Ending Widespread Violence Against Women

Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way — most often by someone she knows, including by her husband or another male family member; one woman in four has been abused during pregnancy.

Violence against women has been called "the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world." Accordingly, the Vienna Human Rights Conference and the Fourth World Conference on Women gave priority to this issue, which jeopardizes women’s lives, bodies, psychological integrity and freedom. Violence may have profound effects -- direct and indirect -- on a woman’s reproductive health, including:

• Unwanted pregnancies and restricted access to family planning information and contraceptives

• Unsafe abortion or injuries sustained during a legal abortion after an unwanted pregnancy

• Complications from frequent, high-risk pregnancies and lack of follow-up care

• Sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS

• Persistent gynaecological problems

• Psychological problems, including fear of sex and loss of pleasure

Gender-based violence also serves -- by intention or effect -- to perpetuate male power and control. It is sustained by a culture of silence and denial of the seriousness of the health consequences of abuse. In addition to the harm they exact on the individual level, these consequences also exact a social toll and place a heavy and unnecessary burden on health services.

UNFPA puts every effort into breaking the silence and ensuring that the voices of women are heard. At the same time, the Fund works to change the paradigm of masculinity that allows for the resolution of conflict through violence. One strategy is to engage men – policy makers, parents and young boys -- in discourse about the dynamics and consequences of violence.

As the chart below shows, women may face different forms of violence at different stages of their lives.

Source: Heise, L. 1994. Violence Against Women: The Hidden Health Burden. World Bank Discussion Paper. Washington. D.C. The World Bank

Violence at Home

Most domestic violence involves male anger directed against their women partners. This gender difference appears to be rooted in the way boys and men are socialized -- biological factors do not seem to account for the dramatic differences in behaviour in this regard between men and women.

Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence.  Some husbands become more violent during the wife's pregnancy, even kicking or hitting their wives in the belly.  These women run twice the risk of miscarriage and four times the risk of having a low birth-weight baby.

Cross-cultural studies of wife abuse have found that nearly a fifth of peasant and small-scale societies are essentially free of family violence. The existence of such cultures proves that male violence against women is not the inevitable result of male biology or sexuality, but more a matter of how society views masculinity.

Gender and Violence

Studies of very young boys and girls show only that although boys may have a lower tolerance for frustration, and a tendency towards rough-and-tumble play, these tendencies are dwarfed by the importance of male socialization and peer pressure into gender roles.

The prevalence of domestic violence in a given society, therefore, is the result of tacit acceptance by that society. The way men view themselves as men, and the way they view women, will determine whether they use violence or coercion against women.

UNFPA recognizes that ending gender-based violence will mean changing cultural concepts about masculinity, and that process must actively engage men, whether they be policy-makers, parents, spouses or young boys.

Sexual Assault

The majority of sexual assault victims are young. Women in positions of abject dependence on male authorities are also particularly subject to unwanted sexual coercion. Rape in time of war is still common. It has been extensively documented in recent civil conflicts, and has been used systematically as an instrument of torture or ethnic domination.

Now, with precedents set at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, for mass rape, other acts such as sexual assault, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and forced pregnancy may qualify as crimes of torture, crimes against humanity, and even some as crimes of genocide.

The Way Forward

Because gender-based violence is sustained by silence, women’s voices must be heard. UNFPA puts every effort into enabling women to speak out against gender-based violence, and to get help when they are victims of it.  The Fund is also committed to keeping gender-based violence in the spotlight as a major health and human rights concern. Some of the specific strategies for addressing gender-based violence include:

• Training of health care providers as well as training and services to assist women and children who have suffered sexual violence

• Making emergency contraception available for victims of sexual violence.

• Strengthening advocacy on gender-based violence in all country programmes, in conjunction with other UN partners and NGOs

• Advocating for women with parliamentarians and women's national networks

• Mainstreaming messages on the prevention of gender-based violence in information, education and communication projects

• Conducting more research on gender-based violence.

Several UNFPA publications provide additional details about the pervasiveness and the nature of gender-based violence and the specific effects it has on reproductive health, including:

“Violence Against Women: A Public Health Priority” http://www.unfpa.org/modules/intercenter/violence/index.htm

and the

State of the World Population 2000 http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2000/english/ch03.html