasive forms of human rights violations worldwide".<ref name="Fried"/>{{rp|91}} The violence against women can occur in both public and private spheres of life and at any time of their life span. Violence against women often keeps women from wholly contributing to social, economic, and political development of their communities.<ref name="Fried"/><ref name="Political Stud.">{{cite journal |last1=Bardall |first1=Gabrielle |last2=Bjarnegård |first2=Elin |last3=Piscopo |first3=Jennifer M |title=How is Political Violence Gendered? Disentangling Motives, Forms, and Impacts |journal=Political Studies |date=November 2020 |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=916–935 |doi=10.1177/0032321719881812 }}</ref> Many women are terrified by these threats of violence and this essentially influences their lives so that they are impeded to exercise their human rights; for instance, they fear contributing to the development of their communities socially, economically, and politically.<ref name="Political Stud."/> Apart from that, the causes that trigger VAW or gender-based violence can go beyond just the issue of gender and into the issues of age, class, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and specific geographical area of their origins.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Most often, violence against women has been framed as a health issue, and also as a ]. The research seems to provide convincing evidence that violence against women is a severe and pervasive problem the world over, with devastating effects on the health and well-being of women and children.<ref name="UN In-depth Study on all Forms of Violence Against Women">{{cite book |last=UN |url=http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/violenceagainstwomenstudydoc.pdf1 |title=In-depth study on all forms of violence against women. Report of the Secretary-General. |date=2006 |publisher=United Nations General Assembly |id=A/61/122/Add |author-link=United Nations |access-date=2 December 2013}}</ref>
Importantly, other than the issue of social divisions, gendered violence can also extend into the realm of health issues and become a direct concern of the ] sector.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Colarossi | first = Lisa | title = A response to Danis & Lockhart: What guides social work knowledge about violence against women? | journal = Journal of Social Work Education | volume = 41 | issue = 1 | pages = 147&ndash;159 | publisher = ] on behalf of the ] (CSWE) |doi=10.5175/JSWE.2005.200400418 | jstor = 23044038 | date = Winter 2005 | s2cid = 143655449 }}
:''See also'':
:* {{cite journal | last1 = Danis | first1 = Fran S. | last2 = Lockhart | first2 = Lettie | title = Guest Editorial &ndash; Domestic violence and social work education: what do we know, what do we need to know? | journal = Journal of Social Work Education, Special Section: Domestic Violence and Social Work Education | volume = 39 | issue = 2 | pages = 215&ndash;224 | publisher = ] on behalf of the ] (CSWE) | doi = 10.1080/10437797.2003.10779132 | jstor = 23044061 | date = Spring–Summer 2003 | s2cid = 141110449 }}</ref> A health issue such as ] is another cause that also leads to violence. Women who have HIV/AIDS infection are also among the targets of the violence.<ref name="Fried" />{{rp|91}} The ] (WHO) reports that violence against women puts an undue burden on health care services, as women who have suffered violence are more likely to need health services and at higher cost, compared to women who have not suffered violence.<ref name="WHO VAM Factsheet" /> The Council of Europe describes violence against women in private sphere, at home or ], as the main reason of "death and disability" among the women who encountered violence.<ref name="Fried" />{{rp|91}}

In addition, several studies have shown a link between poor treatment of women and international violence. These studies show that one of the best predictors of inter- and intranational violence is the maltreatment of women in the society.<ref>{{cite news | last = Maffly | first = Brian | title = BYU study links women's safety, nation's peace | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100202080318/http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11967564 | archive-date = 2 February 2010 | url = http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11967564 | work = ] | date = 21 March 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Strearmer | first1 = Matthew | last2 = Emmett | first2 = Chad F.|url=http://www.womanstats.org/images/StearmerEmmettAPSA07.pdf |title=The great divide: Revealing differences in the Islamic world regarding the status of women and its impact on international peace |publisher= ] |date=2007 |access-date=6 August 2014}} Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the ], Chicago, Illinois, 29 August – 1 September 2007.</ref>

==Prevalence and extent==
According to the UN, "there is no region of the world, no country and no culture in which women's freedom from violence has been secured."<ref name="UN In-depth Study on all Forms of Violence Against Women" /> Several forms of violence are more prevalent in certain parts of the world, often in ]. For example, ] and ] is associated with India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. ] is also associated with these countries, as well as in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia. ] is associated with the Middle East and South Asia. ] is found mostly in Africa, and to a lesser extent in the Middle East and some other parts of Asia. ] is found in ], ], and the ]. Abuse related to payment of ] (such as violence, trafficking, and forced marriage) is linked to parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania (also see ]).<ref>{{cite news | title = Papua New Guinea: police cite bride price major factor in marital violence | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150218182845/http://www.violenceisnotourculture.org/News-and-Views/papua-new-guinea-police-cite-bride-price-major-factor-marital-violence | archive-date = 18 February 2015 |url= http://www.violenceisnotourculture.org/News-and-Views/papua-new-guinea-police-cite-bride-price-major-factor-marital-violence | work = Island Business |via=Violence is not our Culture |date=21 November 2011 |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=An exploratory study of bride price and domestic violence in Bundibugyo District, Uganda |url=http://www.mrc.ac.za/gender/Bridepricedomesticviolence.pdf |publisher=Centre for Human Rights Advancement (CEHURA) and ] |date=April 2012 |access-date=6 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717105205/http://www.mrc.ac.za/gender/Bridepricedomesticviolence.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A study in 2002 estimated that at least one in five women in the world had been physically or sexually abused by a man sometime in their lives, and "gender-based violence accounts for as much death and ill-health in women aged 15–44 years as cancer, and is a greater cause of ill-health than malaria and traffic accidents combined."<ref name="VAW: A Global Burden">{{cite journal |last1=Venis |first1=Sarah |last2=Horton |first2=Richard |date=6 April 2002 |title=Violence against women: a global burden |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=359 |issue=9313 |page=1172 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08251-X |pmid=11955533 |s2cid=41832376}}</ref>

A 2007 survey by the ] found that 19.0% of college women and 6.1% of college men experienced either sexual assault or attempted sexual assault since entering college.<ref name=":12">{{cite web |last1=Krebs |first1=Christopher P. |last2=Lindquist |first2=Christine H. |last3=Warner |first3=Tara D. |last4=Fisher |first4=Bonnie S. |last5=Martin |first5=Sandra L. |date=December 2007 |title=The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf |publisher=National Institute of Justice}}</ref> In the '']'' in 2017, D. Tuerkheimer reviewed the literature on rape allegations, and reported on the problems surrounding the credibility of rape victims, and how that relates to false rape accusations. She pointed to national survey data from the ] that indicates 1 in every 5 women (and 1 in 71 men) will be raped during their lifetime. Despite the prevalence of rape and the fact that false rape allegations are rare, Tuerkheimer reported that law enforcement officers often default to disbelief about an alleged rape. This documented prejudice leads to reduced investigation and criminal justice outcomes that are faulty compared to other crimes. Tuerkheimer says that women face "credibility discounts" at all stages of the justice system, including from police, jurors, judges, and prosecutors. These credibility discounts are especially pronounced when the victim is acquainted with the accuser, and the vast majority of rapes fall into this category.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Deborah |first=Tuerkheimer |date=2017 |title=Incredible Women: Sexual Violence and the Credibility Discount |url=http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol166/iss1/1/ |journal=University of Pennsylvania Law Review |language=en |volume=166 |issue=1}}</ref> The ] estimated from 2005 to 2007 that about 2% of victims who were raped while incapacitated (from drugs, alcohol, or other reasons) reported the rape to the police, compared to 13% of victims who experienced physically forced sexual assault.<ref name=":12" />

Many kinds of violence against women (specifically rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence) are under-reported, often due to societal norms, taboos, stigma, and the sensitive nature of the subject.<ref name="WHO World Report on violence and health">{{cite book |last1=Krug |first1=Etienne G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=db9OHpk-TksC |title=World report on violence and health |last2=Dahlberg |first2=Linda L. |last3=Mercy |first3=James A. |last4=Zwi |first4=Anthony B. |last5=Lozano |first5=Rafael |publisher=] |year=2002 |isbn=9789241545617 |location=Geneva, Switzerland}}

:''Also available as'':
:*{{cite journal |last1=Krug |first1=Etienne G. |last2=Dahlberg |first2=Linda L. |last3=Mercy |first3=James A. |last4=Zwi |first4=Anthony B. |last5=Lozano |first5=Rafael |date=5 October 2002 |title=The world report on violence and health |url=http://www.revistabiomedica.org/index.php/biomedica/article/view/1182 |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=360 |issue=9339 |pages=1083&ndash;1088 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11133-0 |pmid=12384003 |s2cid=20828803}}
</ref><ref name="VAM: Global scope & magnitude">{{cite journal |last1=Watts |first1=Charlotte |last2=Zimmerman |first2=Cathy |date=6 April 2002 |title=Violence against women: global scope and magnitude |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=359 |issue=9313 |pages=1232&ndash;1237 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08221-1 |pmid=11955557 |s2cid=38436965}}</ref> It is widely recognized that even today, a lack of reliable and continuous data is an obstacle to forming a clear picture of violence against women.<ref name="UN In-depth Study on all Forms of Violence Against Women" />

== Demographics ==
{{See also|Estimates of sexual violence|Rape statistics}}
Acts of violence against women are often not unique episodes, but are ongoing over time. More often than not, the violence is perpetrated by someone the woman knows, not by a stranger.<ref name="VAM: Global scope & magnitude" />

===High risk groups===
==== Indigenous people ====
Indigenous women are often targets of physical violence, including sexual assault. Many Indigenous communities are rural, with few resources and little help from the government or non-state actors. They often have strained relationships with law enforcement, making prosecution difficult. Many Indigenous societies find themselves at the center of land disputes between nations and ethnic groups, resulting in these communities sometimes bearing the brunt of national and ethnic conflicts.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = UNFPA | last2 = UNICEF | last3 = UN Women | last4 = ILO | last5 = Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children (OSRSG/VAC) | author-link1 = United Nations Population Fund | author-link2 = UNICEF | author-link3 = UN Women | author-link4 = International Labour Organization | title = Breaking the silence on violence against indigenous girls, adolescents and young women: A call to action based on an overview of existing evidence from Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America | url = http://www.unfpa.org/resources/breaking-silence-violence-against-indigenous-girls-adolescents-and-young-women | publisher = ] | date = May 2013 | access-date = 10 May 2016}} </ref>

Violence is often perpetrated by the state, such as in ], in the 1990s. President ] has been accused of ] and ] as a result of ].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = Mass sterilization scandal shocks Peru | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2148793.stm | work = ] | date = 24 July 2002 | access-date = 30 April 2006}}</ref> Fujimori put in place a program against Indigenous people (mainly the ] and the ]), in the name of a "] plan", in 1995.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Many countries have higher rates of ] than non‐Indigenous women. This includes Bolivia,<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.un.org/en/ga/president/68/pdf/wcip/IASG%20Thematic%20Paper_%20Violence%20against%20Girls%20and%20Women%20-%20rev1.pdf |title=Thematic paper on the elimination and responses to violence, exploitation and abuse of indigenous girls, adolescents and young women |last=UN |date=June 2014 |publisher=Inter-agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples' Issues |author-link=United Nations |access-date=9 May 2016}}</ref> which has the highest rate of domestic violence in Latin America;<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dhillon |first1=Jaskiran |last2=Allooloo |first2=Siku |date=14 December 2015 |title=Violence against indigenous women is woven into Canada's history |work=] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/14/violence-indigenous-woman-canada-history-inquiry-racism |access-date=9 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shiriari |first=Sara |date=30 April 2015 |title=Bolivia struggles with gender-based violence |work=] |url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/30/bolivia-struggles-with-gender-based-violence.html |access-date=9 May 2016}}</ref> and ],<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11766-eng.pdf |title=Measuring violence against women: statistical trends 2006 (85-570-XWE) |publisher=Statistics Canada |year=2006 |editor-last=Sinha |editor-first=Maire |series=Juristat |location=Ottawa, Ontario |page=19}} ''Citing'':
:* {{cite book |last=Brennan |first=Shannon |url=https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2011001/article/11439-eng.htm |title=Violent victimization of Aboriginal women in the Canadian provinces, 2009 |publisher=Statistics Canada |year=2011 |series=Juristat |location=Ottawa, Ontario}} Catalogue no. 85-002.
:* {{cite book |last=Perreault |first=Samuel |url=http://statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2011001/article/11415-eng.htm |title=Violent victimization of Aboriginal women in the Canadian provinces, 2009 |publisher=Statistics Canada |year=2011 |series=Juristat |location=Ottawa, Ontario}} Catalogue no. 85-002.
</ref> where violence against women is falling, except for Indigenous populations.<ref name="Bubar, Roe 2004" /> ]n Indigenous women have faced extensive violence. Throughout three decades of conflict, ] women and girls have continued to be targeted.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} The Commission for Historical Clarification found 88% of women affected by state-sponsored rape and sexual violence were Indigenous.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

The concept of white dominion over indigenous women's bodies has been rooted in American history since the beginning of colonization. The theory of ] went beyond simple land extension and into the belief that European settlers had the right to exploit Native women's bodies as a method of taming and "humanizing" them.<ref name="Bubar, Roe 2004">{{cite journal | last1 = Roe | first1 = Bubar | last2 = Jumper Thurman | first2 = Pamela | title = Violence against native women | journal = Social Justice | volume = 31 | issue = 4 | pages = 70&ndash;86 | jstor = 29768276 | date = 2004 | url = http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/?product=roe-bubar-and-pamela-jumper-thurman-2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Ramirez | first = Renya | title = Healing, violence, and Native American women | journal = Social Justice | volume = 31 | issue = 4 | pages = 103&ndash;116 | jstor = 29768279 | date = 2004 | url = http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/?product=renya-ramirez-2 }}</ref> In the US, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic.<ref name="Bubar, Roe 2004"/> One in three Native women is sexually assaulted, and 67% of these assaults are perpetrated by non-Natives,<ref name="ncai">{{cite book |title=Policy Insights - Brief Statistics on Violence Against Native Women |date=2013 |publisher=NCAI Policy Research Center |page=4 |url=http://www.ncai.org/attachments/PolicyPaper_tWAjznFslemhAffZgNGzHUqIWMRPkCDjpFtxeKEUVKjubxfpGYK_Policy%20Insights%20Brief_VAWA_020613.pdf |quote=A previously reported statistic that, "Among victims of rape or sexual assault, 86 percent described the offender as non‐Indian" is accurate according to Perry's analysis (2004) in American Indians and Crime: A BJS Statistical Profile, 1992-2002. However, Perry's analysis includes reports by both Native men and women victims of rape or sexual assault. Given this brief's focus on violence against Native women, we include the updated rate of 67 percent reported by Native women victims of rape or sexual assault indicated in Bachman, et al., (2008). |access-date=11 January 2020 |archive-date=15 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115115841/http://www.ncai.org/attachments/PolicyPaper_tWAjznFslemhAffZgNGzHUqIWMRPkCDjpFtxeKEUVKjubxfpGYK_Policy%20Insights%20Brief_VAWA_020613.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Bubar, Roe 2004"/><ref>{{cite news | last = Chekuru | first = Kavitha | title = Sexual violence scars Native American Women | url = http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201334111633172507.html | work = ] | date = 6 March 2013 | access-date = 9 May 2016}}</ref> with Native Americans constituting 0.7% of U.S. population in 2015.<ref name=ACS>{{cite web|title=ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates – 2011–2015|url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_5YR/DP05/0100000US|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213004951/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_5YR/DP05/0100000US|archive-date=13 February 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref> The disproportionate rate of assault is due to a variety of causes, including the historical legal inability of tribes to prosecute on their own on the reservation. The federal Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized in 2013, which for the first time gave tribes jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute felony domestic violence offenses involving Native American and non-Native offenders on the reservation,<ref name="rapidcityjournal">{{cite news |last1=Cook |first1=Andrea J. |title=Tribal leaders urged to apply Violence Against Women Act |url=https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/tribal-leaders-urged-to-apply-violence-against-women-act/article_f030d4ad-dbda-53ff-bb72-5816465f78d4.html |access-date=11 January 2020 |newspaper=Rapid City Journal |date=1 April 2015}}</ref> as 26% of Natives live on reservations.<ref name="calgary">{{cite news |last1=Milke |first1=Mark |title=Increasing number of Aboriginals choose not to live on reserves |url=https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/increasing-number-aboriginals-choose-not-live-reserves |access-date=23 December 2019 |work=Calgary Herald and Regina Leader Post|date=12 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Bachman | first1 = Ronet | last2 = Zaykowski| first2 = Heather | last3 = Kallmyer | first3 = Rachel | last4 = Poteyeva | first4 = Margarita | last5 = Lanier | first5 = Christina | title = Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and the criminal justice response: what is known | publisher = ] | url = https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/223691.pdf | date=August 2008 |access-date=10 May 2016}} {{NCJ|245615}}</ref> In 2019 the ] ] passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, which increased tribes' prosecution rights further. However, in the ] ] its progress stalled.<ref name="gq">{{cite magazine |last1=Willis |first1=Jay |title=Why Can't the Senate Pass the Violence Against Women Act? |url=https://www.gq.com/story/senate-violence-against-women-act |access-date=11 January 2020 |magazine=GQ |date=13 December 2019}}</ref>

====Immigrants and refugees====
Immigrant and refugee women often face violence, both in the private sphere (by partners and other family members) and in the public sphere (by the police and other authorities). These women are often in a vulnerable position: they do not speak the language of the country they are in, they do not know its laws, and sometimes they are in a legal position where they may be deported if they make contact with the authorities. Women who seek protection from armed conflict in their countries of origin often face more violence while travelling to the destination country or when they arrive there.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Freedman | first = Jane | title = Sexual and gender-based violence against refugee women: a hidden aspect of the refugee "crisis" | journal = Reproductive Health Matters | volume = 24 | issue = 47 | pages = 18&ndash;26 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1016/j.rhm.2016.05.003 | pmid = 27578335 | date = 2017 | s2cid = 21202414 | url = https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01441147/file/Sexual%20and%20gender%20based%20violence%20against%20refugee%20women%20a%20hidden%20aspect%20of%20the%20refugee%20crisis.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Robbers | first1 = Gianna | last2 = Gunta | first2 = Lazdane | last3 = Dinesh | first3 = Sethi | title = Sexual violence against refugee women on the move to and within Europe | journal = Entre Nous | volume = 84 | pages = 26&ndash;29 | publisher = ]/Europe | date = 2016 | url = http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Life-stages/sexual-and-reproductive-health/publications/entre-nous/entre-nous/together-for-a-better-sexual-and-reproductive-health.-entre-nous-no-84,-2016 | access-date = 27 December 2017 | archive-date = 27 November 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201127162915/https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Life-stages/sexual-and-reproductive-health/publications/entre-nous/entre-nous/together-for-a-better-sexual-and-reproductive-health.-entre-nous-no-84,-2016 | url-status = dead }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519004549/http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Life-stages/sexual-and-reproductive-health/publications/entre-nous/entre-nous/together-for-a-better-sexual-and-reproductive-health.-entre-nous-no-84,-2016 |date=19 May 2019 }}</ref> Women refugees face violence from both the journey facilitator and the detention center guards. Journey facilitator rapes in exchange for money for their passage where as male guards sexually violates in exchange for faster refugee case process. These women have already been through a lot in their country because of wars and political instability and now while in search of freedom they face all kind of gender based Violences.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Freedman |first1=Jane |title=Sexual and gender-based violence against refugee women: a hidden aspect of the refugee "crisis" |journal=Reproductive Health Matters |date=January 2016 |volume=24 |issue=47 |pages=18–26 |doi=10.1016/j.rhm.2016.05.003 |pmid=27578335 |s2cid=21202414 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===={{anchor|Trans women}}Transgender women====
{{See also|Violence against LGBT people}}
], especially transgender ], are at higher risk of experiencing violence than ].<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.apa.org/about/policy/psychological-practice-girls-women.pdf |title=APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls and Women|year=2018 |author=American Psychological Association|page=11|quote=Transgender women are at a notably higher risk of violence than their cisgender counterparts...especially transgender women of color}}</ref> Trans women commonly experience intimate partner violence, with one study finding that 31.1% of trans people experience it, and another finding that half of all trans women experience it.<ref name="williams">{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Taylor N.T. |last2=Herman |first2=Jody L. |year=2015 |title=Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Abuse Among LGBT People: A Review of Existing Research |url=https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Intimate-Partner-Violence-and-Sexual-Abuse-among-LGBT-People.pdf |journal=The Williams Institute: UCLA School of Law}}</ref><ref name="lang">{{cite journal |last1=Langenderfer-Magruder |first1=Lisa |last2=Whitfield |first2=Darren L. |last3=Walls |first3=N. Eugene |last4=Kattari |first4=Shanna K. |last5=Ramos |first5=Daniel |title=Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence and Subsequent Police Reporting Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Adults in Colorado: Comparing Rates of Cisgender and Transgender Victimization |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |date=March 2016 |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=855–871 |doi=10.1177/0886260514556767 |pmid=25392392 |s2cid=24880033}}</ref><ref name="risser">{{cite journal |last1=Risser |first1=Jan M. H. |last2=Shelton |first2=Andrea |last3=McCurdy |first3=Sheryl |last4=Atkinson |first4=John |last5=Padgett |first5=Paige |last6=Useche |first6=Bernardo |last7=Thomas |first7=Brenda |last8=Williams |first8=Mark |title=Sex, Drugs, Violence, and HIV Status Among Male-to-Female Transgender Persons in Houston, Texas |journal=International Journal of Transgenderism |date=11 October 2005 |volume=8 |issue=2–3 |pages=67–74 |doi=10.1300/J485v08n02_07 |s2cid=71399447 }}</ref> Trans women also often face abuse by police, and ] often face violence from clients.<ref name="whotrans">{{Cite web |url=https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/transgender/about/en/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127091350/http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/transgender/about/en/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 November 2015 |title=Transgender people |website=World Health Organization |access-date=2019-08-10}}</ref> Trans women who are survivors of violence can have a harder time finding ]s, as some shelters do not accept them.<ref name="williams" /><ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/californialawreview/vol106/iss5/6 |title=Are Women's Spaces Transgender Spaces? Single-Sex Domestic Violence Shelters, Transgender Inclusion, and the Equal Protection Clause |last=Apsani |first=Rishita |date=2018-10-01 |journal=California Law Review |pages=1689 |doi=10.15779/Z38125Q91G |access-date=2019-08-10 |archive-date=10 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810094402/https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/californialawreview/vol106/iss5/6/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2018, more than two dozen ] people were violently killed in the United States, most of them women of color.<ref name="hrc2019">{{Cite web |url=http://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-against-the-transgender-community-in-2019/ |title=Violence Against the Transgender Community in 2019 |website=Human Rights Campaign |language=en}}</ref><ref name="cnn">{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/16/health/transgender-deaths-2018/index.html |title=Killings of transgender people in the US saw another high year |last=Christensen |first=Jen |website=CNN |date=16 January 2019 |access-date=2019-08-10}}</ref>


==Activism== ==Activism==
{{Main|Activism against violence against women}}
Many activists believe that working towards the elimination of domestic violence means working to eliminate a societal hierarchy enforced through sexism. ] cited ] within the anti-violence movement and suggest that violence against women will not end until the anti-violence movement re-directs its goal from "ending violence against women" to "ending violence against women of color."<ref>]: ''Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology.'' pg 4. South End Press, 2006. ISBN 0-89608-762-X</ref> The same conclusion can be drawn for other systems of oppression.
]
], Ottawa, of the victims of the ]]]
]
In the activism for violence against women, the objectives are to address and draw public attention on the issues of VAW as well as seek and recommend measures to prevent and eliminate this violence.<ref name="Youngs_368325">{{cite journal | last = Youngs | first = Gillian | title = Private pain/public peace: women's rights as human rights and Amnesty International's report on violence against women | journal = ] | volume = 28 | issue = 4 | pages = 1209&ndash;1229 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1086/368325 | jstor = 10.1086/368325 | date = Summer 2003 | s2cid = 144980514 }}</ref> Many scholarly articles suggest that the VAW is considered as a violation of human rights<ref name="Htun&Weldon">{{cite journal | last1 = Htun | first1 = Mala | last2 = Weldon | first2 = S. Laurel | title = The civic origins of progressive policy change: combating violence against women in global perspective, 1975–2005 | journal = ] | volume = 106 | issue = 3 | pages = 548&ndash;569 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1017/S0003055412000226 | jstor = 23275433 | date = August 2012 | s2cid = 15986250 }} </ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Carraway | first = G. Chezia | title = Violence against women of color | journal = ] | volume = 43 | issue = 6 | pages = 1301&ndash;1309 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.2307/1229040 | jstor = 1229040 | date = July 1991 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Robinson | first = Nancy P. | title = Origins of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: The Caribbean contribution | journal = ] | volume = 34 | issue = 2 | pages = 141&ndash;161 | publisher = ] | jstor = 25613539 | date = July–December 2006 }}</ref> as well as "public health issue".<ref name="Michau, L. 2007 95–109">{{cite journal | last = Michau | first = Lori | title = Approaching old problems in new ways: community mobilisation as a primary prevention strategy to combat violence against women | journal = ] | volume = 15 | issue = 1 | pages = 95&ndash;109 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1080/13552070601179144 | jstor = 20461184 | date = March 2007 | s2cid = 73218820 }}</ref>

]s show their support for putting an end to ] during a ] march.]]

The VAW movement was initiated in the 1970s where some feminist movements started to bring the discussion on the issue of violence into the feminist discourse<ref>{{cite book | last = Eng | first = Phoebe | author-link = Phoebe Eng | title = Stopping the violence against women: the movement from intervention to prevention | url = http://www.ncdsv.org/images/Ms_StoppingVAWTheMovementFromInterventionToPrevention_Aug2005.pdf | page = 2 | publisher = ] | location = New York | date = August 2005 | series = A Safety Program Report | access-date = 3 December 2013 | archive-date = 6 December 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131206164954/http://www.ncdsv.org/images/Ms_StoppingVAWTheMovementFromInterventionToPrevention_Aug2005.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> and that many other groups, on the national as well as international levels, had attempted to push for the betterment of women through lobbying of the state officials and delegates, demanding the conferences on 'gender issues'.<ref name="Prügl, E. December 2013">{{cite book | last = Prügl | first = Elisabeth (Lecturer) | title = Violence Against Women. Gender and International Affairs Class 2013 | url = http://graduateinstitute.ch/home/study/courses/courses-2017-2018/masters-interdisciplinaires/mia/ia039---gender-and-international.html | location = Geneva, Switzerland | publisher = Lecture conducted from ] (IHEID) | date = 2 December 2013 | access-date = 27 December 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180721122423/http://graduateinstitute.ch/home/study/courses/courses-2017-2018/masters-interdisciplinaires/mia/ia039---gender-and-international.html | archive-date = 21 July 2018 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

=== Levels of activist movements ===
]
] in 2015]]
On the local or national level, the VAW movements are diverse and differ in their strategic program of intervention. The strategies used in a number of the movements focus on the individual level with the emphases on individuals, relationships and family. Also, many of them take the 'preventive' as an approach to tackle the issues on the ground by encouraging people to "reexamine their attitudes and beliefs" in order to trigger and create fundamental changes in these "deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors".<ref name="Michau, L. 2007 95–109"/> To achieve the objectives of the movement, many activists and scholars argue that they have to initiate changes in cultural attitudes and norms on a communal level.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Heise | first1 = L. | last2 = Gottemoeller | first2 = M. | title = Ending violence against women | journal = Population Reports | volume = L | issue = 11 | page = 38 | publisher = Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Population and Information Program | url = https://vawnet.org/sites/default/files/assets/files/2016-10/PopulationReports.pdf | date = December 1999 }}</ref>

On the transnational or regional level, the anti-violence movements also deploy different strategies based on the specificities of their cultures and beliefs in their particular regions. On this level, the activist movements are known as "transnational feminist networks" or TFNs.<ref name="Htun&Weldon" />{{rp|556}} The TFNs have a significant effect, like the autonomous movements on the national level, in shaping sets of policies as well pushing for the recognition and inclusion of language of VAW in the United Nations human rights mechanisms: the international human rights agreements.<ref name="Htun&Weldon" /> Their activities are ranging from lobbying the policy makers; organizing demonstrations on the local and regional levels; to creating institutional pressure that could push for changes in the international institutional measures.<ref name="Htun&Weldon" />

On an international level, the movements that advocate for women's rights and against VAW are the mixture of (civil society) actors from domestic and regional levels. The objectives of these VAW movements focus on "creating shared expectations" within the domestic and regional levels as well as "mobilizing numbers of domestic civil society" to create "standards in global civil society".<ref name="Htun&Weldon" />{{rp|556}} The global women's movement works to transform numbers of international conventions and conferences to "a conference on women's rights" by pushing for a "stronger language and clearer recognition" of the VAW issues. In addition, the United Nations also plays a vital role in promoting and campaigning for the VAW movements on the international level.<ref name="UNiTE_Orange">{{cite web | last = UNiTE | author-link = UNiTE to End Violence against Women | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131220093826/http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/take-action | archive-date = 20 December 2013 |url=http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/take-action |title=Take action to Orange your day |publisher=] |date= 2013 | access-date = 20 December 2013}}</ref>

The United Nations ] is also a global initiative with a target to eliminate all forms of violence against women.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender equality |url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality |access-date=2020-09-23 |website=UN Women |language=en}}</ref> In recent years, there has been a trend of approaching VAW at an international level through means such as conventions or, in the ], through ]s (such as the directive against ], and the directive against ]).<ref>{{cite web |date=September 2002 |title=Directive 2002/73/EC - equal treatment of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1976L0207:20021005:EN:PDF}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JH |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:101:0001:0011:EN:PDF |access-date=4 April 2016 |work=Official Journal of the European Union}}</ref>

===Second order sexual harassment (SOSH)===
Second-order sexual harassment (SOSH) is the ] suffered by those who stand with and support victims of violence against women (VAW).<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1177/1077801220975495|title = Second-Order Sexual Harassment: Violence Against the Silence Breakers Who Support the Victims|year = 2021|last1 = Flecha|first1 = Ramón|journal = Violence Against Women|volume = 27|issue = 11|pages = 1980–1999|pmid = 33635745|pmc = 8343204}}</ref> In 2013 the ] passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights.<ref name="Norway Post">{{cite news |last=NRK |date=30 November 2013 |title=Protection of women human rights defenders |work=The Norway Post |url=http://www.norwaypost.no/index.php/news/latest-news/29260-protection-of-women-human-rights-defenders |access-date=6 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213142536/http://www.norwaypost.no/index.php/news/latest-news/29260-protection-of-women-human-rights-defenders |archive-date=13 December 2013}}</ref> The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures, and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms.<ref name="awid.org">{{cite web |date=28 November 2013 |title=UN adopts landmark resolution on Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders |url=http://www.awid.org/Library/UN-adopts-landmark-resolution-on-Protecting-Women-Human-Rights-Defenders |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819203819/http://www.awid.org/Library/UN-adopts-landmark-resolution-on-Protecting-Women-Human-Rights-Defenders |archive-date=19 August 2014 |access-date=6 August 2014 |publisher=] (AWID)}}</ref>

==Legal enforcement==
As violence is often committed by a family member, women first started by lobbying their governments to set up shelters for domestic violence survivors. The Julia Burgos Protected House established in Puerto Rico in 1979 was the first shelter in Latin America and the Caribbean for "battered women".{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} In 2003, 18 out of the 20 countries in the region had legislation on domestic or family violence, and 11 countries addressed sexual violence in their laws. Legislative measures to protect victims can include restraining orders, which can be found in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, Turkey, the United States and many western European countries for instance.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Courts can also be allowed by law (Germany, 2001) to order the perpetrator to leave the home so that victims do not have to seek shelter. Countries were urged to repeal discriminatory legislation by 2005 following the review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2000. Egypt, for instance, abolished a law that exempted men from rape charges when marrying their victims. However, the goal of antiviolence legislation is often to keep the families together, regardless of the best interests of women, which perpetuate domestic violence.<ref name="Fried" />

=== Challenges faced by women in accessing justice and limitations of measures ===
There can be a de jure or de facto acceptance of violent behaviors and lack of remedies for victims.<ref name="Fried" />

*'''Lack of criminalization:''' in many places, acts of abuse, especially acts such as ], ], ] and ], are not criminalized, or are illegal but widely tolerated, with the laws against them being rarely enforced. There are instances where crimes against women are also categorized as minor offenses.
*'''Lack of awareness of the existing laws:''' in many places, although there are laws against violence on the books, many women do not know of their existence. This is especially the case with marital rape&nbsp;– its criminalization being very recent in most countries.<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite book | last = AI | author-link = Amnesty International | title = ''Hungary –'' Cries unheard: ''The failure to protect women from rape and sexual violence in the home''| date = 10 May 2007 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur27/002/2007/en/ |access-date=12 December 2013| id = EUR 27/002/2007 | publisher = ] }}
* {{cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> | title = Hungary law 'fails rape victims' | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6643727.stm | work=] | date = 10 May 2007 | access-date = 12 December 2013}}
* {{cite news | last = Moy | first = Patsy |url=http://www.scmp.com/article/435610/publicity-urged-law-marital-rape |title=Publicity urged for law on marital rape |work=] |date= 23 November 2003 |access-date=12 December 2013}}</ref>
*'''Challenges in making a case in court:''' the burden of proof can be placed on the victim. For instance in the Philippines, before a change in law in 1997, rape used to be described as a crime against chastity; and virginity played an important role in court. In various countries, such as ], a woman's past sexual experience continues to be very important in a case of rape. Bangladesh has received criticism for its employment of the "two-finger test" in rape investigations. This test consists in a physical examination of women who report rape during which a doctor inserts two fingers in the woman's vagina to determine whether the woman is "habituated to sex". This examination has its origin in the country's colonial-era laws dating to 1872. The test deters many women from reporting incidents of rape. More than 100 experts, including doctors, lawyers, police, and women's rights activists had signed a joint statement in 2013 asking for the test, which they called "demeaning", to be abolished, as it "does not provide any evidence that is relevant to proving the offence". This test is also performed in several other countries in the region, including India.<ref>''Citations'':
* {{cite book | last = Press release |title=100 experts demand change in medical evidence laws and justice for rape victims |url= http://www.blast.org.bd/content/pressrelease/press-release-nc-2-2-2013.pdf |publisher=Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust | date = 2 February 2013 |access-date=4 April 2016}}
* {{cite news | last = Agence France-Presse | author-link = Agence France-Presse | title = Bangladesh activists urge ban on rape victim 'finger test' | url = http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/bangladesh-activists-urge-ban-on-rape-victim-finger-test-326175 | work = ] | date = 4 February 2013 | access-date = 4 April 2016}}
* {{cite news|last=Park |first=Madison |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/05/world/asia/rape-exam-india/index.html |title=Activists: Get rid of 'degrading' parts of India's sexual assault exam |work=] |date=5 February 2013 |access-date=4 April 2016}}</ref> It can also be difficult to make a case of sexual assault in court, when members of the judiciary expect evidence of severe struggle and injury as determinative evidence of non-consent. On the other hand, there are measures, such as the 2012 law in Brazil, that allow for cases to be filed even without the representation of the victim.
*'''Existing laws are insufficient, conflicting, and have no effect in practice:''' some laws on domestic violence, for instance, conflict with other provisions and ultimately contradict their goals. Legal frameworks can also be flawed when laws that integrate protection do so in isolation, notably in relation to immigration laws.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} Undocumented women in countries where they would have, in theory, access to justice, do not in practice for fear of being denounced and deported. The CEDAW Committee recommends that a State authority's obligation to report undocumented persons be repealed in national legislation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Invoking culture to explain particular forms of violence against women risks appearing to legitimize them. There is also debate and controversy about the ways in which cultural traditions, local customs and social expectations, as well as various interpretations of religion, interact with abusive practices.<ref name="UN In-depth Study on all Forms of Violence Against Women" /><ref>{{cite book | last = Narayan | first = Uma | chapter = Cross-cultural connections, border-crossings, and "Death by Culture": thinking about dowry-murders in India and domestic-violence murders in the United States | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lzQ49LnmL_cC&pg=PA81 | editor-last = Narayan | editor-first = Uma | title = Dislocating cultures: identities, traditions, and Third-World feminism | pages = 81&ndash;118 | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780415914192 }}</ref> Specifically, cultural justifications for certain violent acts against women are asserted by some states and social groups within many countries claiming to defend their traditions. These justifications are questionable precisely because the defenses are generally voiced by political leaders or traditional authorities, not by those actually affected.<ref name="UN In-depth Study on all Forms of Violence Against Women" />

Measures to address violence against women range from access to legal-aid to the provision of shelters and hotlines for victims. Despite advances in legislation and policies, the lack of implementation of the measures put in place prevents significant progress in eradicating violence against women globally. This failure to apply existing laws and procedures is often due to the persisting issue of ].<ref>{{cite book | last = CEDAW | author-link = CEDAW | title = General discussion on women and access to justice | url = http://wilpf.org/cedaw-general-discussion-on-women-and-access-to-justice/ | publisher = ] | location = Geneva, Switzerland | date = 18 February 2013 | access-date = 12 December 2013}}</ref>

===Accessibility of police===
Women who report acts of violence most often come into contact first with police workers. Therefore, police attitudes are crucial in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort for women who have been victimized.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Logan | first1 = T. K. | last2 = Shannon | first2 = Lisa | last3 = Walker | first3 = Robert | title = Police attitudes toward domestic violence offenders | journal = ] | volume = 21 | issue = 10 | pages = 1365&ndash;1374 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1177/0886260506291653 | pmid = 16940401 | date = October 2006 | s2cid = 1956897 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Travis | first = Alan | title = Police treatment of domestic abuse victims to be investigated | url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/17/police-treatment-of-domestic-abuse-victims-to-be-investigated | work = ] | date = 17 May 2016 | access-date = 21 October 2017}}</ref> When police officers misuse their power as agents of the state to physically and ] and assault victims, the survivors, including women, feel much less able to report the violence.<ref>{{Cite episode
| title = Covering 'Tainted Justice' and winning a Pulitzer | url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126386819 | series = Fresh Air | series-link = Fresh Air | credits = Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman, hosted by ] | network = NPR | station = ]| location = Philadelphia | airdate = 3 May 2010 }}</ref> Human rights violations perpetrated by police and military personnel in many countries are correlated with decreased access to public health services and increased practices of risky behavior among members of vulnerable groups, such as women and female sex workers.<ref name="Beletsky L, Martinex G, Gaines T, et al. 2012 403–410">{{cite journal | last1 = Beletsky | first1 = Leo |display-authors=etal | title = Mexico's northern border conflict: collateral damage to Health and Human Rights of vulnerable groups | journal = ] | volume = 31 | issue = 5 | pages = 403&ndash;410 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1590/s1020-49892012000500008 | pmc = 3660986 | pmid = 22767041 | date = May 2012 }}</ref> These practices are especially widespread in settings with a weak rule of law and low levels of police and military management and professionalism. Police abuse in this context has been linked to a wide range of risky behaviors and health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse.<ref name="Beletsky L, Martinex G, Gaines T, et al. 2012 403–410"/><ref>''Other citations'':
* {{cite journal | last1 = Strathdee | first1 = Steffanie A. |display-authors=etal | title = Social and structural factors associated with HIV infection among female sex workers who inject drugs in the Mexico-US border region | journal = ] | volume = 6 | issue = 4 |page=e19048 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0019048 |pmc=3081836 |pmid=21541349 | date = 25 April 2011 | bibcode = 2011PLoSO...619048S | doi-access = free }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Ramos | first1 = Rebeca |display-authors=etal | title = A tale of two cities: social and environmental influences shaping risk factors and protective behaviors in two Mexico-US border cities | journal = ] | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 999&ndash;1005 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.04.004 | pmid = 19464228 | pmc = 2735581 | date = December 2009 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Pollini | first1 = Robin A. |display-authors=etal | title = Syringe possession arrests are associated with receptive syringe sharing in two Mexico-US border cities | journal = ] | volume = 103 | issue = 1 | pages = 101&ndash;108 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.02051.x | pmid = 18028520 | pmc = 2214830 | date = January 2008 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Pollini | first1 = Robin A. |display-authors=etal | title = High prevalence of abscesses and self-treatment among injection drug users in Tijuana, Mexico | journal = ] | volume = 14 | issue = S3 | pages = e117&ndash;e122 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1016/j.ijid.2010.02.2238 | pmid = 20381396 | pmc = 2917477 | date = September 2010 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Strathdee |first1=Steffanie A |last2=Lozada |first2=Remedios |last3=Pollini |first3=Robin A |last4=Brouwer |first4=Kimberly C |last5=Mantsios |first5=Andrea |last6=Abramovitz |first6=Daniela A |last7=Rhodes |first7=Tim |last8=Latkin |first8=Carl A |last9=Loza |first9=Oralia |last10=Alvelais |first10=Jorge |last11=Magis-Rodriguez |first11=Carlos |last12=Patterson |first12=Thomas L |title=Individual, Social, and Environmental Influences Associated With HIV Infection Among Injection Drug Users in Tijuana, Mexico |journal=Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes |date=1 March 2008 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=369–376 |doi=10.1097/QAI.0b013e318160d5ae |pmc=2752692 |pmid=18176320 }}
* {{cite book | last1 = Raj | first1 = Anita | last2 = Gupta | first2 = Jhumka | last3 = Silverman | first3 = Jay G. | chapter = Women, migration, conflict and risk for HIV | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JhxwNjWzB6gC&pg=PA107 | editor-last1 = Forbes Martin | editor-first1 = Susan | editor-last2 = Tirman | editor-first2 = John | title = Women, migration, and conflict: breaking a deadly cycle | page = 107 | publisher = Springer | location = Dordrecht | year = 2009 | isbn = 9789048128242 }}</ref> Extortion of sexual services and police sexual abuse have been linked to a decrease in condom use and an elevated risk of STI and HIV infections among vulnerable groups.<ref name="Beletsky L, Martinex G, Gaines T, et al. 2012 403–410"/><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Blankenship | first1 = Kim M. | last2 = Koester | first2 = Stephen | title = Criminal law, policing policy, and HIV risk in female street sex workers and injection drug users | journal = ] | volume = 30 | issue = 4 | pages = 548&ndash;559 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2002.tb00425.x | pmid = 12561263 | date = December 2002 | s2cid = 7242766 | url = https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/23890209 }}</ref>

Some countries, such as Brazil and Jordan, have enacted ]d, which are ]s that specialize in certain crimes, such as ], ], and ] committed against women.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

===Intervention versus autonomy===
It is standard procedure for police to force entry into the victim's home even after the victim's numerous requests for them to go away.<ref>{{cite book | last = Suk | first = Jeannie | author-link = Jeannie Suk | title = At home in the law: how the domestic violence revolution is transforming privacy | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | year = 2009 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UML8Ke4IpTEC | isbn = 9780300172621 }}</ref> Government agencies often disregard the victim's right to ] with their perpetrator.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Hanna | first = Cheryl | title = No right to choose: mandated victim participation in domestic violence prosecutions | journal = ] | volume = 109 | issue = 8 | pages = 1849&ndash;1910 | publisher = The Harvard Law Review Association | doi = 10.2307/1342079 | jstor = 1342079 | ssrn = 1276830 | date = June 1996 | s2cid = 143393426 }}</ref>

==International protection regimes==
{{Further|History of violence against women}}
Efforts to fight violence against women can take many forms and access to justice, or lack thereof, for such violence varies greatly depending on the justice system. International and regional instruments are increasingly used as the basis for national legislation and policies to eradicate violence against women. Experts in the international community generally believe that solely enacting punitive legislation for prevention and punishment of violence against women is not sufficient to address the problem. For example, although much stricter laws on violence against women have been passed in Bangladesh, violence against women is still rising.<ref name="VAW: A Global Burden" /> And violence against women has risen dramatically around the world since the late 2010s despite similar measures being taken in many regions as well as increased awareness and discussion of the subject.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-games/201909/the-number-women-murdered-partner-is-rising|title = The Number of Women Murdered by a Partner is Rising &#124; Psychology Today}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/us/domestic-violence-international.html|title = Across the Globe, a 'Serious Backlash Against Women's Rights'|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 4 December 2019|last1 = Gupta|first1 = Alisha Haridasani}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/03/09/813699719/mexican-women-stay-home-to-protest-femicides-in-a-day-without-us|title=Mexican Women Stay Home to Protest Femicides in 'A Day Without Us'|newspaper=NPR|date=9 March 2020|last1=Doubek|first1=James}}</ref> Instead, it is thought that wide societal changes to address gender inequalities and women's empowerment will be the way to reduce violence against women.<ref name="UN In-depth Study on all Forms of Violence Against Women" /><ref name="VAW: A Global Burden" /><ref name="Nigeria-Female Hawkers-Interventions">{{cite journal | last1 = Fawole | first1 = Olufunmilayo I. | last2 = Ajuwon | first2 = Ademola J. | last3 = Osungbade | first3 = Kayode O. | last4 = Faweya | first4 = Olufemi C. | title = Interventions for violence prevention among young female hawkers in motor parks in South-Western Nigeria: a review of effectiveness | journal = African Journal of Reproductive Health | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 71&ndash;82 | publisher = Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC) | doi = 10.2307/3583347 | jstor = 3583347 | date = April 2003 | pmid = 12816315 | hdl = 1807/2587 | hdl-access = free }}</ref><ref name="WHO VAM Factsheet">{{cite book | last = WHO | author-link = World Health Organization |title=Violence against women|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/|publisher=]| date = 1 September 2011|access-date=2 December 2013}}</ref>

===Africa===
In Africa, there emerged a series of regional meetings and agreements, which was triggered by the UN processes on the international level such as Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, 1985; the 1993 Kampala Prep Com; the 1994 Africa-wide UN women's conference<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Tripp | first1 = Aili Mari | author1-link = Aili M. Tripp | last2 = Casimiro | first2 = Isabel | last3 = Kwesiga | first3 = Joy | last4 = Mungwa | first4 = Alice | title = African women's movements: transforming political landscapes | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge New York | year = 2009 | isbn = 9780511479014 }}</ref> that led to the identification of VAW as a critical issue in the Southern African Women's Charter.<ref name="Htun&Weldon" />{{rp|557}}

===Americas===
In the Americas, the Inter-American Convention on Violence Against Women was formally announced and adopted by the ] (OAS) in 1994, immediately after the Vienna Conference.<ref name="Htun&Weldon" />{{rp|557}} The Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Eradicate and Punish Violence Against Women (the Belém do Parà Convention) has been applied by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in its first case of domestic violence to condemn Brazil in the Maria da Penha case. This led the Brazilian government to enact in 2006 the Maria da Penha Law, the country's first law against domestic violence against women.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Spieler | first = Paula | title = The Maria da Penha Case and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: contributions to the debate on domestic violence against women in Brazil | journal = ] | volume = 18 | issue = 1 | pages = 121&ndash;143 | publisher = ] | date = Winter 2011 | url = https://muse.jhu.edu/article/445824 | doi=10.2979/indjglolegstu.18.1.121| s2cid = 154383871 }}</ref>

===Asia===
In Asia, there is the South Asian Agreement on Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) Protocol to End Trafficking in Women and Children.<ref name="Fried" />

===Europe===
{{see also|Istanbul Convention}}
In Europe, the ] (EU)'s initiatives to combat violence against women include a 1997 resolution calling for zero tolerance, specifically on UN human rights instruments of CEDAW and the ]. The ] also developed "a series of initiatives" related to the issue of VAW: "the 2000 resolution on trafficking, the 2003 resolution on domestic violence, and the 2004 resolution on honor crimes" as well as promoted "the 2002 recommendation on the protection of women against violence and established its monitoring framework".<ref name="Htun&Weldon" />{{rp|557}} The ] (the Istanbul Convention) is the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of domestic violence and violence against women,<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Convention of Belém do Pará and the Istanbul Convention: A response to violence against women worldwide|url=https://www.oas.org/es/mesecvi/docs/CSW-SideEvent2014-Flyer-EN.pdf|access-date=2021-12-31}}</ref> and came into force in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|author=Bureau des Traités |url=http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=210&CM=&DF=&CL=ENG |title=Liste complète |publisher=Conventions.coe.int |access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref>
Countries which ratify it must ensure that the forms of violence defined in its text are outlawed. In its Preamble, the Convention states that "the realisation of ''de jure'' and ''de facto'' equality between women and men is a key element in the prevention of violence against women". The convention also provides a definition of ] as "all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim".<ref name="Istanbul">{{cite web|url=http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/210.htm|title=Council of Europe – Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (CETS No. 210)|work=coe.int|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>


==See also== ==See also==

*]
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{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
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*], list of notable incidents of violence against women sorted by country and year
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== Sources ==
{{Free-content attribution
| title = Technology-facilitated gender-based violence in an era of generative AI
| author = Chowdhury, Rumman
| publisher = UNESCO
| documentURL = https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000387483.locale=en
| license = CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
}}


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}}
<div class="references-small">

<references />
==Bibliography==
</div>
* {{Cite journal | last = Almosaed | first = Nora | title = Violence against women: a cross-cultural perspective | journal = ] | volume = 24 | issue = 1 | pages = 67&ndash;88 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1080/1360200042000212124 | date = 2004 | s2cid = 144455844 }}
* {{Cite news | last = Appiah | first = Kwame Anthony | author-link = Kwame Anthony Appiah | title = Convincing other cultures to change | work = ] | date = 21 September 2010 | url = http://bigthink.com/videos/convincing-other-cultures-to-change | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131212131130/http://bigthink.com/videos/convincing-other-cultures-to-change | archive-date = 12 December 2013}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Bellemare | first1 = Marc F. | last2 = Steinmetz | first2 = Tara L. | title = All in the family: explaining the persistence of female genital cutting in the Gambia | journal = ] | doi = 10.2139/ssrn.2280086 | ssrn = 2280086 | date = 17 June 2013 | url = http://marcfbellemare.com/wordpress/2013/06/explaining-the-persistence-of-female-genital-cutting-in-the-gambia/ }}
* {{Cite book |last=Brownmiller |first=Susan |title=Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape |publisher=Fawcett Columbine |year=1975 |isbn=0-449-90820-8 }}
* {{cite book | last1 = Dobash | first1 = Russell P. | last2 = Dobash | first2 = R. Emerson | title = Women, violence and social change | publisher = Routledge | location = Abingdon, Oxon | year = 2016 | isbn = 9781138174023 }}
*{{Cite journal | last1 = Durham | first1 = Meenakshi G. | author-link1 = Meenakshi Gigi Durham | title = "Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town": the politics of gender violence in ''The New York Times''<nowiki>'</nowiki> coverage of a schoolgirl's gang rape | journal = Journalism Studies | volume = 14 | issue = 1 | pages = 1&ndash;12 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1080/1461670X.2012.657907 | date = February 2013 | s2cid = 141709189 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Heise |first1=L |title=Violence against women: the hidden health burden. |journal=World Health Statistics Quarterly. Rapport Trimestriel de Statistiques Sanitaires Mondiales |date=1993 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=78–85 |pmid=8237054 }} Republished as: {{cite book |last1=Heise |first1=Lori |last2=Pitanguy |first2=Jacqueline |last3=Germain |first3=Adrienne |last4=Bank |first4=World |title=Violence Against Women: The Hidden Health Burden |date=1994 |publisher=World Bank |isbn=978-0-8213-2980-1 |oclc=654453001 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = James | first1 = Stanlie M. | title = Shades of othering: reflections on female circumcision/genital mutilation | journal = ] | volume = 23 | issue = 4 | pages = 1031&ndash;1048 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1086/495300 | jstor = 3175202 | date = Summer 1998 | s2cid = 144380933 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Jones | first1 = Helen | last2 = Diop | first2 = Nafissatou | last3 = Askew | first3 = Ian | last4 = Kaboré | first4 = Inoussa | title = Female genital cutting practices in Burkina Faso and Mali and their negative health outcomes | journal = ] | volume = 30 | issue = 3 | pages = 219&ndash;230 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1111/j.1728-4465.1999.00219.x | pmid = 10546313 | date = September 1999 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Jones | first1 = Wanda K. | last2 = Smith | first2 = Jack | last3 = Kieke Jr. | first3 = Burney | last4 = Wilcox | first4 = Lynne | title = Female genital mutilation/female circumcision: who is at risk in the US? | journal = ] | volume = 112 | issue = 5 | pages = 368&ndash;377 | pmc = 1381943 | date = September 1997 | pmid=9323387}}
* {{Cite journal | last = Kelly | first = Liz | author-link = Liz Kelly | title = Inside outsiders: Mainstreaming violence against women into human rights discourse and practice | journal = International Feminist Journal of Politics | volume = 7 | issue = 4 | pages = 471&ndash;495 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.1080/14616740500284391 | date = December 2005 | s2cid = 143985481 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Mackie | first = Gerry | title = Female genital cutting: a harmless practice? | journal = ] | volume = 17 | issue = 2 | pages = 135&ndash;158 | publisher = ] on behalf of the ] | doi = 10.1525/maq.2003.17.2.135 | pmid = 12846114 | jstor = 3655332 | date = June 2003 }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509230919/http://dss.ucsd.edu/~gmackie/documents/FGCHarmlessPractice.pdf |date=9 May 2013 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Miles |first=Rosalind |title=Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Womens History of the World |publisher=Three Rivers Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-609-80695-5 }}
* Seftaoui, Jamila (2009) ''Bringing Security Home: Combating Violence against Women in the OSCE Region; A Compilation of Good Practices.'' Vienna: OSCE Secretariat, OSG/Gender Section, ISBN 9789292345341 (also published in French and Russian translations)
* {{cite journal | last1 = Shell-Duncan | first1 = Bettina | last2 = Herniund | first2 = Yiva | title = Are there "Stages of Change" in the practice of female genital cutting?: Qualitative research findings from Senegal and The Gambia | journal = African Journal of Reproductive Health | volume = 10 | issue = 2 | pages = 57&ndash;71 | publisher = Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC) | doi = 10.2307/30032459 | jstor = 30032459 | date = August 2006| pmid = 17217118 | url = http://www.bioline.org.br/abstract?id=rh06027&lang=en }}
* {{cite book | last = Skaine | first = Rosemarie | title = Female genital mutilation: legal, cultural, and medical issues | publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc. | location = Jefferson, North Caroline | year = 2005 | isbn = 9780786421671 }}
* {{cite book | last = Wagner | first = Natascha | title = Why female genital cutting persist? | series = Working Paper | publisher = University of Rotterdam | url = http://www.natascha-wagner.com/uploads/9/0/1/5/9015445/fgc_march2013.pdf | date = March 2013 | access-date = 20 December 2017 | archive-date = 3 May 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220503192701/http://www.natascha-wagner.com/uploads/9/0/1/5/9015445/fgc_march2013.pdf | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite book | last = True | first = Jacqui | title = The political economy of violence against women | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York, NY | year = 2012 | isbn = 9780199755912 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Wakabi | first = Wairagala | title = Africa battles to make female genital mutilation history | journal = ] | volume = 369 | issue = 9567| pages = 1069&ndash;1070 | publisher = ] | pmid = 17405200 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60508-X | date = 31 March 2007 | s2cid = 29006442 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Williams | first1 = Lindy | last2 = Sobieszczyk | first2 = Teresa | title = Attitudes surrounding the continuation of female circumcision in the Sudan: passing the tradition to the next generation | journal = ] | volume = 59 | issue = 4 | pages = 966&ndash;981 | publisher = ] | doi = 10.2307/353796 | jstor = 353796 | date = November 1997 }}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Too many links|date=April 2008}}
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* , a factsheet on ] case law
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* (in English, French, and Spanish)
*, ]
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*, ]
* , Health complications of female genital mutilation
*
{{Domestic violence}}{{Abuse}}
* ] Library E-Briefs: Online only, issued 06 December 2004
{{Violence against women by country}}{{Discrimination}}{{Authority control}}
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*, ]
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* Publication No. NCJ183781
* Publication No. NCJ 181867
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Latest revision as of 01:05, 15 November 2024

Violent acts against women and girls For the journal, see Violence Against Women (journal).

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Murders per 100,000 population committed against women, 2019

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Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), is violent acts primarily committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against persons specifically because they are of the female gender, and can take many forms.

VAW has a very long history, though the incidents and intensity of such violence have varied over time and between societies. Such violence is often seen as a mechanism for the subjugation of women, whether in society in general or in an interpersonal relationship.

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states, "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women" and "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men."

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website:

Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.

Definition

A number of international instruments that aim to eliminate violence against women and domestic violence have been enacted by various international bodies. These generally start with a definition of what such violence is, and a proposal to combat it. The Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) of the Council of Europe describes VAW as "a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women" and defines VAW as "all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life".

The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of the United Nations General Assembly makes recommendations relating to VAW, and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action mentions VAW. However, the 1993 United Nations General Assembly resolution on the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was the first international instrument to explicitly define VAW and elaborate on the subject. Other definitions of VAW are set out in the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women and by the 2003 Maputo Protocol.

In addition, the term gender-based violence refers to "any acts or threats of acts intended to hurt or make women suffer physically, sexually, or psychologically, and which affect women because they are women or affect women disproportionately". Gender-based violence is often used interchangeably with violence against women, and some articles on VAW reiterate these conceptions by stating that men are the main perpetrators of this violence. Moreover, the definition stated by the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women also supported the notion that violence is rooted in the inequality between men and women when the term violence is used together with the term gender-based.

In Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence, the Council of Europe stipulated that VAW "includes, but is not limited to, the following":

a. violence occurring in the family or domestic unit, including, inter alia, physical and mental aggression, emotional and psychological abuse, rape and sexual abuse, incest, rape between spouses, regular or occasional partners and cohabitants, crimes committed in the name of honour, female genital and sexual mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women such as forced marriages;
b. violence occurring within the general community, including, inter alia, rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in institutions or elsewhere; trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and economic exploitation and sex tourism;
c. violence perpetrated or condoned by the state or its officials;
d. violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular the taking of hostages, forced displacement, systematic rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and economic exploitation.

These definitions of VAW as being gender-based are seen by some to be unsatisfactory. These definitions understand society as patriarchal, signifying unequal relations between men and women. Opponents of such definitions argue that the definitions disregard violence against men and that the term gender, as used in gender-based violence, only refers to women. Other critics argue that employing the term gender in this particular way introduces notions of inferiority and subordination for femininity and superiority for masculinity. There is no widely accepted current definition that covers all the dimensions of gender-based violence.

Comparison of definitions in human rights instruments
Document Adopted by Date Definition
General Recommendation 19 CEDAW Committee 1992 'The definition of discrimination includes gender-based violence, that is, violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.'
DEVAW United Nations 20 December 1993 '...the term "violence against women" means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women'.
Belém do Pará Convention Organization of American States 9 June 1994 '...violence against women shall be understood as any act or conduct, based on gender, which causes death or physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, whether in the public or the private sphere.'
Maputo Protocol African Union 11 July 2003 '"Violence against women" means all acts perpetrated against women which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm, including the threat to take such acts; or to undertake the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on or deprivation of fundamental freedoms in private or public life in peace time and during situations of armed conflicts or of war...'
Istanbul Convention Council of Europe 11 May 2011 '..."violence against women" is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life; ... "gender" shall mean the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men; "gender-based violence against women" shall mean violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately...'. The preamble notes: '...Recognising that women and girls are exposed to a higher risk of gender-based violence than men; Recognising that domestic violence affects women disproportionately, and that men may also be victims of domestic violence...'

Forms of violence

Violence against women can fit into several broad categories. These include violence carried out by individuals as well as by states. Some of the forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are: rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, acid throwing, reproductive coercion, female infanticide, prenatal sex selection, obstetric violence, online gender-based violence and mob violence; as well as harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry violence, female genital mutilation, marriage by abduction and forced marriage. There are forms of violence that may be perpetrated or condoned by the government, such as war rape; sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict, forced sterilization; forced abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging. Many forms of VAW, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks. Historically, there have been forms of organized WAV, such as the Witch trials in the early modern period or the sexual slavery of the comfort women. The Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe identifies nine forms of violence against women based on subject and context rather than life cycle or time period:

  • 'Violence within the family or domestic violence'
  • 'Rape and sexual violence'
  • 'Sexual harassment'
  • 'Violence in institutional environments'
  • 'Female genital mutilation'
  • 'Forced marriages'
  • 'Violence in conflict and post-conflict situations'
  • 'Killings in the name of honour'
  • 'Failure to respect freedom of choice with regard to reproduction'

By age groups

The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a typology of violence against women based on their cultural life cycles.

Phase Type of violence
Pre-birth Sex-selective abortion; effects of battering during pregnancy on birth outcomes
Infancy Female infanticide; physical, sexual and psychological abuse
Girlhood Child marriage; female genital mutilation; physical, sexual and psychological abuse; incest; child prostitution and pornography
Adolescence and adulthood Dating and courtship violence (e.g. acid throwing and date rape); economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with "sugar daddies" in return for school fees); incest; sexual abuse in the workplace; rape; sexual harassment; forced prostitution and pornography; trafficking in women; partner violence; marital rape; dowry abuse and murders; partner homicide; psychological abuse; abuse of women with disabilities; forced pregnancy
Elderly Forced "suicide" or homicide of widows for economic reasons; sexual, physical and psychological abuse

Sexual violence

Main articles: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment includes a range of actions with unwelcome sexual overtones, including verbal transgressions. Sexual violence is a broader term referring to the use of violence to obtain a sexual act, including, for example, trafficking. Sexual assault is usually defined as unwanted sexual contact and when this involves sexual penetration or sexual intercourse it is referred to as rape.

Women are most often the victims of rape, usually perpetrated by men known to them. The rate of reporting, prosecution, and convictions for rape vary considerably in different jurisdictions and reflect, to some extent, society's attitudes toward such crimes. It is considered the most underreported violent crime. Following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats of violence from the rapist and, in many cultures, from the victim's own family and relatives. Violence or intimidation of the victim may be perpetrated by the rapist or by friends and relatives of the rapist, as a way of preventing the victims from reporting the rape, punishing them for reporting it, or forcing them to withdraw the complaint; or it may be perpetrated by the relatives of the victim as a punishment for "bringing shame" to the family. Internationally, the incidence of rapes recorded by police during 2008 varied between 0.1 per 100,000 people in Egypt and 91.6 per 100,000 people in Lesotho with 4.9 per 100,000 people in Lithuania as the median. Around the world, rape is often not reported or handled properly by law enforcement for a wide variety of reasons.

In 2011, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that "nearly 20% of all women" in the United States suffered attempted rape or rape sometime in their lives. More than a third of the victims were raped before the age of 18.

Survival sex

See also: Survival sex and Violence against prostitutes

Women who are sex workers end up in the profession for several reasons. Some were victims of sexual and domestic abuse. Many women have said they were raped as working girls. They may be apprehensive about coming forward and reporting their attacks. When reported, many women have said that the stigma was too great and that the police told them they deserved it and were reluctant to follow police policy. Decriminalizing sex work is argued to help sex workers in this aspect.

In some countries, it is common for older men to engage in "compensated dating" with underage girls. Such relationships are called enjo kōsai in Japan and are also common in Asian countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The WHO condemned "economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with "sugar daddies" (Sugar baby in return for school fees)" as a form of violence against women.

Kisaeng women from outcast or slave families.

Women from certain lower castes have been involved in prostitution as part of a tradition, called Intergenerational prostitution. In pre-modern Korea, women from the lower caste Cheonmin, known as Kisaeng, were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class.

Women with illegal resident status are disproportionately involved with prostitution. For example, in 1997, Le Monde diplomatique stated that 80% of prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers.

Forced sexual services

Main article: Sexual slavery

By military forces

Main article: Wartime sexual violence
Brennus and His Share of the Spoils, by Paul Jamin, 1893
Rangoon, Burma. 8 August 1945. A young ethnic Chinese woman from one of the Imperial Japanese Army's "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an Allied officer.

Militarism produces special environments that allow for increased violence against women. War rapes have accompanied warfare in virtually every known historical era. War rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants, or civilians during armed conflict or war or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rapes committed amongst troops in military service. It also covers the situation where women are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery by an occupying power. During World War II, the Japanese military established brothels filled with "comfort women", girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery for soldiers, exploiting women for the purpose of creating access and entitlement for men.

Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War by members of the Pakistani military and the militias that supported them led to 200,000 women being raped over a period of nine months. Rape during the Bosnian War was used as a highly systematized instrument of war by Serb armed forces, predominantly targeting women and girls of the Bosniak ethnic group for physical and moral destruction. Estimates of the number of women raped during the war range from 50,000 to 60,000; as of 2010 only 12 cases have been prosecuted.

The 1998 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recognized rape in the Rwandan Genocide as a war crime.

According to one report, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnapping and rape. The Guardian reported that ISIL's extremist agenda extended to women's bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped. Fighters are told that they are free to have sex and rape non-Muslim captive women. Haleh Esfandiari from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has highlighted the abuse of local women by ISIL militants after they captured an area. "They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave market and try to sell them. The younger girls... are raped or married off to fighters," she said, adding, "It's based on temporary marriages, and once these fighters have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them on to other fighters." In December 2014 the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had killed over 150 women and girls in Fallujah who refused to participate in sexual jihad.

During the Rohingya genocide (2016–present), the Armed Forces of Myanmar, along with the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Buddhist militias of Rakhine, committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the Rohingya Muslim women and girls. A January 2018 study estimated that the military and local Rakhine Buddhists perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls. The Human Rights Watch stated that gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of the military's ethnic cleansing campaign, while the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, said that Rohingya women and girls were made the "systematic" target of rapes and sexual violence because of their ethnic identity and religion. Other forms of sexual violence included sexual slavery in military captivity, forced public nudity, and humiliation. Some women and girls were raped to death while others were found traumatised with raw wounds after they had arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch reported of a 15-year-old girl who was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet and then was raped by 10 Burmese soldiers.

By criminal groups

Countries by prevalence of female trafficking
Main articles: Human trafficking and Forced prostitution

Human trafficking refers to the acquisition of persons by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children states,

"Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

Because of the illegal nature of trafficking, reliable data on its extent is very limited. The WHO states "Current evidence strongly suggests that those who are trafficked into the sex industry and as domestic servants are more likely to be women and children." A 2006 study in Europe on trafficked women found that the women were subjected to serious forms of abuse, such as physical or sexual violence, that affected their physical and mental health.

Forced prostitution is prostitution that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. In forced prostitution, the party/parties who force the victim to be subjected to unwanted sexual acts exercise control over the victim.

Domestic violence

Violence related to acquiring a partner

See also: Stalking and Acid throwing

Single women and women who are economically independent have been vilified by certain groups of men. In Hassi Messaoud in Algeria in 2001, mobs targeted single women, attacking 95 and killing at least six and, in 2011, similar attacks happened again throughout Algeria.

Stalking is unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person, often manifested through persistent harassment, intimidation, or following/monitoring of the victim. Stalking is often understood as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.". Although stalkers are frequently portrayed as being strangers, they are most often known people, such as former or current partners, friends, colleagues or acquaintances. In the U.S., a survey by NVAW found that only 23% of female victims were stalked by strangers. Stalking by partners can be very dangerous, as sometimes it can escalate into severe violence, including murder. Police statistics from the 1990s in Australia indicated that 87.7% of stalking offenders were male and 82.4% of stalking victims were female.

Women are the overwhelming majority of victims of acid attacks and it is often motivated by rejection and jealousy.

An acid attack is the act of throwing acid at someone with the intention of injuring or disfiguring them. Women and girls are the victims in 75–80% of cases and are often connected to domestic disputes, including dowry disputes, refusal of a proposal of marriage, or sexual advances. The acid is usually thrown at the faces, burning the tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. The long-term consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body. Such attacks are common in South Asia, in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India; and in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia.

Forced marriage

Main article: Forced marriage See also: Bride kidnapping
The painting depicts a Chilean woman being kidnapped during a malón. Bride kidnapping for the purpose of forced marriage and forced pregnancy was common through the history in many countries.
Criticism of the Azeri custom of forced marriage, as depicted in the early 20th-century satirical periodical Molla Nasraddin

A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both parties are married against their will. Forced marriages are common in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The customs of bride price and dowry, which exist in many parts of the world, contribute to this practice. A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other.

The custom of bride kidnapping continues to exist in some Central Asian countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Caucasus, or in parts of Africa, especially Ethiopia. A girl or woman is abducted by the would-be groom, who is often helped by his friends. The victim is often raped by the would be groom, after which he may try to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage.

Forced and child marriages are practiced by some inhabitants of Tanzania. Girls are sold by their families to older men for financial benefits, and often girls are married off as soon as they hit puberty, which can be as young as seven years old. To the older men, these young brides act as symbols of masculinity and accomplishment. Child brides endure forced sex, causing health risks and growth impediments. Primary education is usually not completed for young girls in forced marriages. Married and pregnant students are often discriminated against, expelled, and excluded from school. The Law of Marriage Act currently does not address issues with guardianship and child marriage. The issue of child marriage is not addressed enough in this law, and only establishes a minimum age of 18 for the boys of Tanzania. A minimum age needs to be enforced for girls to stop these practices and provide them with equal rights and a less harmful life.

Dowry violence

Main articles: Dowry death and Bride burning
Anti-dowry poster in Bangalore, India

The custom of dowry, which is common in South Asia, especially in India, is the trigger of many forms of violence against women. Bride burning is a form of violence against women in which a bride is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to his dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. Dowry death refers to the phenomenon of women and girls being killed or committing suicide due to disputes regarding dowry. Dowry violence is common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India, in 2011 alone, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry deaths, while unofficial figures suggest the numbers to be at least three times higher.

Violence within a relationship

Main article: Intimate partner violence
Anti-domestic violence sign in Liberia
See also: Coverture and Criticism of marriage

The relation between violence against women and marriage laws, regulations and traditions has also been discussed. Roman law gave men the right to chastise their wives, even to the point of death. The US and English law subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture, that is, a legal doctrine under which, upon marriage, a woman's legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband. Common-law in the United States and in the UK allowed for domestic violence and in the UK, before 1891, the husband had the right to inflict moderate corporal punishment on his wife to keep her "within the bounds of duty". Today, outside the West, many countries severely restrict the rights of married women: for example, in Yemen, marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission. In Iraq husbands have a legal right to "punish" their wives. The criminal code states at Paragraph 41 that there is no crime if an act is committed while exercising a legal right; examples of legal rights include: "The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom". In the West, married women faced discrimination until just a few decades ago: for instance, in France, married women received the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965. In Spain, during the Franco era, a married woman required her husband's consent (permiso marital) for nearly all economic activities, including employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the permiso marital was abolished in 1975. Concerns exist about violence related to marriage – both inside marriage (physical abuse, sexual violence, restriction of liberty) and in relation to marriage customs (dowry, bride price, forced marriage, child marriage, marriage by abduction, violence related to female premarital virginity). Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writes:

The legal rights of access that married partners have to each other's persons, property, and lives makes it all but impossible for a spouse to defend herself (or himself), or to be protected against torture, rape, battery, stalking, mayhem, or murder by the other spouse... Legal marriage thus enlists state support for conditions conducive to murder and mayhem.

Physical

An illustration from JJ Grandville's Cent Proverbes (1845) captioned "Qui aime bien châtie bien" (Who loves well, punishes well). A man beating a woman is shown in the back.

Women are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called "intimate partner violence" (IPV). Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts find it hard to estimate the true magnitude of the problem. Though this form of violence is often considered as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, it also occurs in lesbian relationships, daughter-mother relationships, roommate relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Violence against women in lesbian relationships is about as common as violence against women in heterosexual relationships.

Women are much more likely than men to be murdered by an intimate partner. In the United States, in 2005, 1181 women were killed by their intimate partners, compared to 329 men. It is estimated that 30% or more of the women who are admitted to the ER could be victims of domestic violence

In England and Wales about 100 women are killed by partners or former partners each year while 21 men were killed in 2010. In 2008, in France, 156 women were killed by their intimate partner, compared to 27 men. According to the WHO, globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner. A UN report compiled from a number of different studies conducted in at least 71 countries found domestic violence against women to be most prevalent in Ethiopia. A study by Pan American Health Organization conducted in 12 Latin American countries found the highest prevalence of domestic violence against women to be in Bolivia. In Western Europe, a country that has received major international criticism for the way it has dealt legally with the issue of violence against women is Finland; with authors pointing out that a high level of equality for women in the public sphere (as in Finland) should never be equated with equality in all other aspects of women's lives.

The American Psychiatric Association planning and research committees for the forthcoming DSM-5 (2013) have canvassed a series of new Relational disorders, which include Marital Conflict Disorder Without Violence or Marital Abuse Disorder (Marital Conflict Disorder With Violence). Couples with marital disorders sometimes come to clinical attention because the couple recognize long-standing dissatisfaction with their marriage and come to the clinician on their own initiative or are referred by an astute health care professional. Secondly, there is serious violence in the marriage that is "usually the husband battering the wife". In these cases the emergency room or a legal authority often is the first to notify the clinician. Most importantly, marital violence "is a major risk factor for serious injury and even death and women in violent marriages are at much greater risk of being seriously injured or killed (National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women 2000)".

The authors conclude with what they call "very recent information" on the course of violent marriages, which suggests that "over time a husband's battering may abate somewhat, but perhaps because he has successfully intimidated his wife. The risk of violence remains strong in a marriage in which it has been a feature in the past. Thus, treatment is essential here; the clinician cannot just wait and watch." The most urgent clinical priority is the protection of the wife because she is the one most frequently at risk, and clinicians must be aware that supporting assertiveness by a battered wife may lead to more beatings or even death.

Sexual

Main articles: Intimate partner sexual violence, Date rape, and Marital rape Further information: Dating abuse and Teen dating violence

Marital or spousal rape was once widely condoned or ignored by law and is now widely considered unacceptable violence against women, repudiated by international conventions, and increasingly criminalized. Still, in many countries, spousal rape either remains legal or is illegal but is widely tolerated and accepted as a husband's prerogative. The criminalization of spousal rape is recent, having occurred during the past few decades. Traditional understanding and views of marriage, rape, sexuality, gender roles and self determination have started to be challenged in most Western countries during the 1960s and 1970s, which led to the criminalization of marital rape during the following decades. With a few notable exceptions, it was during the past 30 years that most laws against marital rape have been enacted. Some countries in Scandinavia and in the former Communist Bloc of Europe made spousal rape illegal before 1970, but most Western countries criminalized it only in the 1980s and 1990s. In many parts of the world the laws against marital rape are very new, having been enacted in the 2000s.

In Canada, marital rape was made illegal in 1983, when several legal changes were made, including changing the rape statute to sexual assault and making the laws gender neutral. In Ireland, spousal rape was outlawed in 1990. In the US, the criminalization of marital rape started in the mid-1970s, and in 1993, North Carolina became the last state to make marital rape illegal. In England and Wales, marital rape was made illegal in 1991. The views of Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century jurist, published in The History of the Pleas of the Crown (1736), stated that a husband cannot be guilty of the rape of his wife because the wife "hath given up herself in this kind to her husband, which she cannot retract"; in England and Wales, this would remain law for more than 250 years, until it was abolished by the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, in the case of R v. R in 1991. In the Netherlands, marital rape was also made illegal in 1991. One of the last Western countries to criminalize marital rape was Germany, in 1997.

The relationship between some religions (Christianity and Islam) and marital rape is controversial. The Bible at 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 explains that one has a "conjugal duty" to have sexual relations with one's spouse (in sharp opposition to sex outside marriage, which is considered a sin) and states, "The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another." Some conservative religious figures interpret this as rejecting to possibility of marital rape. Islam makes reference to sexual relations in marriage too, notably: "Allah's Apostle said, 'If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning';" and several comments on the issue of marital rape made by Muslim religious leaders have been criticized.

Dating abuse, or dating violence, is the perpetration of coercion, intimidation, or assault in the context of dating or courtship. It is also when one partner tries to maintain abusive power and control. Dating violence is defined by the CDC as "the physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship, including stalking".

Widowhood related violence

Sati (a Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband) ceremony
A 1533 account of the execution of a witch charged with burning the German town of Schiltach in 1531
See also: Widow § Abuse, Widow inheritance, and Sexual rites of passage § Sexual cleansing of widows

Widows have been subjected to forced remarriage called widow inheritance, where they are forced to marry a male relative of their late husband. Another practice is the banned remarriage of widows, which is legal in India and Korea. A more extreme version is the ritual killing of widows, as seen in India and Fiji. Sati is the burning of widows, and although sati in India is today an almost defunct practice, isolated incidents have occurred in recent years, such as the 1987 sati of Roop Kanwar, as well as several incidents in rural areas in 2002 and 2006. A traditional idea upheld in some places in Africa is that an unmarried widow is unholy and “disturbed” if she is unmarried and abstains from sex for some period of time. This fuels the practice of widow cleansing where the unmarried widow is required to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification, which is commenced with a ceremony for the neighborhood to witness that she is now purified.

Unmarried widows are most likely to be accused and killed as witches. Witch trials in the early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries) were common in Europe and in the European colonies in North America. Today, there remain regions of the world (such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, rural North India, and Papua New Guinea) where belief in witchcraft is held by many people, and women accused of being witches are subjected to serious violence.

Non-intimate partner family violence

Infanticide and abandonment

India's child sex ratio, 2011
Birth sex ratios, 2012
Chinese anti-infanticide tract circa 1800. China has a long history of son preference, which was aggravated after the enforcement of the one child policy.

Son preference is a custom prevalent in many societies that in its extreme can lead to the rejection of daughters. Sex-selective abortion of females is more common among the higher income population, who can access medical technology. After birth, neglect and diverting resources to male children can lead to some countries having a skewed ratio with more boys than girls, with such practices killing an approximate 230,000 girls under five in India each year. In China, the one child policy increased sex-selective abortions and was largely responsible for an unbalanced sex ratio.The Dying Rooms is a 1995 television documentary film about Chinese state orphanages, which documented how parents abandoned their newborn girls into orphanages, where the staff would leave the children in rooms to die of thirst, or starvation.

Another manifestation of son preference is the violence inflicted against mothers who give birth to girls.

Body modification

Genitalia

Main articles: Female genital mutilation and labia stretching
Data map showing the percentage of women aged 15 to 49 who have undergone FGM (2020). There is no data for countries in light grey.
Anti-FGM road sign, Bakau, Gambia, 2005

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".

The WHO states: "The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women" and "Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility, and complications in childbirth increase the risk of newborn deaths".

According to a 2016 UNICEF report, the top rates for FGM are in Somalia (with 98 percent of women affected), Guinea (97 percent), Djibouti (93 percent), Egypt (87 percent), Eritrea (83 percent), Mali (89 percent), Sierra Leone (90 percent), Sudan (87 percent), Gambia (75 percent), Burkina Faso (76 percent), Ethiopia (74 percent), Mauritania (69 percent), Liberia (50 percent), and Guinea-Bissau (45 percent). More than half of the cases documented by Unicef are concentrated in just three countries (Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia).

FGM is linked to cultural rites and customs, including traditional practices, and religion. It continues to take place in different communities in Africa and the Middle East, including in places where it is banned by national legislation. According to a 2016 UNICEF report, at least 200 million of women and girls in Africa and the Middle East have experienced FGM. Due to globalization and immigration, FGM is spreading beyond the borders of Africa and the Middle East to countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, the U.S., and UK.

Although FGM is today associated with developing countries, this practice was common until the 1970s in parts of the Western world, too. FGM was considered a standard medical procedure in the United States for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Physicians performed surgeries of varying invasiveness to treat a number of diagnoses, including hysteria, depression, nymphomania, and frigidity.

As of 2016, in Africa, FGM has been legally banned in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. The Istanbul Convention prohibits female genital mutilation (Article 38).

Labia stretching is the act of lengthening the labia minora (the inner lips of the female genitals) through manual manipulation (pulling) or equipment (such as weights). It is often done by older women to girls.

Feet

X-ray of bound feet, China

Foot-binding was a practice in China done to reduce the size of feet in girls. It was seen as more desirable and was likely to make a more prestigious marriage.

Force-feeding

Main article: leblouh

In some countries, notably Mauritania, young girls are forcibly fattened to prepare them for marriage because obesity is seen as desirable. This practice of force-feeding is known as leblouh or gavage. The practice dates back to the 11th century, and has been reported to have made a significant comeback after a military junta took over the country in 2008.

Sexual initiation rites

Main article: Sexual rites of passage

Sexual "cleansing" is a ceremony where girls have sexual intercourse as a cleansing ritual following their first menstruation and is referred to as kusasa fumbi in some regions of Malawi. Prepubescent girls are often sent to a training camp where women known as anamkungwi, or "key leaders," teach the girls how to cook, clean, and have sexual intercourse in order to be wives. After the training, a man known as a hyena performs the cleansing for 12- to 17-year-old females for three days and the girl is sometimes required to perform a bare-breasted dance, known as chisamba, to signal the end of her initiation in front of the community.

Honor killings

Honor killings are a common form of violence against women in certain parts of the world. Honor killings are perpetrated by family members (usually husbands, fathers, uncles, or brothers) against women in the family who are believed to have caused dishonor to the family. The death of the dishonorable woman is believed to restore honor. These killings are a traditional practice believed to have originated from tribal customs where an allegation against a woman can be enough to defile a family's reputation. Women are killed for reasons such as refusing to enter an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relatives, attempting to leave a marriage, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, and dressing in ways that are deemed inappropriate, among others. In cultures where female virginity is highly valued and considered mandatory before marriage, in extreme cases, rape victims are killed in honor killings. Victims may also be forced by their families to marry the rapist in order to restore the family's "honor.". In Lebanon, the Campaign Against Lebanese Rape Law - Article 522 was launched in December 2016 to abolish the article that permitted a rapist to escape prison by marrying his victim. In Italy, before 1981, the Criminal Code provided for mitigating circumstances in case of a killing of a woman or her sexual partner for reasons related to honor, providing for a reduced sentence.

Honor killings are common in countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen. Honor killings also occur in immigrant communities in Europe, the United States, and Canada. Although honor killings are most often associated with the Middle East and South Asia, they occur in other parts of the world too. In India, honor killings occur in the northern regions of the country, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In Turkey, honor killings are a serious problem in Southeastern Anatolia.

Pregnancy-related violence

Maternal Mortality Rate worldwide, as defined by the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management, excluding accidental or incidental causes.
See also: Domestic violence and pregnancy and Reproductive coercion

Obstetric violence refers to acts categorized as physically or psychologically violent in the context of labor and birth. A pregnant woman can sometimes be coerced into accepting surgical interventions that are done without her consent. This could include the "husband's stitch" in which one or more additional sutures than necessary are used to repair a woman's perineum after it has been torn or cut during childbirth with the intent of tightening the opening of the vagina and thereby enhancing the pleasure of her male sex partner during penetrative intercourse. Several Latin American countries have laws to protect against obstetric violence. Reproductive coercion is a collection of behaviors that interfere with decision-making related to reproductive health. According to the WHO, "discrimination in health care settings takes many forms and is often manifested when an individual or group is denied access to health care services that are otherwise available to others. It can also occur through denial of services that are only needed by certain groups, such as women."

Restrictions around menstruation

Awareness raising through education is taking place among young girls to modify or eliminate the practice of chhaupadi in Nepal.
See also: Chhaupadi

Women in some cultures are forced into social isolation during their menstrual periods. In parts of Nepal, for instance, they are forced to live in sheds, are forbidden to touch men or even to enter the courtyard of their own homes, and are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and various other foods for fear they will contaminate those goods. Women have died during this period because of starvation, bad weather, or bites by snakes. In cultures where women are restricted from being in public places, by law or custom, women who break such restrictions often face violence.

Forced pregnancy

Main article: Forced pregnancy

Forced pregnancy is the practice of forcing a woman or girl to become pregnant. A common motivation for this is to help establish a forced marriage, including by means of bride kidnapping. This was also used as part of a program of breeding slaves (see Slave breeding in the United States). In the 20th century, state mandated forced marriage with the aim of increasing the population was practiced by some authoritarian governments, notably during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which systematically forced people into marriages ordering them to have children, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution.

The issue of forced continuation of pregnancy (i.e. denying a woman safe and legal abortion) is also seen by some organizations as a violation of women's rights. For example, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considers the criminalization of abortion a "violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights" and a form of "gender based violence".

In addition, in some parts of Latin America, with very strict anti-abortion laws, pregnant women avoid the medical system due to fear of being investigated by the authorities if they have a miscarriage, or a stillbirth, or other problems with the pregnancy. Prosecuting such women is quite common in places such as El Salvador.

Forced sterilization and forced abortion

Main articles: Forced sterilization and Forced abortion
A map from a 1929 Swedish royal commission report displays the U.S. states that had implemented sterilization legislation by then

Forced sterilization and forced abortion are considered forms of gender-based violence. The Istanbul Convention prohibits forced abortion and forced sterilization. According to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, all "women are guaranteed the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number of and spacing of their children, and to have access to information, education, and means to enable them to exercise these rights."

Studies show forced sterilizations often target socially and politically disadvantaged groups such as racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, and indigenous populations. In the United States, much of the history of forced sterilization is connected to the legacy of eugenics and racism in the United States. Many doctors thought that they were doing the country a service by sterilizing women who were poor, disabled, or a minority; the doctors considered those women to be a drain on the system. Native American, Mexican American, African American and Puerto Rican-American women were coerced into sterilization programs, with Native Americans and African Americans especially being targeted. Records have shown that Native American girls as young as eleven years-old had hysterectomy operations performed.

In Europe, there have been a number of lawsuits and accusations towards the Czech Republic and Slovakia of sterilizing Roma women without adequate information and waiting period. In response, both nations have instituted a mandatory seven-day waiting period and written consent. Slovakia has been condemned on the issue of forced sterilization of Roma women several times by the European Court for Human Rights (see V. C. vs. Slovakia, N. B. vs. Slovakia and I.G. and Others vs. Slovakia).

In Peru, in 1995, Alberto Fujimori launched a family planning initiative that especially targeted poor and indigenous women. In total, over 215,000 women were sterilized, with over 200,000 believed to have been coerced. In 2002, Health Minister Fernando Carbone admitted that the government gave misleading information, offered food incentives, and threatened to fine parents if they had additional children. The procedures have also been found to have been negligent, with less than half using proper anesthetic.

In China, the one child policy included forced abortions and forced sterilization. Forced sterilization is also practiced in Uzbekistan.

Women-specific state restrictions

A member of the Taliban's religious police beating an Afghan woman in Kabul on 26 August 2001

Dress

In Iran, since 1981, after the Islamic Revolution, all women are required to wear loose-fitting clothing and a headscarf in public. In 1983, the Islamic Consultative Assembly decided that women who do not cover their hair in public will be punished with 74 lashes. Since 1995, unveiled women can also be imprisoned for up to 60 days. The Iranian protests against compulsory hijab continued into the September 2022 Iranian protests which was triggered in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, who was allegedly beaten to death by police due to wearing an "improper hijab". In Saudi Arabia, after the Grand Mosque seizure of 1979, it became mandatory for women to veil in public but this was no longer required since 2018. In Afghanistan, since May 2022, women are required to wear a hijab and face covering in public. In countries without mandatory hijab women can face harassment and victim blaming due to not wearing a hijab.

The hijab has seen bans in places such as Austria, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, the Soviet Union, and Tunisia. On 8 January 1936, Reza Shah issued a decree, Kashf-e hijab, banning all veils. To enforce this decree, the police were ordered to physically remove the veil from any woman who wore it in public. Women who refused were beaten, their headscarves and chadors torn off, and their homes forcibly searched.

Freedom of movement

Women are, in many parts of the world, severely restricted in their freedom of movement. Freedom of movement is an essential right, recognized by international instruments, including Article 15 (4) of CEDAW. Nevertheless, in some countries, women are not legally allowed to leave home without a male guardian (male relative or husband). Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where women were forbidden to drive motor vehicles until June 2018.

Sexuality

Sex crimes such as adultery and sex outside marriage are disproportionately levelled against women and the punishment is often stoning and flogging. This has been seen in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and some states in Nigeria. Additionally this can deter victims of sexual violence from reporting the crime, because the victims may themselves be punished (if they cannot prove their case, if they are deemed to have been in the company of an unrelated male, or if they were unmarried and not virgins at the time of the rape). Another aspect is the denial of medical care often occurs with regard to reproductive and sexual health. Sometimes women themselves avoid the medical system for fear of being reported to the police or facing family violence due to having premarital sex or being the victims of sexual violence.

Violence in specific areas

Male-dominated spheres

Slut shaming is a common form of semiotic violence against women in politics.

Politics

Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) is the act or threat of physical, emotional or psychological violence against female politicians on the basis of their gender, most often with the intent of discouraging the victims and other female politicians from participating in the political process. VAWP has been growing in significance among the fields of gendered political science and feminist political theory studies. The main intent behind creating a separate category that is distinct from Violence Against Women, is to highlight the barriers faced by women who work in politics, or wish to pursue a career in the political realm. VAWP is unique from Violence Against Women in three important ways: victims are targeted because of their gender; the violence itself can be gendered (i.e., sexism, sexual violence); the primary goal is to deter women from participating in politics (including but not limited to voting, running for office, campaigning, etc.). It is also important to distinguish VAWP from political violence, which is defined by the use or threats of force to reach political ends, and can be experienced by all politicians.

While women's participation in national parliaments has been increasing, rising from 11% in 1995 to 26.5% in 2023, there is still a large disparity between male and female representation in governmental politics. Expanding women's participation in government is a crucial goal for many countries, as female politicians have proven invaluable with respect to bringing certain issues to the forefront, such as elimination of gender-based violence, parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws, electoral reform, and providing fresh perspectives on numerous policy areas that have typically remained a male-dominated realm. In order to increase women's participation in an effective manner, the importance of recognizing the issues related to VAWP and making every effort to provide the necessary resources to victims and condemn any and all hostile behaviour in political institutions cannot be understated. Experiencing VAWP can dissuade women from remaining in politics (and lead to an early exit from their career or from aspiring higher political office. Witnessing women in politics experience VAWP can serve as one of many deterrents for aspirants to run for office and for candidates to continue campaigning.

Acts of violence or harassment are often not deemed to be gendered when they are reported, if they are reported at all. VAWP is often dismissed as "the cost of doing politics" and reporting can be seen as "political suicide", which contributes to the normalization of VAWP. This ambiguity results in a lack of information regarding attacks and makes the issue appear to be relatively commonplace. While it is reported that women in politics are more often targeted by violence than their male counterparts, the specific cause is often not reported as a gendered crime. This makes it more difficult to pinpoint where the links between gender-specific violence and political violence really are. In many countries, the practice of electoral politics is traditionally considered to be a masculine domain.

The history of male dominated politics has allowed some male politicians to believe they have a right to participate in politics while women should not, since women's participation is a threat to the social order. Women in positions of power are thus more likely than their male counterparts to receive threats and experience violence. As one professor of sociology, Marie E. Berry, wrote: "as women are trained and encouraged to vie for these seats, they risk taking power (and resources) that male politicians see as rightfully theirs, opening them up to the risk of violence and other efforts to limit the effectiveness of their campaigns."

48% of electoral violence against women is against supporters, this is most likely the largest percentage as it has the largest amount of the public participating. 9% of electoral violence against women is targeting candidates, while 22% targets female voters. This means that women who are directly acting in politics are likely to face some form of violence, whether physical or emotional. Regarding violence against female politicians, younger women and those with intersecting identities, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, are more likely to be targets. Female politicians who outwardly express and act from feminist perspectives are also more likely to be victimized.

Sub-types

Gabrielle Bardell's 2011 report "Breaking the mold: Understanding Gender and Electoral Violence" was one of the first documents published that showed examples and figures for how women are intimidated and attacked in politics. Since Bardall's report, other scholars have conducted further research on the topic. Notably, Mona Lena Krook's work on VAWP introduced 5 forms of violence and harassment: physical, sexual, psychological, economic, and semiotic/symbolic. Physical violence encompasses inflicting, or attempting to inflict, bodily harm and injury. While physical violence is the most easily identified form, it is actually the least common type. Sexual violence involves (attempts at) sexual acts through coercion, including unwanted sexual comments, advances, and harassment. Psychological violence includes causing emotional and mental damage through means of death/rape threats, stalking, etc. Economic violence involves denying, withholding, and controlling female politicians' access to financial resources, particularly regarding campaigns. Semiotic or symbolic violence, the most abstract subtype of VAWP, refers to the erasure of female politicians through degrading images and sexist language. Krook theorizes that semiotic violence against women in politics works in two related ways: rendering women invisible and rendering women incompetent. By symbolically removing women from the public political sphere, semiotic violence renders women invisible. Examples include using masculine grammar when speaking about and to political women, interrupting female politicians, and not portraying political women in the media. By highlighting the role incongruity between stereotypically feminine attributes (e.g., warm, polite, submissive), and traits typically ascribed to good leaders (e.g., strong, powerful, assertive), semiotic violence emphasizes that women are incompetent to be political actors. This form of semiotic violence can manifest through denying and minimizing women's political qualifications, sexual objectification, and labeling political women as emotional, among other actions.

Higher education

Further information: Campus sexual assault

Sexual violence on college campuses is considered a major problem in the United States. According to the conclusion of a major Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study: "The CSA Study data suggest women at universities are at considerable risk for experiencing sexual assault."

Sports

Sport-related violence against women is any physical, sexual, mental acts that are "perpetrated by both male athletes and by male fans or consumers of sport and sporting events, as well as by coaches of female athletes". The documenting reports and literature suggest that there are obvious connections between contemporary sport and violence against women. Such events as the 2010 World Cup, the Olympic and Commonwealth Games "have highlighted the connections between sports spectatorship and intimate partner violence, and the need for police, authorities and services to be aware of this when planning sporting events". Sport-related violence occurs in various contexts and places, including homes, pubs, clubs, hotel rooms, the streets.

Violence against women is a topic of concern in the United States' collegiate athletic community. From the 2010 UVA lacrosse murder, in which a male athlete was charged guilty with second degree murder of his girlfriend, to the 2004 University of Colorado Football Scandal when players were charged with nine alleged sexual assaults, studies suggest that athletes are at higher risk for committing sexual assault against women than the average student. It is reported that one in three college assaults are committed by athletes. Surveys suggest that male student athletes who represent 3.3% of the college population, commit 19% of reported sexual assaults and 35% of domestic violence. The theories that surround these statistics range from misrepresentation of the student-athlete to an unhealthy mentality towards women within the team itself. Sociologist Timothy Curry, after conducting an observational analysis of two big time sports' locker room conversations, deduced that the high risk of male student athletes for gender abuse is a result of the team's subculture. Curry states, "Their locker room talk generally treated women as objects, encouraged sexist attitudes toward women and, in its extreme, promoted rape culture." He proposes that this objectification is a way for the male to reaffirm his heterosexual status and hyper-masculinity. Claims have been made that the atmosphere changes when an outsider (especially women) intrude in the locker room.

In the wake of the reporter Lisa Olson being harassed by a Patriots player in the locker room in 1990, she said, "We are taught to think we must have done something wrong and it took me a while to realize I hadn't done anything wrong." Other female sports reporters (college and professional) have said that they often brush off the players' comments, which leads to further objectification. Some sociologists challenge this assertion. Steve Chandler says that because of their celebrity status on campus, "athletes are more likely to be scrutinized or falsely accused than non-athletes." Stephanie Mak says that "if one considers the 1998 estimates that about three million women were battered and almost one million raped, the proportion of incidences that involve athletes in comparison to the regular population is relatively small."

In response to the proposed link between college athletes and gender-based violence, and media coverage holding universities as responsible for these scandals more universities are requiring athletes to attend workshops that promote awareness. Other groups, such as the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, have formed to provide support for the victims.

Military

A 1995 study of female war veterans found that 90 percent had been sexually harassed. A 2003 survey found that 30 percent of female vets said they were raped in the military and a 2004 study of veterans who were seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder found that 71 percent of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving.

In 2021, The New York Times reported that about one in four women in the military had experienced sexual assault. Until the end of 2023, these reports went through the service member's chain-of-command, and many women reported that their reports were dismissed without due process and/or resulted in professional reprisal, ostracism, or other maltreatment. Beginning in December 2023, however, sexual assault reports are handled outside of the chain-of-command, hopefully reducing biases in the process of investigation.

Online

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is a form of intimidation using electronic forms of contact. In the 21st century, cyberbullying has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers in Western countries. Almost 75% of women have encountered harassment and threats of violence online, known as cyber violence, as reported by the United Nations Broadband Commission in 2015. Misogynistic rhetoric is prevalent online, and the public debate over gender-based attacks has increased significantly, leading to calls for policy interventions and better responses by social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Some specialists have argued that gendered online attacks should be given particular attention within the wider category of hate speech. Abusers quickly identified opportunities online to humiliate their victims, destroy their careers, reputations and relationships, and even drive them to suicide or "trigger so-called 'honor' violence in societies where sex outside of marriage is seen as bringing shame on a family". According to a poll conducted by Amnesty International in 2018 across 8 countries, 23% of women have experienced online abuse of harassment. These are often sexist or misogynistic in nature and include direct of indirect threats of physical or sexual violence, abuse targeting aspects of their personality and privacy violations. According to Human Rights Watch, 90% of those who experienced sexual violence online in 2019 were women and girls.

Journalists

According to UNESCO, women journalists in prominent and visible positions tend to attract more virulent abuse. In their survey of 901 journalists, nearly three quarters (73%) said they had experienced online violence. In another survey by The Guardian that looked at comments received on articles, women writers were 4 times more likely to be abused compared to their male counterparts. This is a trend that is persistent across geography - in the Netherlands, 82% of the 300 female journalists surveyed in 2022 said they encountered abuse online.

Generative AI

Generative AI can lead to an increase in the number of attackers, the creation of sustained and automated attacks and the generation of content such as posts, texts, and emails that are written convincingly from multiple ‘voices’. This makes existing harms such as hate speech, cyber harassment, misinformation, and impersonation - all of which rank in the top five most common vectors of technology-facilitated gender-based violence - have a much wider reach and be more dangerous.

Video games

Video games with graphically sexual content have been criticized by scholars for promoting the indecent portrayal of women. Games like now banned RapeLay, Custer's Revenge, and Grand Theft Auto incorporate the objectification of women within their plot lines to attract more players, majority of whom are male, but perpetuate a culture of exaggerated gender stereotypes and toxic masculinity. A study found that 21% of video games feature violence against women. An additional study has shown that players of these violent and sexual video games often have more accepting attitudes to rape, also known as rape myth acceptance, as the hyperrealism when playing these video games results in a difficult differentiation between the digital and real world.

Effect on society

According to an article published in the Health and Human Rights journal, regardless of many years of advocacy and involvement of many feminist activist organizations, the issue of violence against women still "remains one of the most pervasive forms of human rights violations worldwide". The violence against women can occur in both public and private spheres of life and at any time of their life span. Violence against women often keeps women from wholly contributing to social, economic, and political development of their communities. Many women are terrified by these threats of violence and this essentially influences their lives so that they are impeded to exercise their human rights; for instance, they fear contributing to the development of their communities socially, economically, and politically. Apart from that, the causes that trigger VAW or gender-based violence can go beyond just the issue of gender and into the issues of age, class, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and specific geographical area of their origins.

Most often, violence against women has been framed as a health issue, and also as a violation of human rights. The research seems to provide convincing evidence that violence against women is a severe and pervasive problem the world over, with devastating effects on the health and well-being of women and children. Importantly, other than the issue of social divisions, gendered violence can also extend into the realm of health issues and become a direct concern of the public health sector. A health issue such as HIV/AIDS is another cause that also leads to violence. Women who have HIV/AIDS infection are also among the targets of the violence. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that violence against women puts an undue burden on health care services, as women who have suffered violence are more likely to need health services and at higher cost, compared to women who have not suffered violence. The Council of Europe describes violence against women in private sphere, at home or domestic violence, as the main reason of "death and disability" among the women who encountered violence.

In addition, several studies have shown a link between poor treatment of women and international violence. These studies show that one of the best predictors of inter- and intranational violence is the maltreatment of women in the society.

Prevalence and extent

According to the UN, "there is no region of the world, no country and no culture in which women's freedom from violence has been secured." Several forms of violence are more prevalent in certain parts of the world, often in developing countries. For example, dowry violence and bride burning is associated with India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Acid throwing is also associated with these countries, as well as in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia. Honor killing is associated with the Middle East and South Asia. Female genital mutilation is found mostly in Africa, and to a lesser extent in the Middle East and some other parts of Asia. Marriage by abduction is found in Ethiopia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. Abuse related to payment of bride price (such as violence, trafficking, and forced marriage) is linked to parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania (also see Lobolo).

A study in 2002 estimated that at least one in five women in the world had been physically or sexually abused by a man sometime in their lives, and "gender-based violence accounts for as much death and ill-health in women aged 15–44 years as cancer, and is a greater cause of ill-health than malaria and traffic accidents combined."

A 2007 survey by the National Institute of Justice found that 19.0% of college women and 6.1% of college men experienced either sexual assault or attempted sexual assault since entering college. In the University of Pennsylvania Law Review in 2017, D. Tuerkheimer reviewed the literature on rape allegations, and reported on the problems surrounding the credibility of rape victims, and how that relates to false rape accusations. She pointed to national survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that indicates 1 in every 5 women (and 1 in 71 men) will be raped during their lifetime. Despite the prevalence of rape and the fact that false rape allegations are rare, Tuerkheimer reported that law enforcement officers often default to disbelief about an alleged rape. This documented prejudice leads to reduced investigation and criminal justice outcomes that are faulty compared to other crimes. Tuerkheimer says that women face "credibility discounts" at all stages of the justice system, including from police, jurors, judges, and prosecutors. These credibility discounts are especially pronounced when the victim is acquainted with the accuser, and the vast majority of rapes fall into this category. The U.S. Department of Justice estimated from 2005 to 2007 that about 2% of victims who were raped while incapacitated (from drugs, alcohol, or other reasons) reported the rape to the police, compared to 13% of victims who experienced physically forced sexual assault.

Many kinds of violence against women (specifically rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence) are under-reported, often due to societal norms, taboos, stigma, and the sensitive nature of the subject. It is widely recognized that even today, a lack of reliable and continuous data is an obstacle to forming a clear picture of violence against women.

Demographics

See also: Estimates of sexual violence and Rape statistics

Acts of violence against women are often not unique episodes, but are ongoing over time. More often than not, the violence is perpetrated by someone the woman knows, not by a stranger.

High risk groups

Indigenous people

Indigenous women are often targets of physical violence, including sexual assault. Many Indigenous communities are rural, with few resources and little help from the government or non-state actors. They often have strained relationships with law enforcement, making prosecution difficult. Many Indigenous societies find themselves at the center of land disputes between nations and ethnic groups, resulting in these communities sometimes bearing the brunt of national and ethnic conflicts.

Violence is often perpetrated by the state, such as in Peru, in the 1990s. President Alberto Fujimori has been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity as a result of a forced sterilization program. Fujimori put in place a program against Indigenous people (mainly the Quechuas and the Aymaras), in the name of a "public health plan", in 1995.

Many countries have higher rates of violence against Indigenous women than non‐Indigenous women. This includes Bolivia, which has the highest rate of domestic violence in Latin America; and Canada, where violence against women is falling, except for Indigenous populations. Guatemalan Indigenous women have faced extensive violence. Throughout three decades of conflict, Maya women and girls have continued to be targeted. The Commission for Historical Clarification found 88% of women affected by state-sponsored rape and sexual violence were Indigenous.

The concept of white dominion over indigenous women's bodies has been rooted in American history since the beginning of colonization. The theory of Manifest destiny went beyond simple land extension and into the belief that European settlers had the right to exploit Native women's bodies as a method of taming and "humanizing" them. In the US, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic. One in three Native women is sexually assaulted, and 67% of these assaults are perpetrated by non-Natives, with Native Americans constituting 0.7% of U.S. population in 2015. The disproportionate rate of assault is due to a variety of causes, including the historical legal inability of tribes to prosecute on their own on the reservation. The federal Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized in 2013, which for the first time gave tribes jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute felony domestic violence offenses involving Native American and non-Native offenders on the reservation, as 26% of Natives live on reservations. In 2019 the Democrat House passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, which increased tribes' prosecution rights further. However, in the Republican Senate its progress stalled.

Immigrants and refugees

Immigrant and refugee women often face violence, both in the private sphere (by partners and other family members) and in the public sphere (by the police and other authorities). These women are often in a vulnerable position: they do not speak the language of the country they are in, they do not know its laws, and sometimes they are in a legal position where they may be deported if they make contact with the authorities. Women who seek protection from armed conflict in their countries of origin often face more violence while travelling to the destination country or when they arrive there. Women refugees face violence from both the journey facilitator and the detention center guards. Journey facilitator rapes in exchange for money for their passage where as male guards sexually violates in exchange for faster refugee case process. These women have already been through a lot in their country because of wars and political instability and now while in search of freedom they face all kind of gender based Violences.

Transgender women

See also: Violence against LGBT people

Transgender women, especially transgender women of color, are at higher risk of experiencing violence than cisgender women. Trans women commonly experience intimate partner violence, with one study finding that 31.1% of trans people experience it, and another finding that half of all trans women experience it. Trans women also often face abuse by police, and transgender sex workers often face violence from clients. Trans women who are survivors of violence can have a harder time finding domestic violence shelters, as some shelters do not accept them. In 2018, more than two dozen transgender people were violently killed in the United States, most of them women of color.

Activism

Main article: Activism against violence against women
A Bulgarian poster urging people to open their eyes about domestic violence against women
Memorial in Minto Park, Ottawa, of the victims of the École Polytechnique massacre
Protest to end violence against women

In the activism for violence against women, the objectives are to address and draw public attention on the issues of VAW as well as seek and recommend measures to prevent and eliminate this violence. Many scholarly articles suggest that the VAW is considered as a violation of human rights as well as "public health issue".

Papua New Guineans show their support for putting an end to violence against women during a White Ribbon Day march.

The VAW movement was initiated in the 1970s where some feminist movements started to bring the discussion on the issue of violence into the feminist discourse and that many other groups, on the national as well as international levels, had attempted to push for the betterment of women through lobbying of the state officials and delegates, demanding the conferences on 'gender issues'.

Levels of activist movements

Poster against child and forced marriage
Mass protest against violence against women in Buenos Aires in 2015

On the local or national level, the VAW movements are diverse and differ in their strategic program of intervention. The strategies used in a number of the movements focus on the individual level with the emphases on individuals, relationships and family. Also, many of them take the 'preventive' as an approach to tackle the issues on the ground by encouraging people to "reexamine their attitudes and beliefs" in order to trigger and create fundamental changes in these "deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors". To achieve the objectives of the movement, many activists and scholars argue that they have to initiate changes in cultural attitudes and norms on a communal level.

On the transnational or regional level, the anti-violence movements also deploy different strategies based on the specificities of their cultures and beliefs in their particular regions. On this level, the activist movements are known as "transnational feminist networks" or TFNs. The TFNs have a significant effect, like the autonomous movements on the national level, in shaping sets of policies as well pushing for the recognition and inclusion of language of VAW in the United Nations human rights mechanisms: the international human rights agreements. Their activities are ranging from lobbying the policy makers; organizing demonstrations on the local and regional levels; to creating institutional pressure that could push for changes in the international institutional measures.

On an international level, the movements that advocate for women's rights and against VAW are the mixture of (civil society) actors from domestic and regional levels. The objectives of these VAW movements focus on "creating shared expectations" within the domestic and regional levels as well as "mobilizing numbers of domestic civil society" to create "standards in global civil society". The global women's movement works to transform numbers of international conventions and conferences to "a conference on women's rights" by pushing for a "stronger language and clearer recognition" of the VAW issues. In addition, the United Nations also plays a vital role in promoting and campaigning for the VAW movements on the international level.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is also a global initiative with a target to eliminate all forms of violence against women. In recent years, there has been a trend of approaching VAW at an international level through means such as conventions or, in the European Union, through directives (such as the directive against sexual harassment, and the directive against human trafficking).

Second order sexual harassment (SOSH)

Second-order sexual harassment (SOSH) is the harassment suffered by those who stand with and support victims of violence against women (VAW). In 2013 the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights. The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures, and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms.

Legal enforcement

As violence is often committed by a family member, women first started by lobbying their governments to set up shelters for domestic violence survivors. The Julia Burgos Protected House established in Puerto Rico in 1979 was the first shelter in Latin America and the Caribbean for "battered women". In 2003, 18 out of the 20 countries in the region had legislation on domestic or family violence, and 11 countries addressed sexual violence in their laws. Legislative measures to protect victims can include restraining orders, which can be found in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, Turkey, the United States and many western European countries for instance.

Courts can also be allowed by law (Germany, 2001) to order the perpetrator to leave the home so that victims do not have to seek shelter. Countries were urged to repeal discriminatory legislation by 2005 following the review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2000. Egypt, for instance, abolished a law that exempted men from rape charges when marrying their victims. However, the goal of antiviolence legislation is often to keep the families together, regardless of the best interests of women, which perpetuate domestic violence.

Challenges faced by women in accessing justice and limitations of measures

There can be a de jure or de facto acceptance of violent behaviors and lack of remedies for victims.

  • Lack of criminalization: in many places, acts of abuse, especially acts such as female genital mutilation, marital rape, forced marriage and child marriage, are not criminalized, or are illegal but widely tolerated, with the laws against them being rarely enforced. There are instances where crimes against women are also categorized as minor offenses.
  • Lack of awareness of the existing laws: in many places, although there are laws against violence on the books, many women do not know of their existence. This is especially the case with marital rape – its criminalization being very recent in most countries.
  • Challenges in making a case in court: the burden of proof can be placed on the victim. For instance in the Philippines, before a change in law in 1997, rape used to be described as a crime against chastity; and virginity played an important role in court. In various countries, such as Bangladesh, a woman's past sexual experience continues to be very important in a case of rape. Bangladesh has received criticism for its employment of the "two-finger test" in rape investigations. This test consists in a physical examination of women who report rape during which a doctor inserts two fingers in the woman's vagina to determine whether the woman is "habituated to sex". This examination has its origin in the country's colonial-era laws dating to 1872. The test deters many women from reporting incidents of rape. More than 100 experts, including doctors, lawyers, police, and women's rights activists had signed a joint statement in 2013 asking for the test, which they called "demeaning", to be abolished, as it "does not provide any evidence that is relevant to proving the offence". This test is also performed in several other countries in the region, including India. It can also be difficult to make a case of sexual assault in court, when members of the judiciary expect evidence of severe struggle and injury as determinative evidence of non-consent. On the other hand, there are measures, such as the 2012 law in Brazil, that allow for cases to be filed even without the representation of the victim.
  • Existing laws are insufficient, conflicting, and have no effect in practice: some laws on domestic violence, for instance, conflict with other provisions and ultimately contradict their goals. Legal frameworks can also be flawed when laws that integrate protection do so in isolation, notably in relation to immigration laws. Undocumented women in countries where they would have, in theory, access to justice, do not in practice for fear of being denounced and deported. The CEDAW Committee recommends that a State authority's obligation to report undocumented persons be repealed in national legislation.

Invoking culture to explain particular forms of violence against women risks appearing to legitimize them. There is also debate and controversy about the ways in which cultural traditions, local customs and social expectations, as well as various interpretations of religion, interact with abusive practices. Specifically, cultural justifications for certain violent acts against women are asserted by some states and social groups within many countries claiming to defend their traditions. These justifications are questionable precisely because the defenses are generally voiced by political leaders or traditional authorities, not by those actually affected.

Measures to address violence against women range from access to legal-aid to the provision of shelters and hotlines for victims. Despite advances in legislation and policies, the lack of implementation of the measures put in place prevents significant progress in eradicating violence against women globally. This failure to apply existing laws and procedures is often due to the persisting issue of gender stereotyping.

Accessibility of police

Women who report acts of violence most often come into contact first with police workers. Therefore, police attitudes are crucial in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort for women who have been victimized. When police officers misuse their power as agents of the state to physically and sexually harass and assault victims, the survivors, including women, feel much less able to report the violence. Human rights violations perpetrated by police and military personnel in many countries are correlated with decreased access to public health services and increased practices of risky behavior among members of vulnerable groups, such as women and female sex workers. These practices are especially widespread in settings with a weak rule of law and low levels of police and military management and professionalism. Police abuse in this context has been linked to a wide range of risky behaviors and health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse. Extortion of sexual services and police sexual abuse have been linked to a decrease in condom use and an elevated risk of STI and HIV infections among vulnerable groups.

Some countries, such as Brazil and Jordan, have enacted women's police stationd, which are police stations that specialize in certain crimes, such as sexual violence, harassment, and domestic violence committed against women.

Intervention versus autonomy

It is standard procedure for police to force entry into the victim's home even after the victim's numerous requests for them to go away. Government agencies often disregard the victim's right to freedom of association with their perpetrator.

International protection regimes

Further information: History of violence against women

Efforts to fight violence against women can take many forms and access to justice, or lack thereof, for such violence varies greatly depending on the justice system. International and regional instruments are increasingly used as the basis for national legislation and policies to eradicate violence against women. Experts in the international community generally believe that solely enacting punitive legislation for prevention and punishment of violence against women is not sufficient to address the problem. For example, although much stricter laws on violence against women have been passed in Bangladesh, violence against women is still rising. And violence against women has risen dramatically around the world since the late 2010s despite similar measures being taken in many regions as well as increased awareness and discussion of the subject. Instead, it is thought that wide societal changes to address gender inequalities and women's empowerment will be the way to reduce violence against women.

Africa

In Africa, there emerged a series of regional meetings and agreements, which was triggered by the UN processes on the international level such as Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, 1985; the 1993 Kampala Prep Com; the 1994 Africa-wide UN women's conference that led to the identification of VAW as a critical issue in the Southern African Women's Charter.

Americas

In the Americas, the Inter-American Convention on Violence Against Women was formally announced and adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1994, immediately after the Vienna Conference. The Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Eradicate and Punish Violence Against Women (the Belém do Parà Convention) has been applied by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in its first case of domestic violence to condemn Brazil in the Maria da Penha case. This led the Brazilian government to enact in 2006 the Maria da Penha Law, the country's first law against domestic violence against women.

Asia

In Asia, there is the South Asian Agreement on Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) Protocol to End Trafficking in Women and Children.

Europe

See also: Istanbul Convention

In Europe, the European Union (EU)'s initiatives to combat violence against women include a 1997 resolution calling for zero tolerance, specifically on UN human rights instruments of CEDAW and the Vienna Declaration. The Council of Europe also developed "a series of initiatives" related to the issue of VAW: "the 2000 resolution on trafficking, the 2003 resolution on domestic violence, and the 2004 resolution on honor crimes" as well as promoted "the 2002 recommendation on the protection of women against violence and established its monitoring framework". The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) is the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of domestic violence and violence against women, and came into force in 2014. Countries which ratify it must ensure that the forms of violence defined in its text are outlawed. In its Preamble, the Convention states that "the realisation of de jure and de facto equality between women and men is a key element in the prevention of violence against women". The convention also provides a definition of domestic violence as "all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim".

See also

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Text taken from Technology-facilitated gender-based violence in an era of generative AI​, Chowdhury, Rumman, UNESCO.

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